Expression of SV40 T antigen polypeptides in cells biochemically transformed by plasmids containing the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene and the genome of an SV40tsA mutant.

To study the expression of SV40 tsA genomes that had been non-selectively introduced into mouse cells, SV40 tsA207 DNA was cleaved with BamH I and ligated to BamH I-cleaved plasmid pAGO DNA, which contains a functional HSV-1 thymidine kinase (TK) gene in the form of 2 kbp Pvu II fragment inserted at the Pvu II site of pBR322. Recombinant plasmids (11-12 kbp) were isolated and amplified in E. coli K12 strain RRI. Restriction nuclease analyses demonstrated that recombinant plasmids pSB15 and pSB10 contained intact SV40 genomes with the polarity of transcription oriented in the same direction (clockwise) or the opposite direction (counterclockwise), respectively, in relation to that of the HSV-1 TK gene. Cla I-cleaved pSB10 and pSB15 DNAs were used to transform LM(TK-) cells to TK+. Serological and disc PAGE analyses showed that clonal lines transformed by these plasmids all expressed the selected marker, HSV-1 TK. Molecular hybridization experiments showed that transformed clonal lines TF pSB10 C7 and TF pSB15 C10 had integrated intact SV40 genomes at one integration site, TF pSB10 C3 had integrated an SV40 genome with a small deletion near the BamH I site, but TF pSB15 Cl had integrated a plasmid from which most of the SV40 nucleotide sequences had been deleted. IF assays with hamster anti-SV40 tumor sera showed that TF pSB10 C7 and TF pSB15 C10 strongly expressed SV40 T antigens in over 90% of the cells, TF pSB10 C3 expressed SV40 T antigens in a minority of the cells, and TF pSB15 C1 did not express SV40 T antigens at all. [35S]-methionine labelling and immunoprecipitation experiments showed that, at 36.5 degrees C: (1) TF pSB10 C7 and TF pSB15 C10 expressed 92K and 20K mol. wt. species of SV40 T antigens and 50-55K cellular protein; (2) expression of all three was reduced in TF pSB10 C3 cells; and (3) TF pSB15 C1 expressed none of the SV40 T antigens, nor did parental LM(TK-) or TF 8-2 transformed cells (which contained the HSV-1 TK gene but not SV40 DNA). At 40 degrees C, labelling of the 50-55K cellular protein was markedly reduced in TF pSB10 C7 and pSB15 C10 cells. The results suggest that SV40 large T antigen (92K) induces and/or stabilizes the 50-55K cellular protein in these mouse cells.