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Title: Heteroduplex mapping in the molecular analysis of the human T-cell leukemia (lymphotropic) viruses. Author: Gonda MA, Wong-Staal F, Gallo RC, Clements JE, Gilden RV. Journal: Cancer Res; 1985 Sep; 45(9 Suppl):4553s-4558s. PubMed ID: 2990686. Abstract: The human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) family includes members associated with T-cell cancers (HTLV-I and HTLV-II) as well as the etiological agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HTLV-III). Molecular clones of these viruses were used in heteroduplex mapping experiments to study their structural and evolutionary relationships. The HTLV-I subgroup, despite some restriction enzyme site polymorphism, demonstrated a high degree of sequence conservation. Heteroduplexes of HTLV-I and HTLV-II demonstrated a significant amount of sequence homology, with the strongest region of conservation occurring in the 3'-most coding sequences, designated pX, and to a lesser, although substantial extent in the rest of the genome. Thus, the genomic organization of HTLV-II appears to be very similar to that of HTLV-I. All HTLV-III molecular clones appeared to be identical, with a single exception, which showed heterogeneity in the env gene region. In heteroduplexes between HTLV-I and HTLV-III, very little homology was observed, being confined to the gap/pol region. In contrast to the latter result, a striking amount of homology was detected between HTLV-III and a morphologically similar, pathogenic, nononcogenic lentivirus, visna virus. These data provide strong evidence for a close taxonomic and thus evolutionary relationship between HTLV-III and the lentivirus subfamily of retroviruses. A taxonomic tree, based on the genetic relatedness and biological properties of the HTLV family, is proposed.[Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]