Structural proteins designated p10gag, p21gag, p8g'g, p3gag, p279ag, and p149a9 from the C3H strain of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) were purified by reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. The Nand C-terminal amino acid sequences and amino acid composition of each protein were determined and compared with the amino acids encoded by the proviral DNA sequences for the MMTV gag gene. The results show that each of the purified proteins is a proteolytic cleavage product derived from the predicted primary translational product of the gag gene (Pr779ag) and that their order in Pr779ag is plO-pp21-p8-p3-n-p27-p14 (where n represents 17 predicted residues that were not identified among the purified proteins). Purified plOgag lacks the initiator methionine and has a myristoyl group attached in amide linkage to the N-terminal glycine residue predicted by the second codon of the gag gene. The cleavage products are contiguous in the sequence of Pr77gag, and the C-terminal residue of p149ag is encoded by the last codon of the gag gene. By analogy with other retroviruses, p149a9 is the viral nucleocapsid protein, p10rag is the matrix protein, and p279ag is the capsid protein of mature MMTV. Proteolytic cleavage sites in MMTV Pr779ag bear a striking resemblance to cleavage sites in the gag precursors of D-type retroviruses, suggesting that these viral proteases have similar specificities. Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) represents a distinct morphological subclass (B type) of the family Retroviridae and causes a specific epithelial neoplasm (4, 23, 24). The complete DNA sequence of the MMTV provirus has been determined (25). The MMTV genome is organized into gag, pro, and pol genes, which overlap in different reading frames, and a nonoverlapping env gene (25). The env gene is translated from a spliced mRNA, whereas the gag, pro, and pol genes are all translated from the same genome-size mRNA and ribosomal frameshifts are required for synthesis of the gag-pro and gag-pro-pol precursor polyproteins (14, 15, 25). The precursor polyproteins (gag, gag-pro, and gag-pro-pol) are assembled into the virion and subsequently cleaved by a virus-encoded protease (product of the pro gene) to protein components found in the mature virion. We have recently determined the amino acid sequence of the transframe protein (p30; product of the gag-pro precursor) and located the frameshift site in the DNA sequence (14). Earlier studies described the gag precursor (pr779'a) and cleavage products designated plO, pp2l, p27, p14, and p8 (3-5, 20, 26, 27, 33) and suggested that their order in Pr77"' is plO-pp21-p27-p14 (3, 20, 34). However, exact proteolytic cleavage sites were not determined, the placement of p8 was not defined, and it was not clear that these proteins account for all of the cleavage products of Pr77"'a. In this communication we report the isolation of MMTV gag proteins, their N-and C-terminal amino acid sequences, and deduction of their complete amino acid sequences based on these data and the DNA sequence of the MMTV gag...