Effect of a viral rep gene on transformation of cells by an adeno-associated virus vector.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors readily express the gene for geneticin-resistance under control of the AAV p40 promoter when chromosomally integrated at low copy number in mammalian cells. We show that a truncated AAV rep gene, transcribed from the p5 and p19 promoters, mediates a negative effect on expression of geneticin-resistance in human 293 cells and a positive effect in HeLa cells. Also, we describe a novel phenotype for a mutant expressing the p19 rep gene alone which has a negative effect in 293 cells but no positive effect in HeLa cells.