Identification of a new common provirus integration site in gross passage A murine leukemia virus-induced mouse thymoma DNA.

The Gross passage A murine leukemia virus (MuLV) induced T-cell leukemia of clonal (or oligoclonal) origin in inoculated mice. To study the role of the integrated proviruses in these tumor cells, we cloned several newly integrated proviruses (with their flanking cellular sequences) from a single tumor in procaryotic vectors. With each of the five clones obtained, a probe was prepared from the cellular sequences flanking the provirus. With one such probe (SS8), we screened several Gross passage A MuLV-induced SIM.S mouse tumor DNAs and found that, in 11 of 40 tumors, a provirus was integrated into a common region designated Gin-1. A 26-kilobase-pair sequence of Gin-1 was cloned from two lambda libraries, and a restriction map was derived. All proviruses were integrated as a cluster in the same orientation within a 5-kilobase-pair region of Gin-1, and most of them had a recombinant structure of the mink cell focus-forming virus type. The frequency of Gin-1 occupancy by provirus was much lower in thymoma induced by other strains of MuLV in other mouse strains. Using somatic-cell hybrid DNAs, we mapped Gin-1 on mouse chromosome 19. Gin-1 was not homologous to 16 known oncogenes and was distinct from the other common regions for provirus integration previously described. Therefore, Gin-1 appears to represent a new common provirus integration region. The integration of a provirus within Gin-1 might be an important event leading to T-cell transformation, and the Gin-1 region might harbor sequences which are involved in tumor development.