Abstract
td108 , a transformation-defective (td) deletion mutant of the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus of subgroup A (SR-A), was molecularly cloned. Two isolates of td viruses, td108 -3b and td108 -4a, obtained by transfection of the molecularly cloned td108 DNAs into chicken embryo fibroblasts, were tested for their ability to induce tumors and generate recovered avian sarcoma viruses ( rASVs ) in chickens. Both td viruses were able to induce tumors with a latency and frequency similar to those observed previously with biologically purified td mutants of SR-A. rASVs were isolated from most of the tumors examined. The genomic RNAs of those newly obtained rASVs were analyzed by RNase T1 oligonucleotide fingerprinting. The results showed that they had regained the deleted src sequences and contained the same set of marker src oligonucleotides as those of rASVs analyzed previously. The src oligonucleotides of rASVs are distinguishable from those present in SR-A. We conclude that those rASVs must have been generated by recombination between the molecularly cloned td mutants and the c-src sequence. The deletions in the td mutants were mapped by restriction enzyme analysis and nucleotide sequencing. td108 -3b was found to contain an internal src deletion of 1,416 nucleotides and to retain 57 and 105 nucleotides of the 5' and 3' src coding sequences, respectively. td108 -4a contained a src deletion of 1,174 nucleotides and retained 180 and 225 nucleotides of the 5' and 3' src sequences, respectively. Comparison of sequences in the 5' src and its upstream region of td108 -3b with those of SR-A, rASV1441 (a td108 -derived rASV analyzed previously), and c-src suggested that the 5' recombination between td108 and c-src occurred from 7 to 20 nucleotides upstream from the beginning of the src coding sequence.