Marek's disease virus Meq transforms chicken cells via the v-Jun transcriptional cascade: a converging transforming pathway for avian oncoviruses.

ABSTRACT: Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a highly pathogenic and oncogenic herpesvirus of chickens. MDV encodes a basic leucine zipper (bZIP) protein, Meq (MDV EcoQ). The bZIP domain of Meq shares homology with Jun/Fos, whereas the transactivation/repressor domain is entirely different. Increasing evidence suggests that Meq is the oncoprotein of MDV. Direct evidence that Meq transforms chicken cells and the underlying mechanism, however, remain completely unknown. Taking advantage of the DF-1 chicken embryo fibroblast transformation system, a well established model for studying avian sarcoma and leukemia oncogenes, we probed the transformation properties and pathways of Meq. We found that Meq transforms DF-1, with a cell morphology akin to v-Jun and v-Ski transformed cells, and protects DF-1 from ap

SUBMITTER: Levy AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1253582 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature