Reversal of Fv-1 host range by in vitro restriction endonuclease fragment exchange between molecular clones of N-tropic and B-tropic murine leukemia virus genomes.

We molecularly cloned unintegrated viral DNA of the BALB/c endogenous N-tropic and B-tropic murine leukemia retroviruses and in vitro passaged N-tropic Gross (passage A) murine leukemia retroviruses. Recombinant genomes were constructed in vitro by exchanging homologous restriction enzyme fragments from N- or B-tropic parents and subsequent recloning. Infectious virus was recovered after transfection of these recombinant genomes into NIH-3T3 cells and cocultivation with the Fv-1 nonrestrictive SC-1 cells. XC plaque assays of recombinant virus progeny on Fv-ln and Fv-lb cells indicated that the Fv-l host range was determined by sequences located between the BamHI site in the p30 region of the gag gene (1.6 kilobase pairs from the left end of the map) and the HindIII site located in the pol gene (2.9 kilobase pairs from the left end of the map).