A retroviral packaging transcription unit was constructed in which the Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) gag-pol and env genes are expressed under the control of herpesvirus regulatory sequences. This transcription unit, lacking long terminal repeats, primer binding sites, and most of the retrovirus packaging signal but retaining both retroviral donor and acceptor splice sites, was cloned into a herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) amplicon plasmid, and amplicon vectors (the gag-pol-env [GPE] vectors) were generated by using a defective HSV-1 vector as helper virus. The GPE vector population was used to infect human TE671 cells (ATCC CRL 8805), harboring a lacZ provirus (TE-lac2 cells), and supernatants of infected cells were collected and filtered at different times after infection. These supernatants were found to contain infectious ecotropic lacZ retroviral particles, as shown both by reverse transcription-PCR and by their ability to transduce a beta-galactosidase activity to murine NIH 3T3 cells but not to human TE671 cells. The titer of retroviral vectors released by GPE vector-infected TE-lac2 cells increased with the dose of infectious amplicon particles. Retrovirus vector production was inhibited by superinfection with helper virus, indicating that helper virus coinfection negatively interfered with retrovirus production. Induction of retrovirus vectors by GPE vectors was neutralized by anti-HSV-1 but not by anti-MoMLV antiserum, while transduction of beta-galactosidase activity to NIH 3T3 cells by supernatants of GPE vector-infected TE-lac2 cells was neutralized by anti-MoMLV antiserum. These results demonstrate that HSV-1 GPE amplicon vectors can rescue defective lacZ retrovirus vectors and suggest that they could be used as a sort of launching ramp to fire defective retrovirus vectors from within virtually any in vitro or in vivo cell type containing defective retroviral vectors.