Accepted a faculty position at UTHSC-Houston after receiving PhD

Retroviruses uniquely co-package two copies of their genomic RNA within each virion. The two copies are used as templates for synthesis of the proviral DNA during the process of reverse transcription. Two template switches are required to complete viral DNA synthesis by the retroviral enzyme, reverse transcriptase. Reverse transcriptase can make template switches utilizing only one (intramolecular) or utilizing both (intermolecular) RNA templates during the process of reverse transcription. The results presented in this study show that during a single cycle of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MLV) replication, both nonrecombinant and recombinant proviruses more frequently underwent intramolecular minus- and plus-strand transfers during the process of reverse transcription. This is the first study to examine the nature of the required template switches occurring during MLV replication. These results are comparable with the previous findings for the related retrovirus spleen necrosis virus (SNV), and support the hypothesis that the required template switches are ordered events. This study also determined rates of deletion (3%) and of recombination (1.3%) for a single cycle of MLV replication, comparable to the rates previously reported for both SNV and MLV, indicating that these viral isolates replicate in a similar manner.

Search pubmed for papers by C Skinner and J Jones

Research Info

Characterization of Template Switching and Recombination During Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus Reverse Transcription