The Proto-Oncogene c-ets Is Preferentially Expressed in Lymphoid Cells

Abstract

The transforming sequences of the avian acute leukemia virus, E26, contain two distinct oncogenes, v-myb^E and v-ets, fused together. By using a probe containing v-ets sequences, polyadenylated transcripts of the c-ets proto-oncogene were detected in avian tissues; they included a major 7.0-kilobase and a minor 2.0-kilobase species. These c-ets mRNAs were detected at high levels only in lymphoid organs and in avian T and B lymphoid cell lines. A similar pattern of c-ets transcription was observed in human hematopoietic cell lines, with transcripts detected in lymphoid B and T cells but not in erythroid or myeloid cells. The E26 oncogene was inserted into an inducible expression vector, and a 90-kilodalton protein (bp90) was produced in bacteria. Rabbit antisera raised to purified bp90 precipitated P135^gag-mybE-ets, the v-myb^E-ets polyprotein expressed in E26-transformed cells, and also reacted with p50^v-mybA, the transforming protein of the avian myeloblastosis virus. Antiserum to bp90 was absorbed with a bacterially synthesized v-myb^A protein to remove anti-myb activity. The absorbed anti-bp90 serum retained the ability to immunoprecipitate P135^gag-mybE-ets from E26-transformed cells and specifically reacted with a 56-kilodalton polypeptide (p56) detected in chicken lymphoid organs and in T and B lymphocytes of both avian and human origin. The data suggest that p56 is a translational product of the c-ets proto-oncogene and imply that p56 may be involved in regulating the growth of lymphoid cells.