Vertebrate DNAs contain nucleotide sequences related to the transforming gene of avian myeloblastosis virus

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Abstract
Avian myeloblastosis virus contains a continuous sequence of .apprx. 1000 nucleotides which may represent a gene (amv) responsible for acute myeloblastic leukemia in chickens. This sequence appears to have been acquired from chicken DNA and to be substituted for the envelope gene in the viral genome. Hybridization probes enriched for the amv sequences and conditions that facilitate annealing of partially homologous nucleotide sequences were used to show that cellular sequences related to amv are present in the genomes of all vertebrates ranging from amphibians to humans but were not detected in fish, sea, urchins or Escherichia coli. Nontransforming endogenous proviral nucleotide sequences closely related to the remainder of the avian myeloblastosis virus genome and to the entire myeloblastosis-associated helper virus are present only in chicken DNA. The amv-related cellular sequences appear to be highly conserved during evolution and to be contained at only 1 or a few locations in the genome of vertebrates. Within closely related species, they appear to share common evolutionary genetic loci. These findings and similar ones obtained with other highly oncogenic retroviruses containing a transforming gene suggest a general mechanism for acquisition of viral oncogenic sequences and an essential role for these sequences in the normal cellular state.