Lysine residue 121 in the proposed ATP-binding site of the v-mos protein is required for transformation.

The transforming gene product encoded by Moloney murine sarcoma virus clone 124, p37mos, contains a lysine residue (lysine-121) that is conserved among all members of the protein kinase family. This lysine has been shown to be part of a conserved ATP-binding site in both the catalytic subunit of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase and p60v-src. We wished to determine whether this lysine is required for the transforming activity of p37mos. Two site-specific mutations were therefore constructed, which result in the substitution of an aspartic acid or arginine codon in place of the codon for lysine-121. Both mutations abolished the ability of the mos gene to transform cells. These results show that lysine-121 is required for the ability of p37mos to transform cells and provide evidence for an ATP-binding site in p37mos. Furthermore, these results suggest that the conserved lysine residue is specifically involved in the catalytic activity of protein kinases in general.