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Infection of rodent cells by ecotropic type C retroviruses requires the expression of a cationic amino acid transporter composed of multiple membrane-spanning domains. By exchanging portions of cDNAs encoding the permissive mouse and nonpermissive human transporters and examining their abilities to specify virus infection upon expression in human 293 cells, we have identified the amino acid residues in the extracellular loop connecting the fifth and sixth membrane-spanning segments of the mouse transporter that are required for both envelope gp7O binding and infection. These findings strongly suggest that the role of the mouse transporter in determining infection is to provide an envelope-binding site. This role is analogous to those of host membrane proteins composed of a single membrane-spanning domain that serve as binding proteins or receptors for other enveloped viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and murine and human coronaviruses.

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