Murine leukemia virus: restriction in fused permissive and nonpermissive cells.

Cultures of human cells nonpermissive for mouse leukemia virus replication could not be induced to support virus replication by homologous fusion in the presence of Moloney leukemia virus. Human cells were also fused with permissive mouse cells, and the fate of the virus in heterokaryons was determined by a simultaneous autoradiography and fluorescent antibody technique. Heterokaryons containing the full chromosome complement of both cells were likewise nonpermissive for virus synthesis, but hybrids of human and mouse cells, which lacked up to half of the human chromosome complement, were permissive for virus synthesis. The results suggest that human cell genes can direct a repressive control over mouse leukemia virus replication.