Cahill M A
Transcriptional Regulation Group, Division of Immunology and Cell Biology, The John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra.
FEBS Lett. 1997 Jan 2;400(1):9-10. doi: 10.1016/s0014-5793(96)01349-x.
The c-fos proto-oncogene was discovered by homology to transforming viral genes, leading to speculation that transforming viruses had captured a cellular gene involved in cell cycle control. Indeed overexpression of c-Fos protein led to deregulated growth control, and c-Fos was thought to be so critically involved in cell cycle control that transcriptional transrepression of its own promoter was interpreted as a negative feedback mechanism. However, recent findings render this conclusion improbable, Fos transrepression being most parsimoniously explained as transcriptional squelching imposed by artificially elevated levels of exogenous Fos protein.
