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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Cancer. 2012 Aug 17;12(9):639–648. doi: 10.1038/nrc3320

Fig. 1. The biochemical definition of src.

Fig. 1

The protein-coding regions of non-defective RSV encompass the complete information required for virus reproduction (gag, pol, env) and the information needed for oncogenic transformation (src). The RSV-infected cell produces progeny virus and is transformed.

During the replication of RSV, mutant viruses are generated that are no longer oncogenic but contain all the essential viral genes and are fully capable of producing progeny virus that fails to transform cells in culture.

A comparison of the genome sizes of parental RSV and transformation-defective mutant shows that loss of oncogenicity is correlated with loss of about 20% of the genome. The lost sequences represent the src gene which is not essential for virus replication. Using DNA transcripts of these two viral genomes, src sequences can be purified by subtractive hybridization.