Biochemical and immunologic characterization of an oncornavirus glycoprotein

Studies were carried out on an oncogenic C-type virus, Scripps leukemia virus (SLV), produced by a lymphoblastoid cell line (SCRF 60A) from a New Zealand Black (NZB) mouse. A 70,000 dalton glycoprotein on the virion surface constitutes about 10% of the virion amino acids and about 50% of the glucosamine. The protein can be isolated from surface iodinated SCRF 60A cells as well as from a line of nonproducer cells. This protein reacts with sera which neutralize Moloney, Kirsten, Rauscher, AKR, and, of course, Scripps viruses. These data suggest that this is the principal antigen detected by immunofluorescence on the surface of cells infected with murine leukemia virus (MuLV) and that this antigen may be involved in virus neutralization.