A novel oncogene related to c-mil is transduced in chicken neuroretina cells induced to proliferate by infection with an avian lymphomatosis virus.

Non-dividing neuroretina cells from chicken embryos are induced to proliferate after a long latency, following infection with Rous associated virus type 1, an avian retrovirus which does not carry a transforming gene. We have isolated from these proliferating cells an acutely mitogenic retrovirus, designated IC10, which contains a novel oncogene. Nucleotide sequencing showed that the IC10 virus has transduced 1101 nucleotides of cellular origin inserted between the gag and env genes of RAV-1. This oncogene, designated v-Rmil, is 70.1% homologous to v-mil. v-Rmil encodes a protein of 40,976 daltons sharing 83.8% homology with the catalytic domain of the v-mil protein. Divergence with the v-mil gene product is observed at the NH2- and COOH-terminal portions of the v-Rmil protein. Restriction analysis of normal chicken DNA indicated that v-Rmil is derived from a cellular gene distinct from c-mil. The c-Rmil gene is transcribed through a major mRNA, greater than 10 kb in length, that is detected at much higher levels in neuroretinas, as compared to other embryonic tissues.