DNA sequence of the Bryan high-titer strain of Rous sarcoma virus: extent of env deletion and possible genealogical relationship with other viral strains.

The genetic structure of the Bryan high-titer strain of Rous sarcoma virus (BH-RSV) was analyzed by using a molecular clone obtained from proviral DNA. DNA sequencing of the pol-src junction of BH-RSV revealed that the env sequence was almost entirely absent; only six base pairs following the pol termination codon remained. Beginning at nucleotide 7 (relative to the end of pol), a 91-base pair sequence identical to the 91 base pairs immediately upstream from src in other strains of RSV was found. The helper virus-related sequence of about 100 base pairs, which is present as a direct repeat in the 5' and 3' regions flanking src in other RSVs, was present only on the 3' side of src in BH-RSV. The 3' end of BH-RSV, from the last 16 base pairs of src through the U3 region, was virtually identical to a region downstream of env through U3 in the nontransforming helper virus Rous-associated virus-2, suggesting that BH-RSV may have been derived by recombination between Rous-associated virus-2 and cellular src DNA. The possibility that the original RSV may have been a defective transforming virus and a precursor of the nondefective RSV strains is discussed.