Detection of Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus RNA in BALB/c Tumor Cell Lines of Nonviral Etiologies |
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| Authors: | Jaquelin P Dudley Janet S Butel Susan H Socher and Jeffrey M Rosen |
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| Institution: | 1.Department of Virology and Epidemiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030;2.Department of Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030 |
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| Abstract: | A complementary DNA (cDNA) probe to mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) RNA was synthesized using calf thymus DNA oligonucleotides as a random primer. This probe was then used to study the expression of MMTV RNA in cell lines from BALB/c tumors induced in vivo either spontaneously or in response to viral, chemical, or hormonal stimuli. The cDNA had a length of approximately 400 to 500 nucleotides and specifically hybridized to MMTV RNA and BALB/c lactating mammary gland RNA, but not to Moloney leukemia virus RNA. Calf thymus DNA-primed cDNA could protect 50% of iodinated MMTV RNA from S1 nuclease digestion at cDNA-RNA ratios of 1:1 and 90% of labeled viral RNA at ratios of 10:1. Thermal denaturation of MMTV RNA-cDNA hybrids yielded a T(m) of 88.5 degrees C, indicative of a well-base-paired duplex. Screening of mouse mammary tumor cells for MMTV sequences revealed that three out of five lines of BALB/c origin had undetectable levels of viral RNA (
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