Activation of the ret-II oncogene without a sequence encoding a transmembrane domain and transforming activity of two ret-II oncogene products differing in carboxy-termini due to alternative splicing.

We previously reported the cloning of a transforming gene, ret-II, which contains the proto-ret kinase domain. In the present study ret-II cDNAs were cloned from a transformant and analyzed. The restriction map and nucleotide sequence indicated that the sequence upstream of the proto-ret kinase domain was replaced by another sequence, which encoded a fusion protein composed of 899 amino acids. This non-proto-ret sequence differed from that of the ret previously reported and had no hydrophobic amino acid stretch for a transmembrane domain. Furthermore, we obtained two kinds of ret-II cDNAs differing in their 3' regions and found that the differences were generated by alternative splicing. From these cDNAs, two types of oncogene products differing in their carboxy-terminal amino acid residues were predicted. The two products exhibited similar transforming activity in NIH3T3 cells. These data indicate that activation of proto-ret can occur as a result of replacement of the extra-cellular and transmembrane domains with the hydrophilic sequence. In addition, differences in the carboxy-terminal amino acid residues in the two types of ret-II oncogene products have no influence on the transforming activity of the ret-II oncogene.