HUMAN FOAMY VIRUS POLYPEPTIDES - IDENTIFICATION OF ENV AND BEL GENE-PRODUCTS

Human foamy virus (HFV) proteins were identified in human cells cultur ed in vitro by immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting with specific an tisera. Among several viral polypeptides, four glycoproteins of approx imately 160, 130, 70, and 48 kDa were identified in HFV-infected cells . gp130 was shown to represent the intracellular env precursor, and gp 70 and gp48 were shown to represent the external and transmembrane env proteins, respectively. The nature of gp160, which shares sequences w ith the env, bel1, and bel2 proteins, is not yet resolved. In addition , a p62 identified with bel1- and bel2-specific antisera likely corres ponds to the bet gene product.