A putative truncated cytokine receptor gene transduced by the myeloproliferative leukemia virus immortalizes hematopoietic progenitors.
The myeloproliferative leukemia virus (MPLV) is an acute leukemogenic murine replication-defective retrovirus. By sequencing the envelope gene of a biologically active MPLV clone, we found that this region comprises a novel oncogene named v-mpl in phase with two parts of the Friend murine leukemia virus envelope gene. The MPLV env region could encode an env-mpl fusion polypeptide that presents the characteristics of a transmembrane protein. We show that in vitro infection of bone marrow cells with helper-free MPLV readily yields immortalized factor-independent hematopoietic cell lines of different lineages. In mice, the c-mpl proto-oncogene is expressed in hematopoietic tissues as a 3 kb mRNA. Since v-mpl shares strong structural analogies with the hematopoietin receptor superfamily, it is likely that MPLV has transduced a truncated form of an as yet unidentified hematopoietic growth factor receptor.
Souyri
M
M
INSERM U 152 Hôpital Cochin, Paris, France.
Vigon
I
I
Penciolelli
J F
JF
Heard
J M
JM
Tambourin
P
P
Wendling
F
F
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015723:Gene Library; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009115:Muridae; D009857:Oncogenes; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics*; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins