Effects of Provirus Insertion on Expression of α1(I) Collagen Gene in Mov13 Mice

Abstract

Integration of proviral DNA into the chromosomal DNA of the host cell is an obligatory step in the life cycle of retroviruses. Since integration occurs at many chromosomal sites, perhaps randomly, one consequence of retrovirus infection can be inactivation of cellular genes by insertional mutagenesis (for a review, see Gridley et al., 1987). A number of mutations have been produced experimentally by retrovirus integration into the germ line of mice (Jaenisch et al., 1983; Kuehn et al., 1987; Soriano et al., 1987), and at least two spontaneous mutations were shown to be linked to an endogenous provirus (Jenkins et al., 1981; Stoye et al., 1988). One of the best studied transgenic mouse mutant strains to date is Mov13, where retrovirus integration into the α1 (I) collagen gene has led to a recessive lethal mutation. In this article, we want to summarize our knowledge about this mutant strain, which has served as a model system for studying retrovirus-induced mutations.