theyeti

Technically speaking, I think an oncogene is defined as the mutated, potentially cancerous state of the gene. The "normal" gene before it receives a mutation is referred to as a "proto-oncogene". Proto-oncogenes are turned off unless the cell needs to proliferate. Once they receive one or more mutations and become an oncogene, they are always turned on. But it usually takes several other types of genes (tumor suppressors, angiogenesis, apoptosis, etc.) to mutate before you actually get cancer. (And BTW, p53 is not an oncogene, it's a tumor suppressor unless I'm mistaken. Unlike oncogenes, tumor suppressors are always turned on at normal cell density; in the "off" state they can cause cancer.)

Also, given that the abstract says...

...does this mean that "hominoid" refers to all the great apes, and thus this gene is not human specific?

At any rate, that's a great find MyKell. I'll definitely be adding it to the list.

theyeti

MyKell

Hey no problem theyti,
I realize the distinction between proto-oncogen and oncogen, but I think in this paper oncogen meant proto-oncogen