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Journal of Virology, November 2000, p. 10658-10669, Vol. 74, No. 22
ENS/INSERM U 412, 69364 Lyon Cedex
07,1 and Unité INSERM U384, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand,2 France, and
Interdepartmental Center for Electron Microscopy, Tuscia
University, 00100 Viterbo, Italy3
Received 3 May 2000/Accepted 4 August 2000
ZAM is an env-containing member of the
gypsy family of retrotransposons that represents a
possible retrovirus of invertebrates. In this paper, we traced
ZAM mobilization to get information about a potential path
a retroelement may take to reach the germ line of its host. In situ
hybridization on whole-mount tissues and immunocytochemistry analyses with antibodies raised against
ZAM Gag and Env proteins have shown that all
components necessary to assemble ZAM viral particles,
i.e., ZAM full-length RNAs and Gag and Env polypeptides,
are coexpressed in a small set of follicle cells surrounding the
oocyte. By electron microscopy, we have shown that
ZAM viral particles are indeed detected in this somatic lineage of cells, which they leave and enter the closely apposed oocyte. Our data provide evidence that the vesicular traffic and yolk
granules in the process of vitellogenesis play an important role in ZAM transfer to the oocyte. Our data support the
possibility that vitellogenin transfer to the oocyte may help a
retroelement pass to the germ line with no need of its envelope product.
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Life Cycle of an Endogenous Retrovirus,
ZAM, in Drosophila melanogaster
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité
INSERM U384, BP 38, 28 Place Henri Dunant, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand,
France. Phone: (33) 4 73 60 80 24. Fax: (33) 4 73 27 61 32. E-mail:
Chantal.VAURY{at}inserm.u-clermont1.fr.
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