Isolation of a feline leukaemia provirus containing the oncogene myc from a feline lymphosarcoma.
The molecular mechanism by which feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) induces lymphoid malignancy in domestic cats is largely unknown. Using the insertional activation model of c-myc by avian leukosis virus in the induction of bursal lymphoma in chickens, we have now characterized the c-myc locus in feline tissues and investigated the possibility that FeLV may also insert within feline c-myc. We used the 1.5 kilobase (kb) PstI fragment of MC29 v-myc in Southern blot analysis to characterize the structure of the c-myc locus in the DNA of 31 naturally occurring feline lymphomas. Analysis of a cloned c-myc gene from one lymphoma demonstrated that sequences homologous to v-myc occupy 2.6 kb of feline DNA in which a putative intron of 0.5 kb separates sequences homologous to the 5' and 3' exons represented in avian v-myc. We also observed in the DNA of this lymphoma tumour-specific fragments homologous to v-myc. Characterization of these molecularly cloned myc-hybridizing fragments revealed the presence of at least two identical FeLV proviruses 5.5 kb in length, each containing long terminal repeats enclosing a spliced version of the feline myc gene.
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D002415:Cats; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral; D005256:Leukemia Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000662:veterinary*; D009857:Oncogenes
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D004279:DNA, Viral; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes