A new avian erythroblastosis virus, AEV-H, carries erbB gene responsible for the induction of both erythroblastosis and sarcomas.
The genome structure of a newly isolated avian erythroblastosis virus, AEV-H, was analyzed. Using DNA probes specific for the LTR sequence of SR-RSV-A, and for the erbA gene and the erbB gene of the ES4 strain of AEV, we have shown that the genome of AEV-H is 35S in size and carries the erbB gene but not the erbA gene. Comparison of the restriction sites of molecularly cloned AEV-H DNA with that of cloned DNA of the associated virus revealed that the env gene of the associated virus was replaced with the erbB gene to generate AEV-H. The genome structure of AEV-H is, therefore, determined to be 5'-gag-pol-erbB-3'. Moreover, we have isolated a mutant of AEV-H, td-130, that can induce sarcomas but not erythroblastosis in chickens. The restriction analysis of proviral DNA of the td-130 showed that it carries a deletion of about 150 to 200 nucleotides in the erbB gene. These data indicate that the erbB protein is responsible for both erythroblastosis and sarcomas.
D001355:Alpharetrovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001353:Avian Leukosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D001354:Avian Leukosis Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002645:Chickens; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral; D005814:Genes, Viral; D009154:Mutation; D009857:Oncogenes; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D001357:Sarcoma, Avian / Q000382:microbiology*
D004279:DNA, Viral