@article{mbs:/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.19578-0, author = "Shimizu, Akira and Shimizu, Nobuaki and Tanaka, Atsushi and Jinno-Oue, Atsushi and Roy, Bibhuti Bhusan and Shinagawa, Masahiko and Ishikawa, Osamu and Hoshino, Hiroo", title = "Human T-cell leukaemia virus type I is highly sensitive to UV-C light", journal= "Journal of General Virology", year = "2004", volume = "85", number = "8", pages = "2397-2406", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.19578-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.19578-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2099", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "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.", }