Gene profiling of v-Src transformed primary chicken cells

Cell transformation by the Src tyrosine kinase is characterized by extensive changes in gene expression. To describe these changes, investigators have relied extensively on the study of immortalized rodent cell lines or heterogeneous tumor samples that limit the identification of differentially expressed genes or may not represent the full spectrum of biological processes regulated during transformation. In this study, we took advantage of transformation-deficient and temperature sensitive mutants of the Rous sarcoma virus to characterize the patterns of gene expression in two types of primary cells, namely chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) and chicken neuro-retinal (CNR) cells. Keywords: viral transformation of primary cells, transformation, transformation deficient mutant, temperature sensitive mutant, v-Src Chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) were infected with the wild-type strain Schmidt-Ruppin A RSV or non-transforming strain NY315 RSV or the non-transforming control virus RCASBP(A) to assess genes involved in v-Src-dependent transformation of CEF. Chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) were infected with the temperature sensitve strain NY72-4 RSV and cultured either at non-permissive temperature (41.5˚C) or permissive temperature (37˚C) to assess genes involved in v-Src-dependent transformation of CEF. Chicken neuroretina cells (CNR) were infected with the temperature sensitve strain NY72-4 RSV and cultured either at non-permissive temperature (41.5˚C) or permissive temperature (37˚C) to assess genes involved in v-Src-dependent transformation of CNR and compared to CEF.