N-myc targets
-
Correspondence: Jonathan B Weitzman jonathanweitzman@hotmail.com
Genome Biology 2001, 2:spotlight-20010322-01 doi:10.1186/gb-spotlight-20010322-01
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:
| Published: | 22 March 2001 |
© 2001 BioMed Central Ltd
Research news
Members of the myc oncogene family are often amplified or mutated in human tumours. In the March 15 EMBO Journal, Boon et al. described the use of a neuroblastoma cell line with an inducible N-myc allele to identify genes regulated by N-myc (EMBO Journal 2001, 20:1383-1393). They performed serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) to detect over a hundred genes up-regulated upon N-myc expression. The target genes included over 50 encoding ribosomal proteins, as well as key genes in rRNA maturation and ribosome assembly. Boon et al. also found a 45% higher rRNA content in cells expressing N-myc. Many of the identified N-myc target genes are also up-regulated in neuroblastomas with N-myc amplifications, and about 40% are also upregulated by the related c-myc transcription factor. Induction of the protein synthesis machinery by myc oncogenes may explain their role in regulating cell size.
References
-
[http://www.emboj.org] webcite
EMBO Journal
-
Conditional expression of N-myc in human neuroblastoma cells increases expression of alpha-prothymosin and ornithine decarboxylase and accelerates progression into S-phase early after mitogenic stimulation of quiescent cells.
-
c-Myc enhances protein synthesis and cell size during B lymphocyte development.
PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text | PubMed Central Full Text