Nucleotide sequences of gag-pol regions that determine the Fv-1 host range property of BALB/c N-tropic and B-tropic murine leukemia viruses.

Previously, in vitro recombinant DNA studies demonstrated that genetic determinants of N-tropism and B-tropism, or Fv-1-related host range properties of murine leukemia viruses, were located in a BamHI-HindIII DNA segment derived from the 5' portion of the cloned viral genome. We sequenced this segment and its immediate 5' region from cloned DNA of two BALB/c mouse C-type viruses (WN1802N and WN1802B) and found base differences at 12 positions out of the otherwise identical 1,390-base-pair sequences. Analysis of the most likely reading frame showed that 6 of the 12 base differences would result in four encoded amino acid changes, three of which occur at positions 109 (glutamine in WN1802N versus threonine in WN1802B), 110 (arginine in WN1802N versus glutamic acid in WN1802B), and 159 (glutamic acid in WN1802N versus glycine in WN1802B) of the p30 protein. The remaining one is located at position 36 (threonine in WN1802N versus isoleucine in WN1802B) of the viral polymerase protein. Significant conformational alteration of the p30 protein could be predicted from these amino acid changes.