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Properties of the c-Myc Protein

  • Chapter
c-Myc Function in Neoplasia

Part of the book series: Medical Intelligence Unit ((MIU.LANDES))

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Abstract

Biology is full of surprises, and the regulation of c-myc readily illustrates this point. The regulation of c-myc expression is an intricate network of commands that controls transcriptional initiation, elongation as well as mRNA stability. In addition to this hierarchy of controls, production of the c-Myc polypeptides is also regulated. The predicted size of the c-myc encoded polypeptide initiated at the canonical AUG translational start site is 439 amino acids.1 The corresponding ATG is located at the 5' end of exon 2 (Fig. 4.1). Although the predicted molecular mass is 49.5 kDa, the observed size in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is about 62 kDa, which is largely due to the amino acid composition rather than to posttranslational modification.2–4 Hence this protein is termed p62Myc. From the same c-myc mRNAs, an alternative form of c-Myc polypeptide is translationally initiated at a CUG, 14 codons upstream from the canonical AUG (Fig. 6.1).5 This alternative form is termed p64Myc. These two forms of c-Myc appear as a doublet of polypeptides on SDS-PAGE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Chi V. Dang M.D., Ph.D. & Linda A. Lee M.D.

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  1. Chi V. Dang M.D., Ph.D.
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  2. Linda A. Lee M.D.
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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Dang, C.V., Lee, L.A. (1995). Properties of the c-Myc Protein. In: c-Myc Function in Neoplasia. Medical Intelligence Unit. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-22681-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-22681-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-22683-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-22681-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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