title: Heteroduplex mapping in the molecular analysis of the human T-cell leukemia (lymphotropic) viruses.
abstract: The human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) family includes members associated with T-cell cancers (HTLV-I and HTLV-II) as well as the etiological agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HTLV-III). Molecular clones of these viruses were used in heteroduplex mapping experiments to study their structural and evolutionary relationships. The HTLV-I subgroup, despite some restriction enzyme site polymorphism, demonstrated a high degree of sequence conservation. Heteroduplexes of HTLV-I and HTLV-II demonstrated a significant amount of sequence homology, with the strongest region of conservation occurring in the 3'-most coding sequences, designated pX, and to a lesser, although substantial extent in the rest of the genome. Thus, the genomic organization of HTLV-II appears to be very similar to that of HTLV-I. All HTLV-III molecular clones appeared to be identical, with a single exception, which showed heterogeneity in the env gene region. In heteroduplexes between HTLV-I and HTLV-III, very little homology was observed, being confined to the gap/pol region. In contrast to the latter result, a striking amount of homology was detected between HTLV-III and a morphologically similar, pathogenic, nononcogenic lentivirus, visna virus. These data provide strong evidence for a close taxonomic and thus evolutionary relationship between HTLV-III and the lentivirus subfamily of retroviruses. A taxonomic tree, based on the genetic relatedness and biological properties of the HTLV family, is proposed.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gonda
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wong-Staal
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Clements
authors.forename: R V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Gilden
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004279:DNA, Viral; D017977:Deltaretrovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D005814:Genes, Viral; D001909:Leukemia Virus, Bovine / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity; D014790:Visna-maedi virus / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes