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T Hunter

Publications and source records attributed to T Hunter.

At least 361 records · Page 20Linked to original sources

Vinculin: a cytoskeletal target of the transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus.

Vinculin, a protein associated with the cytoplasmic face of the focal adhesion plaques which anchor actin-containing microfilaments to the plasma membrane and attach a cell to the substratum, contains 8-fold more phosphotyrosine in cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus than in uninfected cells. Because the transforming protein of RSV, p60src, is a protein kinase that modifies cellular proteins through the phosphorylation of tyrosine and because phosphotyrosine is a very rare modified amino acid, this result is a very rare modified amino acid, this result suggests that vinculin is a primary substrate of p60src. Only trace amounts of phosphotyrosine were detected in myosin heavy chains, alpha-actinin, filamin, and the intermediate filament protein vimentin. The modification of vinculin by p60src may be responsible in part for the disruption of the microfilament organization and for the changes in cell shape and adhesiveness which accompany transformation by Rous sarcoma virus.

Amino Acids↗

Evidence that the Abelson virus protein functions in vivo as a protein kinase that phosphorylates tyrosine.

Both lymphocytes and fibroblasts that have been transformed by ABelson murine leukemia virus contain 6- to 12-fold increased levels of the rare modified amino acid phosphotyrosine in their proteins. This observation, coupled with the fact that the p120 protein encoded by this virus has been shown to undergo an apparent autophosphorylation to yield phosphotyrosine in vitro, suggests that Abelson virus encodes a protein kinase that phosphorylates tyrosine in transformed cells. These results are similar to those obtained previously with Rous sarcoma virus and suggest, by analogy, that the modification of cellular polypeptides through the phosphorylation of tyrosine may be involved in cellular transformation by Abelson virus. p120 isolated from transformed cells contains phosphoserine, phosphothreonine, and phosphotyrosine. The phosphotyrosine is found at two sites in the protein. p120 therefore may be a protein kinase that undergoes autophosphorylation in vivo.

Abelson murine leukemia virus↗

Antibodies specific for the polyoma virus middle-size tumor antigen.

We have obtained antibodies specific for the polyoma virus middle-size tumor antigen (middle T antigen) by immunizing rabbits with a synthetic peptide, Lys-Arg-Ser-Arg-His-Phe, corresponding to the six carboxy-terminal amino acids of the middle T antigen predicted from the nucleotide sequence of polyoma DNA. The antipeptide serum precipitates the polyoma middle T antigen but not the small or large tumor antigens, and precipitation is inhibited in the presence of the peptide. Two cellular proteins, 30,000 and 26,000 daltons, are also precipitated specifically by the antipeptide serum and may have amino acid sequences related to the peptide. Two other cellular proteins, 33,000 and 25,000 daltons, are precipitated only in the presence of the peptide and may associate with it in cell extracts. Antisera directed against synthetic peptides are likely to be important in various ways, including the production of antibodies directed against particular determinants and the recognition of unknown proteins whose genes have been analyzed.

Animals↗

Similarities and differences between the effects of epidermal growth factor and Rous sarcoma virus.

We have derived a line of A431 human tumor cells infected with Rous sarcoma virus (RSV). The infected cells contain the RSV-transforming protein, pp60src, which has characteristic tyrosine specific protein kinase activity. As in other RSV-transformed cells, a 36,000-dalton protein is phosphorylated in RSV-infected A431 cells. Addition of epidermal growth factor (EGF) to the cells induces further phosphorylation of this protein. In contrast, this phosphoprotein is not detected in uninfected A431 cells, except when treated with EGF. Increased phosphorylation of the EGF receptor protein and of an 81,000-dalton cellular protein is dependent upon addition of EGF to the culture fluids, in both control and RSV-infected A431 cells. The results are discussed with reference to the similarities and differences between the tyrosine-specific protein kinases induced by RSV and activated by EGF.

Avian Sarcoma Viruses↗

Identification of a packaged cellular mRNA in virions of rous sarcoma virus.

A novel messenger activity has been identified by in vitro translation of the 70S virion RNAs of a variety of avian leukosis and avian sarcoma viruses. When the 70S virion RNA complex was heat dissociated and the polyadenylated RNA was fractionated on neutral sucrose gradients, a polypeptide of 34,000 daltons (34K) was observed in the translation products of 18S polyadenylic acid-containing virion RNA. Aside from the p60(src)-related subgenomic messenger activities, this was the only prominent messenger activity that sedimented at <20S. It was determined that the 34K protein was not virally coded because (i) messenger activity for the 34K protein was not generated by mild alkaline hydrolysis of 35S genomic RNA, (ii) the 34K proteins synthesized in response to different virion RNAs had identical tryptic peptide maps, and (iii) the tryptic peptide map of the 34K protein coded for by virion RNA was identical to that of a major in vitro translation product of 34,000 daltons made from 18S uninfected chick cell polyadenylated RNA. The 18S RNA was shown to be contained within virion particles, rather than part of a cellular structure copurifying with virus preparations, by demonstrating the presence of 34K messenger activity in virion cores made from detergent-disrupted virus. This cellular mRNA, however, was not observed in the virion RNAs of Rous-associated virus types 0 and 2 avian leukosis viruses and therefore is not packaged by all avian retroviruses. Since no other cellular message has been detected by this assay, it seems likely that the 34K mRNA found in 70S virion RNA is the result of selective packaging of an abundant host cell mRNA by certain avian retroviruses.

Animals↗

Changes in protein phosphorylation in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo cells.

Rous sarcoma virus encodes a tyrosine-specific protein kinase (p60src) which is necessary for cell transformation. To identify substrates for this kinase, we set out to detect phosphotyrosine-containing proteins in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo cells, making use of the known alkali stability of phosphotyrosine. 32P-labeled phosphoproteins were separated by isoelectric focusing and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The gels were then incubated in alkali. Using this procedure with normal cells, we detected a total of about 190 alkali-resistant phosphoproteins. In Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells, five phosphoproteins were found which were not detectable in normal cells. Two of these are probably structural proteins of the virus. The other three transformation-dependent phosphoproteins, and four other phosphoproteins which were elevated by transformation, all contained phosphotyrosine. Increased phosphorylation of these proteins did not occur with cells infected with a mutant Rous sarcoma virus, temperature sensitive for transformation, grown at the restrictive temperature. We conclude that these seven proteins are probably substrates of p60src, although they may be substrates for other tyrosine-specific protein kinases activated by p60src.

Animals↗

Four different classes of retroviruses induce phosphorylation of tyrosines present in similar cellular proteins.

Chicken embryo cells transformed by the related avian sarcoma viruses PRC II and Fujinami sarcoma virus, or by the unrelated virus Y73, contain three phosphoproteins not observed in untransformed cells and increased levels of up to four other phosphoproteins. These same phosphoproteins are present in increased levels in cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus, a virus which is apparently unrelated to the three aforementioned viruses. In all cases, the phosphoproteins contain phosphotyrosine and thus may be substrates for the tyrosine-specific protein kinases encoded by these viruses. In one case, the site(s) of tyrosine phosphorylation within the protein is the same for all four viruses. A homologous protein is also phosphorylated, at the same major site, in mouse 3T3 cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus or by the further unrelated virus Abelson murine leukemia virus. A second phosphotyrosine-containing protein has been detected in both Rous sarcoma virus and Abelson murine leukemia virus-transformed 3T3 cells, but was absent from normal 3T3 cells and 3T3 cells transformed by various other viruses. We conclude that representatives of four apparently unrelated classes of transforming retroviruses all induce the phosphorylation of tyrosines present in the same set of cellular proteins.

Abelson murine leukemia virus↗

Transforming gene product of Rous sarcoma virus phosphorylates tyrosine.

The protein kinase activity associated with pp60src, the transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus, was found to phosphorylate tyrosine when assayed in an immunoprecipitate. Despite the fact that a protein kinase with this activity has not been described before, several observations suggest that pp60src also phosphorylates tyrosine in vivo. First, chicken cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus contain as much as 8-fold more phosphotyrosine than do uninfected cells. Second, phosphotyrosine is present in pp60src itself, at one of the two sites of phosphorylation. Third, phosphotyrosine is present in the 50,000-dalton phosphoprotein that coprecipitates with pp60src extracted from transformed chicken cells. We infer from these observations that pp60src is a novel protein kinase and that the modification of proteins via the phosphorylation of tyrosine is essential to the malignant transformation of cells by Rous sarcoma virus. pp60sarc, the closely related cellular homologue of viral pp60src, is present in all vertebrate cells. This normal cellular protein, obtained from both chicken and human cells, also phosphorylated tyrosine when assayed in an immunoprecipitate. This is additional evidence of the functional similarity of these structurally related proteins and demonstrates that all uninfected vertebrate cells contain at least one protein kinase that phosphorylates tyrosine.

Avian Sarcoma Viruses↗

Relationship of polypeptide products of the transforming gene of Rous sarcoma virus and the homologous gene of vertebrates.

All vertebrate cells have been shown to contain a gene, sarc, that has some homology with the transforming gene of Rous sarcoma virus, src. We have compared the polypeptide products of the sarc gene, p60(sarc), of human, mouse, and chicken cells with the polymorphic polypeptide product of the src gene, p60(src), of several strains of Rous sarcoma virus by two-dimensional peptide mapping. p60(sarc) from chicken cells was clearly related to every viral p60(src). Eleven of its 13 methionine-containing tryptic peptides were present in some viral p60(src). Conversely, the other two peptides were not present in any p60(src) we have examined so far. The 11 peptides from p60(sarc) of chickens that were shared with viral p60(src), however, were not all present in any single viral p60(src). These 11 peptides most closely resemble those in the p60(src)s of B77 virus and the Prague strain of Rous sarcoma virus. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that cellular sarc is the progenitor of viral src. The p60(sarc)s of human, mouse, and chicken cells were so similar in tryptic peptide composition that they were more closely related to each other than were some viral p60(src)s. The two mammalian p60(sarc)s differed from avian p60(sarc) most notably in that they lacked a peptide that chicken p60(sarc) shares with all the viral p60(src)s. The similarity of these maps suggests that the sequence of the p60(sarc) polypeptide has diverged very little during evolution. This may imply that p60(sarc) is an essential cellular component.

Animals↗