Infectious and selectable retrovirus containing an inducible rat growth hormone minigene

A growth hormone minigene carrying its natural promoter (237 nucleotides of chromosomal DNA) was stably propagated in a murine retrovirus containing hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase as a selectable marker. Glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone inducibility was transferred with the growth hormone gene. Recombinant virus with titers of 10(6) per milliliter was recovered. This demonstration that retroviruses can be used to transfer a nonselectable gene under its own regulatory control enlarges the scope of retroviral vectors as potent tools for gene transfer.