A viable simian virus 40 variant with a deletion in the overlapping genes for virion proteins VP1, VP2 and VP3.

Nucleotide sequence analysis was used to determine the exact location of a deletion in the late region of the SP2 mutant of simian virus 40 (SV40), a viable small-plaque variant isolated from a persistent infection of rhesus monkey kidney cells. The results indicate that six base pairs are deleted from that part of the SV40 genome in which the coding regions for the three virion proteins, VP1, VP2 and VP3, overlap. This implies that all three virion proteins are affected by the deletion. This finding is discussed with respect to the viability of SP2.