CHROMOSOME MAPPING OF RFV3, A HOST-RESISTANCE GENE TO FRIEND MURINE RETROVIRUS

Inoculation of adult mice with Friend virus complex usually induces ra pid viremia and erythroleukemia, resulting in death in 1 to 3 months, In certain mouse strains, a single host gene, Rfv3, controls the abili ty to mount a virus-specific neutralizing antibody response which resu lts in elimination of viremia. In this study, microsatellite markers w ere used to localize the Rfv3 gene to a 20-centimorgan region of mouse chromosome 15 unlinked to immunoglobulin loci, T-cell receptor loci, or the major histocompatibility complex. Potential candidate genes for Rfv3 are several genes expressed in cells of the immune system and pr eviously mapped to the same region, including a T-cell antigen gene, L y6, and three cytokine receptor genes, IL2rb, IL3rb1, and IL3rb2.