Complementary DNA clones of chicken proto-oncogene c-ets: sequence divergence from the viral oncogene v-ets

The avian acute leukemia virus E26 induces erythroblastosis and myeloblastosis in chickens. The oncogene of this virus includes sequences derived from the cellular gene designated c-ets, which is normally expressed in lymphoid cells and whose product is a protein of apparent molecular weight ca. 54,000 daltons. Complementary DNA clones representing the major transcript of the chicken c-ets proto-oncogene were isolated from a spleen cell library. Sequence analysis of the cDNA revealed that it contains an open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 441 amino acids with a molecular weight of 49,932 daltons. This open reading frame can be transcribed and translated in vitro into a 50 kd protein that is specifically immunoprecipitated with antiserum to the v-ets oncogene product. Within the central region of homology between c-ets and v-ets, there are only 5 nucleotide substitutions resulting in 4 amino acid changes. However, coding sequences at the 5' and 3' ends of the v-ets oncogene and the chicken c-ets cDNA differ from one another. These changes may be responsible for the differential functions of c-ets and v-ets in cells of different hematopoietic lineages and may account for the pathogenic properties of the v-ets oncogene.