Construction of a mammalian transducing vector from the genome of Moloney murine leukemia virus

A 0.9-kilobase DNA fragment from the genome of Moloney murine leukemia virus, including the viral long terminal repeat, was covalently linked to the herpes simplex virus I thymidine kinase (tk) gene whose promoter was previously removed. The hybrid DNA structure was introduced into the chromosome of tk- mouse cells at single copy numbers, via transfection procedures. Cells expressing the newly introduced tk gene were identified by the HAT selection procedure and analyzed for tk- and moloney murine leukemia virus-specific DNA and RNA sequences by blot hybridization procedures. Expression of the tk gene is dependent on function(s) provided in cis by the viral DNA fragment. Vectors derived from this region are termed rGag (rG) vectors.