Retroviral oncogenes are derived from cellular genes. These cellular genes code for components of signal transduction chains. They include genes for growth factors, growth factor receptors, G proteins, amplifiers generating second messengers, cytoplasmic protein kinases, and nuclear proteins. In this system of cellular growth regulators turned oncogenic, the oncogenes coding for nuclear proteins have been a challenge because their products have not been identified with cellular proteins of known function. The situation changed with the discovery of a new retroviral oncogene in avian sarcoma virus 17 (ASV17). The amino acid sequence of the ASV17 oncoprotein bears a striking resemblance to a highly conserved DNA-binding motif first found in the yeast transcriptional activator GCN4. The new viral oncogene is also very closely related to and probably derived from the gene coding for the eukaryotic transcription factor AP-1. The new oncoprotein has gained further interest because it shows a specific and functionally...
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Ball et al. (1988) studied this question.