title: Phylogenetic relationship of the complete Rauscher murine leukemia virus genome with other murine leukemia virus genomes.
abstract: We report the complete nucleotide sequence of the genome of Rauscher murine leukemia virus (R-MuLV), the replication-competent helper virus present in the Rauscher virus complex, and its phylogenetic relationship with other murine leukemia virus genomes. An overall sequence identity of 97.6% was found between R-MuLV and the Friend helper virus (F-MuLV), and the two viruses were closely related on the phylogenetic trees constructed from either gag, pol, or env sequences. Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MuLV) was the next closest relative to R-MuLV and F-MuLV on all trees, followed by Akv and radiation leukemia virus (RadLV). The most distantly related helper virus was Hortulanus murine leukemia virus (Ho-MuLV). Interestingly, Cas-Br-E branched with Mo-MuLV on the gag and pol trees, whereas on the env tree, it revealed the highest degree of relatedness to Ho-MuLV, possibly due to an ancient recombination with an Ho-MuLV ancestor. In summary, a phylogenetic analysis involving various MuLVs has been performed, in which the postulated close relationship between R-MuLV and F-MuLV has been confirmed, consistent with the pathobiology of the two viruses.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Viral Pathogenesis, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Khimani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Graf
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Ruprecht
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D005622:Friend murine leukemia virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D009052:Leukemia Virus, Murine / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008979:Moloney murine leukemia virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016721:Radiation Leukemia Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D011925:Rauscher Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*