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Retroviral Transduction of Helper T Cells as a Genetic Approach to Study Mechanisms Controlling their Differentiation and Function
Published on: November 4, 2016
The matrix region is responsible for the differential ability of two retroviruses to function as helpers for vector
1McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison 53706.
Abstract:
We have investigated the ability of two related reticuloendotheliosis viruses to propagate a spleen necrosis virus (SNV) based retroviral vector in canine osticosarcoma (D17) cells. Reticuloendotheliosis virus strain A (REV-A) consistently propagated the vector more efficiently than SNV in cell culture. To identify the area of the viral genome responsible for the superior helper function of REV-A, we constructed chimeric viruses between SNV and REV-A. Analysis of helper function indicated that a virus comprised of the SNV genome, but containing the matrix region of REV-A, could propagate the vector as well as REV-A. Although REV-A is also a superior virus for vector propagation in chicken embryo fibroblast cells, the region of the viral genome that confers superior helper function does not map to the gag region of REV-A in this cell type.
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