A skin-specific MMTV provirus is stably transmitted by horizontal transmission

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is a retrovirus with a life cycle that remains to be elucidated. In establishing Mtv-4 congenic mice, an extra copy of the MMTV provirus was found specifically in the skin of both sexes of SHN mice but not in C3H/He mice. This extra copy was not, however, found in other normal tissues such as brain, lung, liver, spleen, kidney, uterus, testis, and mammary glands from SHN or C3H/He mice. In the skin of SHN mice, an 11-kb DNA fragment, which approximates in size to the entire MMTV genome, was detected in undigested high-molecular weight DNA. This unique MMTV provirus was shown to be transmitted horizontally from SHN mice to exogenous-MMTV-free C3H/He mice through nursing. The virus is thus concluded to be exogenous. Clusters of MMTV type A particles were found in sebaceous glands by electronmicroscopic examination. The present findings indicates that exogenous MMTV may be stably maintained in the skin as an unintegrated provirus during its life cycle.