Characterization of 40,000- and 25,000-dalton intermediate precursors to Rauscher murine leukemia virus gag gene products.

Under steady-state labeling conditions, Rauscher murine leukemia virus-infected NIH Swiss mouse cells contain at least three major polyproteins derived from the viral gag gene. They have molecular weights of 65,000, 40,000, and 25,000. They have been termed pPr65gag, Pr40gag, and pPr25gag. pPr65gag has been shown by a number of laboratories to be composed of all four core proteins (p15, pp12, p30, and p10). In this paper, Pr40gag was found to contain p30 and p10 antigenic determinants and peptide sequences, whereas pPr25gag was found to contain p15 and pp12. Pr40gag and pPr25gag are rapidly labeled precursor proteins that were detectable early in pulse-chase experiments. Both precursors disappeared during the later stages of the chase period concurrent with the appearance of the mature viral core proteins. pPr65gag and pPr25gag were found to be phosphorylated, pPr25 having a higher specific activity of 32P than pPr65. In spite of this, peptide mapping studies, as well as the identification of the phosphorylated amino acid residues of pPr65, and pPr25, and pp12, indicated that the same sites are phosphorylated regardless of whether the precursors or the mature pp12 are examined.