The proto-oncogene c-ets is preferentially expressed in lymphoid cells.
The transforming sequences of the avian acute leukemia virus, E26, contain two distinct oncogenes, v-mybE and v-ets, fused together. By using a probe containing v-ets sequences, polyadenylated transcripts of the c-ets proto-oncogene were detected in avian tissues; they included a major 7.0-kilobase and a minor 2.0-kilobase species. These c-ets mRNAs were detected at high levels only in lymphoid organs and in avian T and B lymphoid cell lines. A similar pattern of c-ets transcription was observed in human hematopoietic cell lines, with transcripts detected in lymphoid B and T cells but not in erythroid or myeloid cells. The E26 oncogene was inserted into an inducible expression vector, and a 90-kilodalton protein (bp90) was produced in bacteria. Rabbit antisera raised to purified bp90 precipitated P135gag-mybE-ets, the v-mybE-ets polyprotein expressed in E26-transformed cells, and also reacted with p50v-mybA, the transforming protein of the avian myeloblastosis virus. Antiserum to bp90 was absorbed with a bacterially synthesized v-mybA protein to remove anti-myb activity. The absorbed anti-bp90 serum retained the ability to immunoprecipitate P135gag-mybE-ets from E26-transformed cells and specifically reacted with a 56-kilodalton polypeptide (p56) detected in chicken lymphoid organs and in T and B lymphocytes of both avian and human origin. The data suggest that p56 is a translational product of the c-ets proto-oncogene and imply that p56 may be involved in regulating the growth of lymphoid cells.
D000818:Animals; D001354:Avian Leukosis Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D009189:Avian Myeloblastosis Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D010957:Plasmids; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013601:T-Lymphocytes; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D012333:RNA, Messenger