J. Ghysdael*1, J. Coll1, P. Martin1, C. Dozier1, B. Debuire2, G. Calothy3 and D. Stehelin1. 1Institut Pasteur, Lille, France. 2I.R.C.L., Lille, France, 3Institut Curie, Orsay, France

The oncogenic properties of acutely transforming retroviruses are the result of the expression of viral oncogenes (v-onc). Viral oncogenes were derived from normal cellular genes (c-onc) and over 20 different c-onc genes have been identified in a variety of animal species.

Point mutations, amplifications and translocations of c-onc genes are observed in tumor cells from animal and human non-viral cancers. This suggests that activation of c-onc genes may represent at least some of the multiple steps involved in human carcinogenesis and that two or more distinct oncogenes can act in complementation.

The genome of three avian retroviruses was found to contain two...

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