Naturally occurring murine leukemia viruses in wild mice: characterization of a new "amphotropic" class.

A new class of murine leukemia viruses, isolated from wild Mus musculus trapped in California, is described. These viruses, designated "amphotropic," replicate in mouse, rabbit, mink, human, guinea pig, and rat cells, but not in hamster, quail, or duck cells. They show N-tropism for mouse cells, and do not trigger the XC cell response. They are distinct by interference and virus neutralization testing from the previously recognized mouse-tropic and xenotropic MuLV classes. Mouse-tropic viruses occuring along with three of the four amphotropic isolates were found to be distinguishable by virus neutralization from other mouse-tropic murine leukemia virus strains of laboratory mouse origin.