Two c-myb proteins differing by their aminotermini exhibit different transcriptional transactivation activities (yeast/reporter-effector system).

We assayed in the yeast S. cerevisiae the transcriptional transactivation activity of the c-myb products encoded by a normal thymus cDNA and of an aminoterminally truncated version of it (minus 58 amino acids) corresponding to the cDNAs isolated from lymphoma and leukemia cells from different origins. Both proto-oncogene products were expressed under the control of the galactose inducible GAL10 promoter. The reporter system used to monitor the transactivation potential of the myb products consisted of a CYCl-lacZ gene fusion in which the UASCYC signals were replaced by one or multiple copies of the myb recognition element (mRE). As shown by Northern blot analyses and by primer extension experiments both c-myb products increase the level of beta-galactosidase transcription. Interestingly, the c-myb product corresponding to lymphoma cDNAs stimulates transcription four to five times more efficiently than does the normal thymic c-myb product.