Structural analysis of the genomes of gibbon ape and woolly monkey leukosis viruses

Abstract

Infectious retroviruses have been isolated from gibbon apes and a woolly monkey. Previous studies have shown that these isolates share some antigenic determinants and that they exhibit partial nucleic acid homology. To further define the relationships in this group of viruses, we compared the RNAs of the viruses of the woolly monkey-gibbon ape class by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the large RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotides. The degree of sequence identity between the RNAs was determined by the similarity of the fingerprint patterns and in some cases by partial sequence analysis of individual oligonucleotides. This technique permitted us to determine the degree of sequence identity in related RNA species. These studies showed that as much as 80% of the genomes of gibbon ape leukosis virus-Halls' Island and gibbon ape leukosis virus-brain could be identical. The other viruses, simian sarcoma-associated virus, gibbon ape leukosis virus-Thailand, and gibbon ape leukosis virus-San Francisco, showed an extensive but somewhat lower degree of sequence identity (between 40 to 60% of the genomes.