Genetic control of natural immunity to ecotropic mouse leukemia viruses: immune response genes.

Humoral immune response to ectropic leukemia viruses in AKR and C57BL/6 mice was controlled by a gene that mapped in linkage group IX. Mice of the AKR strain had an immune nonresponsive allele of this gene, whereas mice of the C57BL/6 strain had an immune responsive allele. Antibody against murine leukemia virus (MuLV) reacted primarily with p15 protein of the viral envelope. It was concluded that the failure to find antibody production in AKR mice was the result of a genetic immunological defect, rather than the result of immunological tolerance that was induced by the persistent viremia of endogenous MuLV.