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S Saule

Publications and source records attributed to S Saule.

71 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Sequencing the erbA gene of avian erythroblastosis virus reveals a new type of oncogene.

Avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV) contains two distinct oncogenes, erbA and erbB . The erbB oncogene, which is homologous to a portion of the epidermal growth factor receptor, is related to the src family of oncogenes and efficiently transforms erythroblasts, whereas erbA potentiates the effects of erbB by blocking the differentiation of erythroblasts at an immature stage. This "potentiator" was sequenced; the amino acid sequence deduced from it was clearly different from the sequences of other known oncogene products and was related to carbonic anhydrases. These enzymes participate in the transport of carbon dioxide by erythrocytes, the precursors of which are main targets of avian erythroblastosis virus. A src-related oncogene such as erbB in synergy with an activated specific cell-derived gene such as erbA can profoundly affect early erythroid differentiation.

Alpharetrovirus↗

Increased transcription of the c-myc oncogene in two methylcholanthrene-induced quail fibroblastic cell lines.

The expression of three c-onc genes (c-erb, c-myc, c-myb) was investigated in five cell lines established from fibrosarcomas induced with 20-methylcholanthrene (MCA) of Japanese quails. These cell lines showed low levels of the three c-onc genes, with the exception of two cell lines that accumulated moderate (MCAQ 1-4) and large amounts (MCAQ3-5) of c-myc RNA. Molecular cloning and restriction endonuclease analyses indicated that expression of c-myc in these two cell lines were not associated with detectable rearrangements in the c-myc locus, that the size of the c-myc transcript (2.7 kb) in MCAQ 3-5 was similar to that of the normal c-myc messenger RNAs (mRNA) and that the transcriptional activation observed in MCAQ 3-5 was not mediated by the LTR (long terminal repeat) of a proximate ALV (avian leukosis virus) provirus. Finally, when analysed with the restriction enzymes Msp I and Hpa II, the c-myc locus of MCAQ 3-5 and MCAQ 1-4 was found hypomethylated as compared with that of the other cell lines tested that show low levels of c-myc transcripts. Our results suggest that one of the ways methylcholantrene could mediate transformation is by inducing an abnormal regulation of the c-myc gene.

Animals↗

Characterization of exogenous proviral sequences in hamster tumor cell lines transformed by Rous sarcoma virus rescued from XC cells.

Alterations in viral structural genes have been studied in five cell lines derived from Syrian hamster tumors which had been induced by the virus rescued from XC cells by transfection. Two cell lines, H-18 and H-20, have all the viral structural genes expressed, but a new EcoRI recognition site appeared in the region of the pol gene sequence. Provirus present in H-12 lacks the 3' part of the gag gene sequences as well as the pol gene, therefore, it gives rise to an anomalous 1.8 Md EcoRI fragment. This line also does not synthesize viral RNA of genomic size, and none of the subgenomic RNAs found hybridized with the DNApol probe. The H-19 cell line harbors only the src gene and LTR sequences, the U3 part of which seems incomplete or different from that of PR-RSV. The cryptic proviral structure in H-19 is transcribed into src mRNA. The degree of transcription of the src gene is about 25 viral RNA equivalents per cell. The H-9 cells harbor the complete provirus and, in addition, proviral structures having the deletion in gag-pol genes. The possible ways of development of provirus alterations and the role of cryptic proviral sequences in oncogenesis are discussed.

Animals↗

Two different types of transcription for the myelocytomatosis viruses MH2 and CMII.

The four avian defective leukemia retroviruses (DLVs) MC29, CMII, MH2 and OK10 all transform primarily macrophages in an in vitro bone marrow transformation assay, and contain specific nucleotide sequences closely related to the myc gene of MC29. These viruses were thought to express their oncogenic potential through a gag-myc fusion polyprotein, since fusion polyproteins were found in all tested cells transformed by MC29. We show here that MH2 virus does not conform to this model. Whereas MC29 produces only one mRNA detectable by RNA blotting in productively transformed cells, we reported recently that OK10 induced the synthesis of two myc-containing mRNAs, the smaller species being a spliced mRNA and a possible candidate for a transforming protein lacking gag determinants. However, the studies with OK10 were ambiguous because this virus produced also, in infected cells, a fusion protein containing gag, pol and myc determinants. We have therefore investigated the transcription pattern of the two other members of this group of viruses, namely CMII and MH2. Our results show that CMII resembles MC29 whereas MH2 produces, as OK10, two mRNAs containing myc-related sequences. However, unlike OK10, the MH2 fusion protein of 100 kd described previously cannot contain myc determinants and thus is likely to produce from its subgenomic mRNA a v-myc protein-lacking gag determinants. We thus conclude that the product of the v-myc oncogene is transforming with (MC29) or without (MH2) its fusion to gag determinants and that the multiple oncogenic spectrum is not basically affected since MH2 and MC29 both transform macrophages, fibroblasts and epithelial cells.

Avian Leukosis Virus↗

The human DNA locus related to the oncogene myb of avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV): molecular cloning and structural characterization.

Chicken and human cell DNA contains sequences homologous to the avian myeloblastosis virus oncogene, v-myb. These cellular sequences, c-myb (human) and c-myb (chicken), were isolated from libraries of human or chicken cell DNA fragments, generated by partial digestion with the restriction enzymes AluI and HaeIII, and compared. The chicken c-myb locus isolated from two distinct overlapping recombinant phages, contained five contiguous EcoRI fragments of 5.4, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2 and 9 kbp, accounting for all the bands seen with a v-myb probe in a complete EcoRI digest of chicken cellular DNA. Likewise, the screening of the human library yielded a recombinant phage hybridizing with the v-myb specific probe, that contained five EcoRI fragments of 2.8, 2.6, 2.0, 1.2 and 5.0 kbp (the last ending with an artificial EcoRI site, due to the construction of the library) belonging to the c-myb (human) locus. Probes using the EcoRI chicken DNA cloned fragments revealed corresponding contiguous EcoRI fragments in the human clone. Subsequent analyses of cellular polyadenylated mRNA extracted from human and chicken cells allowed the identification of single RNA species of 3.8 and 4.0 kb, respectively, as the representative transcripts of the c-myb locus in the two species. Thus, c-myb appears as a single locus in man and chicken, conserved with a similar structure in the two distantly related species. Our preparation of a specific human c-myb probe with an increased sensitivity on DNA/RNA blots should facilitate analyses concerning this gene in human normal or tumour cells or tissues.

Animals↗

The cellular oncogenes c-myc, c-myb and c-erb are transcribed in defined types of avian hematopoietic cells.

The possible role of normal chicken cellular sequences c-erb, c-myb and c-myc, together referred to as c-onc genes and related to the oncogenes of defective avian acute leukemia retroviruses (DLVs), was investigated by determining the accumulation of c-onc RNA in different avian cells an cell lines. Levels of c-myc and in some instances c-myb RNA are elevated in immature hematopoietic cells or cell lines from various lineages but more mature hematopoietic cells, as well as non-hematopoietic cells, contain only low levels. In contrast, the level of c-erb RNA is generally low, but high in a small number of normal bone marrow cells. The results indicate that the cellular homologues of the viral oncogenes are differentially expressed during hematopoiesis. They also indicate that the hypothesis that DLV target cells express their homologous c-onc genes might hold for c-erb, but is not valid in its simple form for c-myc and c-myb.

Animals↗

Virus gene expression in rat cells transformed by avian myelocytomatosis virus strain MC29 and avian erythroblastosis virus.

Virus gene expression in rat cells transformed by either avian myelocytomatosis virus strain MC29 or avian erythroblastosis virus has been studied by biological and biochemical methods. In the clones examined, virus-specific sequences were found to be transcribed into RNA and, in most clones, the characteristic gag-related proteins could be identified. The transformed rat cells were fused to permissive chick cells and the rescued virus was shown to transform both chick embryo fibroblasts and the appropriate haemopoietic cell type in chick bone marrow cultures. These results clearly demonstrate that, as with the non-defective avian sarcoma viruses, the genetic information responsible for transformation by the defective avian leukaemia viruses can be expressed in non-permissive mammalian host cells as well as in permissive avian cells.

Alpharetrovirus↗

Molecular cloning and characterization of the chicken DNA locus related to the oncogene erbB of avian erythroblastosis virus.

Chicken cell DNA contains sequences which are homologous to the avian erythroblastosis virus oncogene v-erb. These cellular sequences (c-erb) have been isolated from a library of chicken cell DNA fragments generated by partial digestion with AluI and HaeIII and shown to be shared by at least two loci in the chicken DNA. One of them, denoted c-erbB, contains approximately 1.8 kilobase pairs of chicken DNA homologous to the 3' part of the v-erb oncogene (v-erbB). Restriction mapping studies show that the c-erbB DNA sequences homologous to v-erbB are distributed among six EcoRI fragments located in a single genomic region. Heteroduplexes between v-erbB in viral RNA and cloned c-erbB DNA show that the chicken DNA sequences homologous to v-erbB are interrupted by 11 DNA sequences not present in the v-erb oncogene. We conclude from our data that the c-erbB locus might represent the cellular progenitor for the v-erbB domain of the v-erb oncogene.

Alpharetrovirus↗

Subgenomic mRNA in OK10 defective leukemia virus-transformed cells.

OK10, a defective leukemia virus, is produced as a defective particle by so-called nonproducer transformed quail fibroblasts. OK10 defective viral particles contain an 8-kilobases (kb)-long genomic RNA, lack any detectable reverse transcriptase activity, and are not infectious. We studied the genetic content of OK10 RNA extracted from both virions and infected cells. As shown by RNA-cDNA hybridizations in stringent conditions, about 77% (6.4 kb) of the OK10 8.0kb RNA was related to avian leukosis viruses in the three structural genes gag, pol, and env, as well as in the c region. The remainder of the OK10 genome-encoding capacity (</=1.6 kb) was homologous to the MC29-specific transforming sequence myc(m) and therefore has been named myc(o). EcoRI restriction analysis of the OK10 integrated proviral DNA with different probes indicated the presence of only one provirus in the OK10 QB5 clone, which agreed with the gene order: 5'-gag-Deltapol-myc(o)-Deltaenv-c- 3'. Heteroduplex molecules formed between the viral OK10 8.0-kb RNA and the 6.8-kb SacI DNA fragment of the Prague A strain of Rous sarcoma virus confirmed that structure and indicated that the myc(o) sequence formed a continuous RNA stretch of 1.4 to 1.6 kb long between Deltapol and Deltaenv. We also examined the myc(o)-containing mRNA's transcribed in OK10-transformed cells. OK10-transformed quail fibroblasts (OK10 QB5) transcribed two mRNA species of 8.0 and 3.6 kb containing the myc(o) sequence. The genetic content of the 3.6-kb species made it a possible maturation product of the genome size 8-kb species by splicing out the gag and pol sequences. In OK10-transformed bone marrow cells (OK10 BM), a stable bone marrow-derived cell line producing OK10, the myc(o) sequence was found in four RNA species of 11.0, 8.0, 7.0, and 3.6 kb. Again, the genetic content of these mRNA's indicated that (i) the 3.6-kb species could be spliced out of the 8.0-kb-genome size mRNA and (ii) the 11.0-kb-long mRNA could represent a read-through of the OK10 provirus, the corresponding maturation product being, then, a 7.0-kb mRNA. The 7.0- and 3.6- kb mRNA's both contained the myc(o) sequence, but no sequences related to the gag or pol gene. In conclusion, whereas the myc sequences have been generally thought to be expressed through a gag-onc fusion protein, as for MC29 and CMII viruses, our experiments indicate that they could also be expressed as a non-gag-related product made from a subgenomic mRNA in the OK10-transformed cells.

Animals↗

Revertants of rats cells transformed by avian erythroblastosis virus.

Morphological revertants of the avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV)-transformed rat cell line ATla were isolated and characterised. The revertants are similar to the uninfected parental rat cell line in that they have regained an organized cytoskeleton and they are no longer capable of anchorage-independent growth. The pattern of integrated viral DNA in the revertants is indistinguishable from that of the transformed parent. However, the revertants do not express the integrated viral genome at either the mRNA or protein level. Phenotypic reversion thus is probably .due to reduced transcription of the AEV-transforming gene below a threshold necessary to induce morphological transformation.

Alpharetrovirus↗

Characterization of the oncogene (erb) of avian erythroblastosis virus and its cellular progenitor.

Avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV) induces primarily erythroblastosis when injected intravenously into susceptible chickens. In vitro, the hematopoietic target cells for transformation are the erythroblasts. Occasional sarcomas are also induced by intramuscular injection, and chicken or quail fibroblasts can be transformed in vitro. The transforming capacity of AEV was shown to be associated with the presence of a unique nucleotide sequence denoted erb in its genomic RNA. Using a simplified procedure, we prepared radioactive complementary DNA (cDNAaev) representative of the erb sequence at a high yield. Using a cDNAaev excess liquid hybridization technique adapted to defective retroviruses, we determined the complexity of the erb sequence to be 3,700 +/- 370 nucleotides. AEV-transformed erythroblasts, as well as fibroblasts, contained two polyadenylated viral mRNA species of 30 and 23S in similar high abundance (50 to 500 copies per cell). Both species were efficiently packaged into the virions. AEV-transformed erythroblasts contained additional high-molecular-weight mRNA species hybridizing with cDNAaev and cDNA5' but not with cDNA made to the helper leukosis virus used (cDNArep). The nature and the role, if any, of these bands remain unclear. The erb sequence had its counterpart in normal cellular DNA of all higher vertebrate species tested, including humans and fish (1 to 2 copies per haploid genome in the nonrepetitive fraction of the DNA). These cellular sequences (c-erb) were transcribed at low levels (1 to 2 RNA copies per cell) in chicken and quail fibroblasts, in which the two alleged domains of AEV-specific sequences corresponding to the 75,000- and 40,000-molecular-weight proteins seemed to be conserved phylogenetically and transcribed at similar low rates.

Alpharetrovirus↗

Cell transformation by avian defective leukaemia viruses.

A comparative study of seven independently isolated defective leukaemia viruses has been carried out. Phenotypic analysis of the chicken bone marrow cells transformed in vitro allowed the separation of these seven viruses into three groups based on the differentiation phenotype of the transformed cell. Nucleic acid hybridization studies revealed that these seven viruses had acquired cellular sequences. Interestingly, these studies also showed that the viruses within the same biological grouping had acquired related sequences. This indicates that viruses that have acquired the same or similar cellular sequences have very similar oncogenic capabilities. Analysis of proteins expressed in cells transformed by these viruses demonstrated that the cellular sequences were usually inserted within the gene for the viral core proteins, gag. Therefore the cellular sequences are expressed as a gag-related fusion protein which has an amino-terminal region derived from the gag gene and a carboxy-terminal half derived from the cellular sequences. Two exceptions to this are discussed. The general conclusion from these studies is that defective leukaemia viruses transform cells by virtue of acquired host cellular sequences. The ability of these viruses to transform cells and the target cell specificity of the transformation depends on these cellular sequences.

Alpharetrovirus↗

[Origin of the transforming genes in avian acute leukemia retroviruses].

The avian defective leukemia viruses are recombinants between an avian virus of low oncogenicity and specific host nucleotide sequences. The types of hematological neoplasms correlate with the specificity of the sequences transduced. These could be differentiation genes escaping cellular control after their transduction by the virus.

Acute Disease↗

Three new types of viral oncogene of cellular origin specific for haematopoietic cell transformation.

The RNAs of seven replication-defective leukaemia virus (DLV) strains contain three types of unique sequences, which correlate with the capacity of a given virus strain to transform erythroblasts, macrophage-like cells and myeloblasts, respectively. These sequences, termed erb, mac and myb, have their counterparts in the normal DNA of avian and mammalian species. Our results indicate that DLVs represent recombinants between a common 'vector' related to a chicken endogenous virus and one of three types of cellular gene possibly involved in haematopoietic differentiation.

Avian Leukosis Virus↗

Induction of proliferation or transformation of neuroretina cells by the mil and myc viral oncogenes.

The genome of the avian retrovirus MH2 contains, in addition to the v-myc oncogene shared with three other avian retroviruses (MC29, CMII and OK-10), a second cell-derived oncogene, v-mil (refs 1-3). Like the three other viruses, which contain only v-myc, MH2 induces mainly liver and kidney carcinomas in fowl and transforms fibroblasts and macrophages in vitro. However, MH2 and MC29 differ in their biological properties when assayed on cultures of chicken embryo neuroretina (NR) cells. Indeed, NR cells, which normally do not multiply in vitro, are induced to proliferate and become transformed upon infection with MH2, whereas infection with MC29 has no apparent effect on these cells. To analyse the functions of the two oncogenes of MH2, we isolated spontaneous and in vitro-constructed mutants of this virus and investigated their effects on NR cell multiplication and transformation. We report here that expression of v-mil is sufficient to induce NR cell proliferation, although it does not result in cell transformation. In addition, viruses expressing only the v-myc oncogene fail to induce any detectable change in NR cells. However, cooperation of the two oncogenes is required to achieve transformation of NR cells by MH2.

Animals↗