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Human T-cell leukaemia virus type I is highly sensitive to UV-C light

¹ Department of Virology and Preventive Medicine, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
² Department of Dermatology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-39-22 Showa-machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan

Correspondence
Hiroo Hoshino
hoshino{at}med.gunma-u.ac.jp

The biological characteristics of human T-cell leukaemia virus type I (HTLV-I) are not yet well understood. UV light C (UV-C) sensitivity of HTLV-I was studied using a newly established infectivity assay: infection with cell-free HTLV-I dose-dependently induced syncytial plaques in cat cells transduced with the tax1 gene of HTLV-I. HTLV-I was inactivated by a much lower UV dose than bovine leukaemia virus (BLV). The D₁₀ (10 % survival dose) of HTLV-I was about 20 J m^–2, while that of BLV was about 180 J m^–2, which was similar to the reported D₁₀ of BLV. The UV sensitivity of HTLV-I and BLV was also examined by detecting viral DNA synthesis 24 h after infection. The D₁₀ values determined by PCR using the gag primers for HTLV-I and BLV were close to those determined by the infectivity assays. Further PCR analyses were then performed to determine D₁₀ values using several different primers located between the 5'-long terminal repeat (5'-LTR) and the tax1 gene. The difference in UV sensitivity between HTLV-I and BLV was detected very early during replication, even during reverse transcription of the 5'-LTR of irradiated viruses, and became more prominent as reverse transcription proceeded towards the tax1 gene. Chimeric mouse retroviruses that contain the LTR-tax1 fragments of HTLV-I and BLV were made and hardly any difference in UV sensitivity was detected between them, suggesting that the difference was not determined by the linear RNA sequences of HTLV-I and BLV. HTLV-I was found to be much more sensitive than other retroviruses to UV.