Nucleic Acids Research, 1981, Vol. 9, No. 9 2055-2074
© 1981
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY |
Requirement for the C-terminal region of middle T-antigen in cellular transformation by virus
Imperial Cancer Research Fund Lincoln's Inn Fields London, WC2A 3PX, UK
Received March 2, 1981. Deletions in polyoma virus DNA around the region that codes for the C-terminus of the viral middle T-antigen were created using a transforming fragment (BamH I/EcoR I) of viral DNA cloned in the plasmid vector pAT153. These species were recloned and assayed for their ability to transform Rat-1 cells in culture. Our results showed that whereas the DNA sequence between the presumed translational termination codon for the viral middle T-antigen and the singleviral EcoR I site could be removed with no apparent effect on transformation, the removal of the termination codon itself or any amino acid coding sequences of this protein caused a drastic decrease in the transforming ability of the DNA. Transfection of Rat-1 cells with plasmids that contained viral DNA with deletions which corresponded to the last fourteen or more amino acids of the middle T-antigen never gave rise to cellular transformation.