Infectivity and structure of molecular clones obtained from two genetically transmitted moloney leukemia proviral genomes

The Mov-2 and Mov-10 substrains of mice, each carrying Moloney leukemia virus (= M-MuLV) in their germ line at the Mov-2 and Mov-10 locus, respectively, do occasionally at a later age (Mov-2) or not at all (Mov-10) activate infectious virus. The M-MuLV proviruses with flanking mouse sequences corresponding to the Mov-2 and Mov-10 locus, respectively, were molecularly cloned. Restriction enzyme analysis revealed no major deletions or insertions in the proviral genomes of the Mov-2 and Mov-10 locus. Both cloned DNAs induced XC plaques in a transfection assay. The specific infectivity, however, was very low and 3T3 cells transfected with the Mov-2 or Mov-10 clone did not produce infectious virus. Removing part of the 5' cellular sequences from the Mov-10 clone did not increase the infectivity. The results suggest that the M-MuLV integrated at the Mov-2 and Mov-10 locus carry a mutation which prevents synthesis of infectious virus but permits XC plaque induction by partial genome expression or synthesis of non-infectious particles.