Acceptor sites for retroviral integrations map near DNase I-hypersensitive sites in chromatin

Seven cellular loci with acceptor sites for retroviral integrations have been mapped for the presence of DNase I-hypersensitive sites in chromatin. Integrations in three of these loci, chicken c-erbB, rat c-myc, and a rat locus, dsi-1, had been selected for in retrovirus-induced tumors. Of the remaining four, two, designated dsi-3 and dsi-4, harbored acceptor sites for apparently unselected integrations of Moloney murine leukemia virus in a Moloney murine leukemia virus-induced thymoma, and two, designated C and F, harbored unselected acceptor sites for Moloney murine leukemia virus integrations in a rat fibroblast cell line. Each acceptor site mapped to within 500 base pairs of a DNase I-hypersensitive site. In the analyses of the unselected integrations, six hypersensitive sites were observed in 39 kilobases of DNA. The four acceptor sites in this DNA were localized between 0.05 and 0.43 kilobases of a hypersensitive site. The probability of this close association occurring by chance was calculated to be extremely low. Hypersensitive sites were mapped in cells representing the lineage in which integration had occurred as well as in an unrelated lineage. In six of the seven acceptor loci hypersensitive sites could not be detected in the unrelated lineage. Our results indicate that retroviruses preferentially integrate close to DNase I-hypersensitive sites and that many of these sites are expressed in some but not all cells.