C-Myc: Difference between revisions

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The c-Myc [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncogene oncogene] encodes a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_factor transcription factor], c-Myc protein, which is involved in the regulation of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_cycle cell cycle].  C-Myc belongs to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-myc Myc] family of proteins including B-Myc, L-Myc, N-Myc, and s-Myc.  c-Myc is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_helix-loop-helix_leucine_zipper_transcription_factors b-HLH-LZ] (basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper) protein that must form a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodimer heterodimer] with another b-HLH-LZ protein, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAX_(gene) Max], in order to bind DNA and activate [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcription_(genetics) transcription].   

Mutations in myc proteins or overexpression of their encoding genes have been linked to several forms of cancer, among these are lymphoma, myeloma, liver, lung, and breast cancer.

An experiment was done to see if mice could survive embryonic development without the C-myc gene.  This was done by using a mutation to make the C-myc allele null at the protein level.  They gave some of the embryos one correct copy of the allele and others no correct copy.  The homozygous mice (two null C-myc alleles), died between 9.5 and 10.5 days of gestation.  The mice also were smaller and had many health problems.  This showed that C-myc is vital to the development of embryos of organisms.