[Detection of DNA sequences sensitive to glucocorticoids in the thymus of AKR mice and their inactivation in thymoma].

A high increase in transcriptionally active DNA fraction (TA DNA) has been detected in the thymus of young AKR mice and in thymoma. Hybridization of TA DNA with [32P] cDNA synthesized on poly A+-mRNA of cortisol-induced animals has shown that TA DNA of young AKR mice contains 40 times as much cortisol-activated repeated sequences (RS) as that of thymoma. The decrease of cortisol-activated (RS) in AKR thymoma TA DNA was found to be the result of their transition into transcriptionally inactive (TI) DNA. It is concluded that chromatin conformation changes take place in cortisol-activated RS DNA region of AKR mouse thymus before transformation. Unstable conformation of RS DNA in the thymoma can possibly promote their transition into TI DNA.