Mutations in the SH3 domain of the src oncogene which decrease association of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase activity with pp60v-src and alter cellular morphology.

To analyze the signaling pathways utilized in malignant transformation by pp60v-src, we have isolated and characterized src mutants which possess normal levels of protein tyrosine kinase activity but which cause only a partially transformed phenotype. Our hypothesis is that such mutants are partially defective for transformation because they are defective in their ability to activate specific components of the cellular signaling machinery while still activating others. In this communication, we report on the molecular and biochemical characterization of one such mutant, CU12 (D. D. Anderson, R. P. Beckmann, E. H. Harms, K. Nakamura, and M. J. Weber, J. Virol. 37:455-458, 1981). Cells infected with this mutant are capable of anchorage-independent growth, but rather than exhibiting the rounded and refractile morphology characteristic of wild-type-infected cells, they display an extremely elongated, fusiform morphology. The morphological properties of this mutant src could be accounted for entirely by a single mutation in the SH3 domain (lysine 106 to glutamate). Other mutations were constructed in this region by in vitro mutagenesis, both in a v-src and in an activated c-src background, and several of them also induced a fusiform morphology. All of the mutations inducing fusiform morphology also resulted in decreased association of pp60src with phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase activity. In addition, association of pp60src with some tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins was altered. We propose that the SH3 domain participates (along with the SH2 domain) in the interaction of pp60src with cellular signaling proteins, and we speculate that the association with phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase plays an important role in the regulation of cellular morphology.