Thermolabile reverse transcriptase of a mammalian leukemia virus mutant temperature sensitive in its replication and sarcoma virus helper functions.

Three temperature-sensitive mutants of the Rauscher strain of murine leukemia virus are defective in early post-penetration functions required both for leukemia virus infection and for initiation of transformation of cells by their pseudotypes of murine sarcoma virus. In the present study, the reverse transcriptase of one of these mutants (ts 29) is shown to be thermolabile compared with the enzymes of the wild-type virus and several other temperature-sensitive mutants. These findings provide evidence that the reverse transcriptase is required both for leukemia virus infection and for initition of transformation by the replication-defective murine sarcoma virus genome.