Genome of prototype foamy virus (PFV). Depicted is the molecular clone PFV-13 (GenBank accession no. U21247; 11,954 bases). The shaded boxes below the genome indicate the location of the LTR promoter regions in the proviral DNA. (A) The thin lines represent the genomic RNA and mRNA for Pol protein. Pol is expressed from a spliced mRNA. The 5´ splice site (ss) and the 3´ splice site (3´ss) are indicated. (B) The colored boxes indicate the three major PFV protein products: Gag, Pol and Env. PR-mediated cleavage sites are indicated with dashed lines and arrows. CTRS, cytoplasmic targeting and retention signal; GR boxes, glycine/arginine-rich motifs; PR, protease; RT, reverse transcriptase; IN, integrase. LP, leader peptide; SU, surface domain; TM, transmembrane domain. (C) The thick lines represent RNA sequences required for proper assembly. Cis-acting sequences (CAS) are required for genomic RNA packaging; Pol encapsidation sequences (PES) are required for Pol packaging.