A. Fassati et Sp. Goff, Characterization of intracellular reverse transcription complexes of Moloney murine leukemia virus, J VIROLOGY, 73(11), 1999, pp. 8919-8925
To examine the early events in the life cycle of Moloney murine leukemia vi
rus (MoMLV), we analyzed the intracellular complexes mediating reverse tran
scription. Partial purification of the reverse transcription complexes (RTC
s) by equilibrium density fractionation and velocity sedimentation indicate
d that three distinct species of intracellular complexes are formed shortly
after cell infection. Only one of these species is able to start and compl
ete reverse transcription in the cell cytoplasm, This RTC is composed of at
least the viral genome, capsid, integrase, and reverse transcriptase prote
ins. The RTC becomes permeable to micrococcal nuclease but not to antibodie
s. Shortly after initiation of reverse transcription, the viral strong stop
DNA within the RTC is protected from nuclease digestion. The sedimentation
velocity of the RTC decreases during reverse transcription. After entry in
to the nucleus, most capsid proteins are lost from the RTC and its sediment
ation velocity decreases further.