title: Sequence and insertion sites of murine melanoma-associated retrovirus.
abstract: We previously showed that B16 melanoma cells produce ecotropic melanoma-associated retrovirus (MelARV) which encodes a melanoma-associated antigen recognized by MM2-9B6 monoclonal antibody. The biological significance of MelARV in melanoma formation remains unknown. We found that infection of normal melanocytes with MelARV resulted in malignant transformation. It is likely that MelARV emerged from the defective Emv-2 provirus, a single copy of ecotropic provirus existing in the genome of C57BL/6 mice. In the present study, we cloned and sequenced the full-length MelARV genome and its insertion sites and we completed sequencing of the Emv-2 provirus. Our data show that MelARV has a typical full-length retroviral genome with high homology (98.54%) to Emv-2, indicating a close relationship between both viruses. MelARV probably emerged as a result of recombination between Emv-2 and an endogenous nonecotropic provirus. Some observed differences in the gag and pol regions of MelARV might account for the restoration of productivity and infectivity of a novel retrovirus that somatically emerged during melanoma formation. MelARV does not contain any oncogene and therefore might induce transformation by insertional mutagenesis. We sequenced two insertion sites of MelARV. The first insertion site represents the 3' coding region of the c-maf proto-oncogene at 67.0 centimorgans (cM) on chromosome 8. The c-maf proto-oncogene encodes a basic leucine zipper protein homologous to c-fos and c-jun. Insertion of MelARV in BL6 melanoma cells resulted in the up-regulation of c-maf. It is noteworthy that the Emv-2 provirus is also inserted into a noncoding region at 61.0 cM on the same chromosome 8. The second insertion site is the 3' noncoding region of the DNA polymerase gamma (PolG) gene on chromosome 7. The expression of PolG was not affected by the MelARV insertion. Further investigation of the biological significance of MelARV in melanoma formation is being undertaken.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Department of Pathology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. mengfeng@pitt.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gorelik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D000074002:DNA Polymerase gamma; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics; D017988:Gammaretrovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000821:virology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051257:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-maf; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes / Q000235:genetics; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D016662:Virus Integration
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C495608:Maf protein, mouse; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051257:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-maf; D012367:RNA, Viral; D000074002:DNA Polymerase gamma; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase