Common site of mutation in the erbB gene of avian erythroblastosis virus mutants that are temperature sensitive for transformation.

The genome of the avian erythroblastosis virus temperature sensitive mutant ts34 was cloned from a cell line that was shown to contain a single integrated copy of the virus. The mutation was localized to the v-erbB gene by making chimeric viruses between the mutant genome and that of wildtype. Sequencing of the mutant v-erbB gene revealed a single amino acid change of a histidine to an aspartate residue at a position equivalent to amino-acid 826 of the human epidermal growth factor receptor. Interestingly this is the identical mutation to that recently reported for another temperature sensitive mutant ts167, indicating that this may be a hot spot for mutations in the v-erbB gene that give rise to ts transformation mutants. In addition, the different biological phenotypes of ts34 and ts167 are suggested to be due to an additional mutation in v-erbA in ts167.