Cellular homologue (c-src) of the transforming gene of Rous sarcoma virus: isolation, mapping, and transcriptional analysis of c-src and flanking regions.

The tumorigenic properties of Rous sarcoma virus are attributable to a 60,000-dalton protein, pp60v--src, encoded by a single viral gene, v-src. A homologous gene, c-src, that contains the information for a 60,000-dalton protein, pp60c--src, has been identified in all tested vertebrate cells. By screening a recombinant DNA library representative of the chicken genome, we isolated two overlapping DNA fragments that contain more than 30 kilobases (kb) of DNA spanning the coding sequences for pp60c--src. This 30-kb region is devoid of moderately or highly repeated sequences and shares homology with the entire viral gene and noncoding sequences 5' of v-src. Although v-src has an uninterrupted coding sequence, c-src is interrupted by a minimum of seven intervening sequences. At least two polyadenylylated RNAs seem to be encoded within the DNA we have isolated. The larger RNA, approximately 3.9 kb, is the presumptive c-src mRNA; the smaller transcript of about 2 kb hybridizes to DNA sequences several kb from the 3' end of the v-src/c-src homology area.