I am using an EGFP-expressing retrovirus for random insertion into a human cell line. The virus has the basic structure:

|5'LTR>----EGFP----|3'LTR>

The greater sign indicates the direction of the LTRs. Now I want to determine where the retrovirus has integrated. I am planning to isolate genomic DNA, cut with a 4-base cutter enzyme to generate small DNA pieces, add ligase so that these small DNA pieces circularize, and perform a PCR using primers inside the retrovirus. (If anyone has a better idea how to find the retrovirus intergration sites, I would be excited to hear about it, as I am doing this for the first time).

To design my primers, however, I need to know how the retrovirus integrates into the genomic DNA. In particular, do the LTRs invert? To put it graphically: If the above retrovirus integrates into a genomic DNA, how will it look?

A) genomic-DNA---|5'LTR>----EGFP----|3'LTR>---genomic-DNA

or

B) genomic-DNA---

More Ralf Max Leonhardt's questions See All
Similar questions and discussions