Functional domains of the v-erbA protein necessary for oncogenesis are required for transcriptional activation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The v-erbA oncogene is a retrovirus-transduced and altered copy of a cellular gene (c-erbA-alpha) for a thyroid hormone receptor. In this paper we show that the v-erbA domains required for transcriptional activation in yeast and for oncogenic function in animal cells are closely congruent. We conclude that the behavior of the v-erbA protein as a transcriptional activator in yeast appears to closely reflect the same biochemical requirements that are necessary for v-erbA function in the neoplastic vertebrate cell. Intriguingly, parallel analyses of c-erbA-alpha and -beta demonstrated unexpected differences in the activities of the two thyroid hormone receptor isoforms in the yeast, perhaps reflecting different functions of these genes in vertebrates. Furthermore, results obtained by analysis of chimeric v-/c-erbA genes suggest that the basal and the hormone-induced transcriptional activity of the nuclear hormone receptors can be modulated independently by distinct structural features within the protein molecule.