Membrane association of the transforming protein of avian sarcoma virus UR2 and mutants temperature sensitive for cellular transformation and protein kinase activity.

The localization of the transforming protein P68gag-ros of avian sarcoma virus UR2, which has a hydrophobic region at the N terminus of its ros-specific tyrosine kinase-encoding sequence, was examined by subcellular fractionation. P68 behaved as an integral membrane protein associated with the plasma membrane of transformed cells. P68 became membrane associated very rapidly in its biogenesis. Three temperature-sensitive mutants of UR2 were isolated and characterized. Cells infected with the mutants were temperature sensitive for morphological alteration and colony formation. The mutant P68 proteins were membrane associated in mutant-infected cells regardless of the temperature but were active as protein kinases only at the permissive temperature. The results suggest that P68 is a membrane-associated protein whose kinase activity plays a crucial role in UR2-mediated cell transformation.