Identification of HTLV-III/LAV sor gene product and detection of antibodies in human sera.
The nucleotide sequence of the genome of HTLV-III, the infectious agent etiologically associated with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome, predicts a small open reading frame, termed sor, located between the pol and env genes. A DNA segment containing 82 percent of the sor region was inserted into a prokaryotic expression vector, pJL6, to determine whether sor encodes a viral protein and to gain some insight into its possible function. The bacterially synthesized sor protein reacted with sera from individuals infected with HTLV-III, indicating that sor is expressed as a protein product or products that are immunogenic in vivo. Antibodies to the purified, bacterially synthesized sor protein were found to react specifically with the same protein and also with a protein of molecular weight 23,000 (23K) in HTLV-III-infected H9 cell extracts. The 23K protein comigrated with a protein immunoprecipitated by the serum of a hemophiliac patient with antibodies to HTLV-III, suggesting that this protein is probably the sor gene product.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017977:Deltaretrovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006801:Humans; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins