The retrovirus Moloney murine leukemia virus (MLV) is a candidate
vector for gene therapy.
Three genes are removed to prevent replication:
gag encodes viral coat proteins,
pol is an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (Reverse Transcriptase),
and
env encodes surface glycoproteins.
The SAX vector retains the long terminal repeat (LTR) and q
sequences to allow transcription and integration into the host
genome, but also includes these:
neo^r confers neomycin resistance as a selective marker, and
SV40 promoter-enhancer fused with
hADA, a normal adenosine deaminase gene.