title: Isolation and characterization of c-myc, a cellular homolog of the oncogene (v-myc) of avian myelocytomatosis virus strain 29.
abstract: The chicken genome contains nucleotide sequences homologous to transforming genes (oncogenes) of a number of avian retroviruses. We have isolated chicken DNA (c-myc) that is homologous to the oncogene (v-myc) of the avian myelocytomatosis virus MC29 and have compared the structures of the cellular and viral genes. Results from restriction endonuclease mapping of c-myc and from analysis of heteroduplexes between the DNAs of the cellular and viral genes show that c-myc is homologous to 1,500 nucleotides in v-myc DNA. This homologous region is interrupted in c-myc by an intron-like sequence of 1,100 nucleotides which is absent from v-myc. Nuclear RNA from normal chicken cells contains at least five species of transcripts from c-myc ranging from 2.5 to 6.5 kilobases in length. By contrast, cytoplasm contains only the 2.5-kilobase c-myc RNA. These features of the c-myc gene and its nuclear transcripts are characteristic of normal cellular genes and suggest that the myc gene is of cellular rather than viral origin. The exons in c-myc may define two functional domains in the gene and may therefore facilitate the dissection of the different oncogenic potentials of the MC29 virus.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D005796:Genes; D005814:Genes, Viral; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D004247:DNA; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes