Systematics of RNA tumor viruses and virus-like particles of human origin

[(3)H]DNA copies of avian, feline, murine, and primate RNA tumor virus genomes were synthesized in vitro by an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase reaction. These DNAs were hybridized to 60-70S RNA that had been purified from the viruses. The amount of the [(3)H]DNA hybridized yielded a measure of the genetic relatedness among the DNA preparations synthesized by the viruses. When many combinations of DNA and RNA were analyzed, the pattern of hybridization showed in some cases that the DNA copies of the viral RNA were related to each other in the same way that the natural hosts of the viruses are phylogenetically related. This pattern was observed only among the RNA leukemia viruses. The sarcoma component in sarcoma-leukemia viruses from rats and primates appeared to be unusually closely related. The mouse mammary carcinoma virus and two unclassified viruses (MPMV and Visna) appeared to be genetically distinct.A similar analysis of DNA synthesized by an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase associated with a viral-like particle obtained from the cytoplasm of human leukemic white blood cells demonstrated that this DNA occupied a space in the affinity pattern of leukemia viruses which is expected of a nucleic acid from a primate-type-C RNA tumor virus. This observation strengthens earlier evidence that components of RNA tumor viruses are associated with human leukemia.