Abstract
Avian myelocytomatosis virus strain MC29 is a replication-defective1 avian oncovirus which in newborn chickens causes myelocytomatosis and liver and kidney tumours2,3. In vitro infection of bone marrow cells gives rise to colonies of transformed macrophage-like cells4, and cloned virus is also capable of transforming fibroblasts5. The genome of MC29 contains cellular sequences6–8 which are closely related to those in other defective leukaemia viruses with similar transforming spectra. Consequently, these cellular sequences have been postulated to represent a new oncogene which has been designated mac, for macrophage transformation4,9. MC29-transformed cells contain a gag gene-related protein of a 110,000 molecular weight (MW) (pllO)10, which by tryptic peptide analysis has been shown to be a fusion product comprised of gag gene-derived sequences and sequences which are presumed to be coded by the adjacent mac gene11,12. These findings suggest that this protein may be implicated in transformation by MC29. We now describe three mutants of MC29 that synthesize smaller gag gene-related proteins. These mutants have an altered ability to transform bone marrow cells but not fibroblasts. This demonstrates for the first time a direct involvement of the pllO protein of MC29 in transformation.
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Ramsay, G., Graf, T. & Hayman, M. Mutants of avian myelocytomatosis virus with smaller gag gene-related proteins have an altered transforming ability. Nature 288, 170–172 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/288170a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/288170a0
