We report that the cloned DNA harboring the long terminal repeat (LTR), v-src, LTR proviral structure is tumorigenic in chickens of the Prague congenic lines. The growth rate of these tumors is by far the highest in the recombinant CC.R1 line, the B haplotype of which is composed of the B-F/L4 and B-G12 subregions originating from different naturally occurring haplotypes. Some of the tumors induced by the LTR, v-src, LTR DNA are repeatedly transplantable in syngeneic chickens, maintain unaltered provirus, and express v-src mRNA. Differences in the response to challenge with Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) and LTR, v-src, LTR DNA on a given experimental model are compared and possible involvement of an interaction between B-F/L and B-G region genes is considered. Regression of the LTR, v-src, LTR DNA-induced tumors did not prevent the formation and growth of tumors induced subsequently by RSV.

Genetic determination of tuberculin hypersensitivity 545 I wish to acknowledge the excellent technical assistance from Ms.E. Johnston and expert secretarial assistance from Ms. D. Sutherland.A dominant inheritance of the ability of CB line chickens t o react t o tuberculin over the inability of the WB line t o develop this type of immune reaction was observed. The tuberculin reactivity in this line seems to be determined by one locus and is associated with the B locus.The involvement of the B locus in the regulation of tuberculin reactivity in other inbred lines of chickens is supported by the reactivity of the CA.IB (N6F2) birds in which the B allele of the IB line was introduced into the CA genotype. The CA.IB (N6F2) chickens manifest strong tuberculin sensitivity, corresponding t o the type of reaction of the IB line, not t o the weaker type of response of the CA line. The intensity of the tuberculin reaction of the CA and CC lines resembles that of the CB line, but the proportion of nonreactive birds is higher in these t w o lines than in CB chickens.

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When injected into chickens, a transformation-defective mutant of the Prague C strain of Rous sarcoma virus induced tumors at low incidence and after a long latency. One such tumor released a replication-defective virus designated PR2257. We molecularly cloned and sequenced the proviral DNA from quail fibroblasts transformed by PR2257. Comparison of PR2257 sequence with that of Prague C, cellular src, and 3' adjacent cellular DNA showed that the spliced version of the c-src gene and about 950 base pairs (bp) of 3'-flanking cellular DNA were transduced into PR2257. This transduction eliminated nearly all replicative genes, since the gag gene splice donor site was linked to the splice acceptor site of the src gene and, on the 3' side, recombination occurred in the end of env gene. Insertion of two extra cytosines 23 bp before and 19 bp after the c-src stop codon resulted in an extension of the coding portion up to 587 amino acids, divergence of sequences after Pro-525 and replacement of Tyr-527 by a valine residue. In addition, it appears that the 5' and 3' untranslated regions of PR2257 result from multiple recombinations between exogenous and endogenous virus genomes. Limited digestion of p66src encoded by PR2257 with Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease yielded a V2 peptide (C-terminal moiety) with an apparent molecular mass of 31 kilodaltons, consistent with the 5.7-kilodalton increase expected from the DNA sequence. The structure of PR2257 suggests that the first step in the capture of c-src gene by avian lymphomatosis viruses is the trans splicing of the viral leader mRNA to exon 1 of c-src.

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