title: Identification of nuclear proteins encoded by viral and cellular myc oncogenes.
abstract: The myelocytomatosis viruses are a family of replication-defective avian retroviruses that cause a variety of tumours in chickens and transform both fibroblasts and macrophages in culture through the activity of their oncogene v-myc. A closely related gene (c-myc) is found in vertebrate animals and is thought to be the progenitor of v-myc. Changes in the expression and perhaps the structure of c-myc have been implicated in the genesis of avian, murine and human tumours (for a review, see ref. 15). Elucidation of the mechanisms by which v-myc and c-myc might elicit tumorigenesis requires identification of the proteins encoded by these genes. To this end, we have expressed a portion of v-myc in a bacterial host and used the resulting protein to raise antisera that react with myc proteins. We report here that v-myc and c-myc encode closely related proteins with molecular weights (MWs) of approximately 58,000. Integration of retroviral DNA near or within c-myc in avian lymphomas apparently enhances expression of the gene. Here we have used cells from one such tumour to identify the protein encoded by c-myc and find that the coding domain for the gene is probably intact.
mesh_terms: D001354:Avian Leukosis Virus / Q000235:genetics; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D005796:Genes; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009857:Oncogenes; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000032:analysis; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D015683:Gene Products, gag; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D014764:Viral Proteins