Immunofluorescent analysis of expression of the RNA tumor virus major glycoprotein, gp71, on surfaces of virus-producing murine and other mammalian species cell lines.

The specificity of a single rabbit antiserum pool raised against the purified major glycoprotein, gp71, of Friend murine leukemia virus was determined for a variety of virus-producing mouse, feline, and gibbon ape cell lines by viable cell membrane immunofluorescence absorption. Among murine cells examined, Friend gp71 type specificity was shared only with Rauscher virus-producing cells, and a group specificity was present for all the murine leukemia virus-producing cells tested. Friend and Rauscher murine leukemia virus-infected cells shared interspecies cross-reactivity with feline leukemia and gibbon ape lymphoma virus-producing cells. However, Moloney, Gross, and other virus-producing murine cells shared some, but not all, of these gp71 interspecies determinants with the feline and primate cells. Immunoferritin electron microscopy localized these gp71 antigenic determinants on both virus and cell membranes.