Characterization of the reverse transcriptase from a new retrovirus (HTLV) produced by a human cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cell line

The reverse transcriptase from a new retrovirus, HTLV, isolated from a human cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cell line was characterized. The enzyme is associated with high-molecular-weight RNA of the virus particle, has a molecular weight of about 95,000, utilizes the same template primers (including natyral mRNAs) as other viral reverse transcriptases, and prefers magnesium as a divalent cation using various synthetic homopolymeric template primers. HTLV reverse transcriptase can be immunologically distinguished from those of known type C, B, and D retroviruses by enzyme activity neutralization tests. These and other results support the interpretation that HTLV is a novel oncornavirus which may be associated with certain human T-cell neoplasias.