Nucleotide sequence of the Rasheed rat sarcoma virus oncogene: new mutations.

The nucleotide sequence of the oncogene of the Rasheed strain of rat sarcoma virus was determined. The oncogene (Ra-v-ras) encodes a 29,000-dalton (p29) transforming protein. This protein is distinct from the immunologically related 21,000-dalton protein (p21) of the Harvey murine sarcoma virus in its amino terminus and in having additional mutations in its carboxyl terminus. Although the functional significance of these changes is unknown, they appear to occur only in rat sarcoma virus.