Association of pp36, a phosphorylated form of the presumed target protein for the src protein of Rous sarcoma virus, with the membrane of chicken cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus.

A cellular protein with a molecular mass of approximately 36 kilodaltons is the presumed target protein of the src protein [the transforming protein encoded by Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)]. The cellular location of the phosphorylated 36-kilo-dalton protein (pp36) in chicken embryo fibroblasts transformed by the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of RSV has been investigated. In these studies, two-dimensional electrophoresis was used for detection of the phosphoproteins in total cell extracts and also in fractionated subcellular components. We conclude that pp36 is localized in the plasma membrane, on the basis of the following observations. (i) Fractionation of 32P-labeled cell extracts showed that pp36 is almost exclusively localized in the crude membrane fraction and no appreciable amount was found in nuclear or cytoplasmic fractions. (ii) On further fractionation of the crude membrane fraction, pp36 was localized mostly in the plasma membrane rather than in other membranous fractions. (iii) Isolated plasma membrane by itself phosphorylated the 36-kilodalton protein on incubation with [gamma-32P]ATP.     

Structural and functional domains of the Rous sarcoma virus transforming protein (pp60src).

The transforming protein (pp60src) of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) is a phosphoprotein with the enzymatic ability to phosphorylate tyrosine in protein substrates. Previous work has indicated that the bulk of pp60src may be attached to the plasma membrane of infected cells. In an effort to better understand the mechanism by which pp60src induces the neoplastic phenotype, we have characterized further the attachment of pp60src to the plasma membrane, and we have identified separate molecular domains that are responsible for the attachment to membranes and for the protein kinase activity. Our results indicate that pp60src may be an integral membrane protein that is nevertheless synthesized on soluble polyribosomes. Subsequent to its synthesis, the protein attaches to plasma membrane without concomitant cleavage of a signal polypeptide. The amino-terminal quarter (or some portion thereof) of pp60src anchors the protein to the plasma membrane by forces that can be disrupted only with detergents. By contrast, protein kinase activity is located in the carboxyl-terminal half of the molecule. It appears that pp60src is designed on the one hand for tethering to the plasma membrane and on the other hand for enzymatic activity beyond the confines of the membrane. The fact that pp60src is but one of at least four different viral transforming proteins located on the plasma membrane implies that neoplastic transformation may commonly originate in events that occur at the periphery of the cell.     

Talin is phosphorylated on tyrosine in chicken embryo fibroblasts transformed by Rous sarcoma virus.

We have examined the extent of tyrosine phosphorylation of talin, a component of the cytoskeleton localized in the focal adhesions and, therefore, a potential substrate of p60v-src, the transforming protein of Rous sarcoma virus. p60v-src is a tyrosine kinase that induces high levels of phosphotyrosine and the disorganization of the cytoskeleton in transformed cells. With a polyclonal antibody utilized in a previous study [Maher, P. A., Pasquale, E. B., Wang, J. Y. J. & Singer, S. J. (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82, 6576-6580] for the detection of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins, we have detected phosphotyrosine residues in talin molecules immunoprecipitated from Rous sarcoma virus-transformed, but not normal, chicken embryo fibroblasts. Phospho amino acid analysis of talin from the infected cells confirmed the presence of phosphotyrosine, in addition to phosphoserine and phosphothreonine. The extent of tyrosine modification in talin was compared to that in vinculin, the other focal adhesion component previously found to contain enhanced levels of phosphotyrosine in various retrovirus-transformed cells. A considerably (3 times) larger fraction of the talin than of the vinculin molecules was found to be phosphorylated on tyrosine. The phosphorylation of talin on tyrosine may be crucial for the expression of the abnormal morphology characteristic of cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus.     

Selective inhibition of nuclear DNA synthesis by 9- -D-arabinofuranosyl adenine in rat cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus

The drug, 9-β-D-arabinofuranosyl adenine, selectively inhibits the synthesis of nuclear DNA without affecting extrachromosomal DNA synthesis in rat cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus (B-mix K-44/6). The inhibition was linear with respect to drug concentration over the range of 37-600 μM. Mitosis and total synthesis of DNA per cell were also depressed. DNA synthesis was determined by measurement of [³H]thymidine incorporation into DNA. Covalently-closed circular DNA was extracted by the Hirt procedure and separated from residual chromosomal DNA by buoyant density gradient ultracentrifugation in CsCl-propidium diiodide. On the basis of buoyant density and sedimentation velocity centrifugation, the covalently-closed circular DNA formed in the presence of the drug was indistinguishable from that formed in its absence.     

Association of the src gene product of Rous sarcoma virus with cytoskeletal structures of chicken embryo fibroblasts.

We have prepared cytoskeletons from normal and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells by extraction with nonionic detergents in a buffered salt solution designed to preserve the structure as it exists in vivo. Virtually all of the phosphoprotein pp60src in the cell is bound to such cytoskeletons. Furthermore, when these cytoskeletons are incubated in situ with [gamma-32P]ATP, pp60src is phosphorylated. Labeling of other apparently transformation-specific cytoskeletons phosphoproteins is also observed. These results directly demonstrate an association between pp60src and elements of the cytoskeleton and suggest that pp60src may exert at least some of its effects as a consequence of its interaction with this cellular framework.     

Rous sarcoma virus variants that carry the cellular src gene instead of the viral src gene cannot transform chicken embryo fibroblasts.

The transforming activity of the cellular src (c-src) gene as well as of hybrid genes between viral and cellular src was tested by constructing derivatives of Rous sarcoma virus DNA in which all or part of the viral src gene (v-src) was replaced by the corresponding portion of the c-src gene. After these derivatives were introduced into chicken embryo fibroblasts by transfection, replication-competent virus was recovered, which induced the expression of p60src at a level equivalent to p60v-src expression in cells infected with Rous sarcoma virus wild type. Replacement of the portion of the v-src gene, either upstream or downstream of the Bgl I site, with the homologous portion of the c-src gene resulted in fully transforming viruses. On the other hand, the virus stock obtained from cells transfected with Rous sarcoma virus DNA containing the entire c-src gene had a very low titer of focus-forming virus, while it contained a high titer of infectious virus. We present evidence that the rare small foci are formed by mutant viruses generated from the original c-src-containing virus. These results indicate that overproduction of the c-src gene product does not cause cell transformation, and that this proto-oncogene is subject to a relatively high rate of mutation when incorporated in a retrovirus genome, resulting in the acquisition of transforming capacity.     

Purification of the Rous sarcoma virus src kinase by casein-agarose and tyrosine-agarose affinity chromatography.

A simple and effective purification method for the src kinase, the transforming gene product of Rous sarcoma virus, has been developed by using affinity chromatography on casein-agarose and tyrosine-agarose columns. NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining analysis showed that the purified kinase preparation was composed of a predominant polypeptide of 60,000-Da. In most of the preparations, however, three minor proteins (54,000, 52,000, and 15,000 Da) were also detected, and they were partially characterized. As one of the exogenous substrates, calmodulin was found to be phosphorylated on tyrosine by the purified src kinase.     

Rous sarcoma virus is integrated but not expressed in chicken early embryonic cells.

We have developed a protocol that allows us to infect chicken early embryonic (CEE) cells with high efficiency. This was achieved by exposing the CEE cells to a semicontinuous dose of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) for a period of 20 hr. Southern blot analysis indicated that an average of one proviral copy is integrated per embryonic cell. However, there was no production of infectious viral particles by the cells containing the proviral genome, although low levels of full-length genomic RNA could be detected by RNA transfer blot analysis. These low RNA levels contrast with the 100- to 1000-fold higher levels found in RSV-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts. We conclude that in cells derived from pregastrulating chicken embryos, RSV DNA is integrated into the cell genome but fails to be expressed in an efficient manner. These primary cells can therefore be used to identify factors involved in regulation of retroviral gene expression in normal cells. Such factors may also be instrumental in elucidating basic mechanisms involved in gene regulation during early development in higher vertebrates.     

Construction of plasmids for expression of Rous sarcoma virus transforming protein, p60src, in Escherichia coli.

We have constructed plasmids that direct the synthesis of the Rous sarcoma virus transforming gene (src) product (p60src) in Escherichia coli. A 203-base-pair lac promoter-operator DNA encoding the first eight amino acids of beta-galactosidase was ligated to the 5' end of the src gene from the Prague A strain of Rous sarcoma virus (PrA-RSV) which had been cloned in pBR325. Antiserum, from a tumor-bearing rabbit, directed against pp60src was used to screen bacteria containing the recombinant plasmid for a protein of approximately 60,000 daltons, and several colonies producing a protein immunologically related to pp60src were detected. Partial proteolytic cleavage analysis revealed that the src-related protein produced in bacteria is structurally similar to pp60src immunoprecipitated from PrA-RSV-infected chicken cells. Partially purified src protein from E. coli can be phosphorylated in vitro by the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Tryptic phosphopeptide analysis demonstrated that the catalytic subunit phosphorylated a serine-containing tryptic peptide in the bacterial src protein that comigrated with the phosphoserine-containing tryptic peptide of pp60src immunoprecipitated from 32P-labeled PrA-RSV-infected chicken cells.     

Rous sarcoma virus activates embryonic globin genes in chicken fibroblasts.

Complementary DNA (cDNA) specific for chick globin mRNA sequences fails to hybridize to total RNA extracted from chicken fibroblasts. After infection by Rous sarcoma virus, RNA complementary to globin cDNA is detectable in 100-500 copies per cell. Infection of fibroblasts with the transformation defective (td) deletion mutant of Rous sarcoma virus leads to normal virus production, but not to host cell transformation or accumulation of RNA sequences complementary to globin cDNA. Our evidence shows that the globin genes activated by Rous sarcoma virus are those specified by embryonic chick red cells; adult-specific globin sequences were not detected.     

In vitro translation yields a possible Rous sarcoma virus src gene product.

In vitro translation of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) virion RNA in the messenger-dependent reticulocyte lysate system yielded polypeptides that were not synthesized by translation of RNA from a transformation-defective deletion mutant of RSV. These RSV-specific products migrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gels as two doublets of approximately 25,000 and 17,000 daltons. Synthesis of these proteins was not sensitive to inhibition by m7GTP; however, synthesis of the 76,000-dalton precursor of the internal structural proteins was sensitive to inhibition by m7GTP. Tryptic peptide maps showed the 25,000- and 17,000-dalton proteins to be related to one another but to be distinct from the 76,000-dalton protein. The 25,000-dalton protein was translated only from a polyadenylylated RNA of approximately 2500 nucleotides, whereas the 76,000-dalton protein was translated from 38S RNA, corresponding to the entire viral genome. A 180,000-dalton protein was also synthesized from 38S RSV virion RNA. From the absence of the 25,000- and 17,000-dalton proteins in the translation products of transformation-defective RSV RNA and the size of their RNA templates, we conclude that these proteins may be derived from coding sequences within the RSV src gene.     

Reversion of transformed glycolysis to normal by inhibition of protein synthesis in rat kidney cells infected with temperature-sensitive mutant of Rous sarcoma virus.

Normal rat kidney cells infected with a temperature-sensitive mutant (LA23) of Rous sarcoma virus exhibit the transformed phenotype when grown at 33 degrees and the normal phenotype at 39 degrees. We have previously shown [Ash, J.F., Vogt, P.K. & Singer, S.J. (1976) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, 3603-3607] that the addition of protein synthesis inhibitors to LA23-infected cells grown at 33 degrees causes them to revert, over a period of 12 hr, to the normal phenotype with respect to morphological and cytoskeletal characteristics. We now show that reversion of the metabolic characteristics of the transformed phenotype to those of the normal also occurs under these conditions. LA23-infected cells show an increased rate of aerobic glycolysis at 33 degrees compared to that at 39 degrees. They also show a different sensitivity of that rate to dinitrophenol and oligomycin at 33 degrees compared to 39 degrees. Such cells grown at 33 degrees in the presence of cycloheximide or abrin rapidly recover the aerobic glycolysis characteristics of the normal phenotype. These results support the thesis that transformation by the src gene of the Rous sarcoma virus is a pleiotypic and reversible process, such as is involved in a pleiotypic enzymic modification reaction and its reversal.     

Detection of phosphotyrosine-containing 34,000-dalton protein in the framework of cells transformed with Rous sarcoma virus.

Phosphotyrosine-containing 34,000-dalton protein is detected by treatment of a two-dimensional gel of cellular framework with 1 M NaOH at 40 degrees C for 1 hr. The alkali-resistant 32PO4-labeled 34,000-dalton protein is detected in various cell lines transformed by Rous sarcoma virus but not in lines transformed by simian virus 40, polyoma virus, herpes simplex II virus, adenovirus type 2, or chemical carcinogens. In addition, interferons or fibronectin matrices have no detectable effect on the phosphorylation of the 34,000-dalton protein in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells.     

Temperature-sensitive changes in surface modulating assemblies of fibroblasts transformed by mutants of Rous sarcoma virus.

The hypothesis that surface modulating assemblies containing microfilaments and microtubules and altered after cellular transformation was tested on cells infected with temperature-sensitive mutants of avian sarcoma virus. Untransformed cells (mouse 3T3 and chick fibroblasts), cells transformed by simian virus 40 (SV 3T3), and chick fibroblasts infected with Schmidt-Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus (SR-RSV-A-infected cells) were first compared for differences in microfilament and microtubule patterns after treatment with fluorescein-labeled antibodies to actin and tubulin. Transformed cells showed disappearance of ordered stress microfilaments and thickened or diffuse alterations of microtubular arrays. At restrictive temperatures (41 degrees), chick fibroblasts infected with a temperature-sensitive mutant (ts 68) of Rous sarcoma virus showed normal patterns of stress fialments and radial microtubular arrays originating in 1 or 2 centrioles. At permissive temperatures (37 degrees), these patterns were disordered and resembled those of SR-RSV-A-infected cells. After a shift from 41 degrees to 37 degrees, the changes in microtubules were observed in the majority of cells within 1 hr. These changes were reversible and did not result from the inability of tubulin to polymerize. In ts 68-infected cells at permissive temperatures, concanavalin A induced much less surface modulation (inhibition of receptor mobility) than at restrictive temperatures. These results suggest that cellular transformation alters both the structure and function of surface modulating assemblies and prompt the hypothesis that products of viral transforming genes may affect these assemblies with a consequent loss of growth control.     

Alterations in surface proteins of rat cells transformed by avian sarcoma virus B77.

Cell membrane proteins of avian sarcoma virus B77V--transformed cells LWF B55 and LWF B77 and uninfected rat embryo fibroblasts were analyzed by SDS acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Following alterations in cell surface proteins of LWF B55 and LWF B77 cells were found: one, a slight decrease of two high molecular weight proteins the larger of which corresponds presumably to "LETS" protein and a decrease of a protein with approximative molecular weight 50 000; two, increase in content of proteins with molecular weight of about 90--95 000 and 70--75 000 as well as a marked increase of a protein with molecular weight of 30--35 000.     

Hexose transport in sarcoma virus transformed cells.

Avian and mammalian fibroblast cultures transformed by type C sarcoma viruses show a dramatic enhancement of the rate of hexose transport at the beginning of transformation which is quantitatively and qualitatively different from that seen by variation in culture conditions of nontransformed control cells. The identification of this change as being a transport alteration independent of total glucose metabolism has been shown by use of nonmetabolizable analogues, 2-deoxyglucose, 3-O-methylglucose, and L-glucose. Increased transport rates were not dependent on levels of hexokinase activity. Transport studies of 3-O-methylglucose confirmed these conclusions and further revealed an additional altered nature of hexose transport after transformation by sarcoma virus. 3-O-methylglucose was not only transported more rapidly in the transformed cells than in the parental nontransformed cells, but the sugar "infiltrated" into the transformed cells despite the inhibitory effect of cytochalasin B. This was not seen with control cells. The sarcoma cells were also able to transport L-glucose in contrast to lack of uptake by nontransformed cells. Under conditions in which cell toxicity was not a factor, 2-deoxyglucose and several other sugars present in culture media inhibited transformation by sarcoma viruses. These same sugars reduced the incidence of sarcomas produced by virus in vivo when administered daily to test animals. The transport changes also correlate well with the transformed state as found by other laboratories using temperature-sensitive mutants and revertant cell lines. Collectively these data suggest that manipulation of transport systems may prove useful for control of certain malignancies.     

Adhesion plaques of Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells contain the src gene product.

Another intracellular location of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSU) src gene product (pp60src) has been detected within RSV-transformed cells by indirect immunofluorescence. By using rabbit anti-tumor serum specific for pp60src, a speckled pattern of fluorescence was found on the ventral surface of RSV (Schmidt-Ruppin strain)-transformed normal rat kidney cells. Several tests indicated that this pattern was specific for pp60src. In addition, interference-reflection microscopy was used to visualize cellular adhesion plaques, which are the points at which cells attach to the substratum. Simultaneous immunofluorescence and interference-reflection microscopy indicated that the speckles of pp60src fluorescence corresponded exactly to the adhesion plaque structures. The presence of pp60src within the adhsion plaques was further demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescences on isolated adhesion plaques that remained bound to glass after removal of the cells. pp60src also was observed in adhesion plaques of RSV-tranformed chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) and mouse fibroblasts, as well as CEF infected with the temperature-sensitive RSV mutant tsNY68 and grown at permissive temperature. At nonpermissive temperature, pp60src was not detectable in adhesion plaques of the tsNY68-infected CEF. Adhesion plaques serve as focal points of microfilament bundle attachment, and thse results suggest that pp60src interacts directly with cellular cytoskeletal components.     

Hematopoietic cell transformation by a murine recombinant retrovirus containing the src gene of Rous sarcoma virus.

A recombinant murine retrovirus (MRSV) containing the src gene of avian Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) was shown to induce hematopoietic colonies in infected mouse bone marrow. MRSV-induced colony formation followed single-hit kinetics and required mercaptoethanol in the agar medium. Cells from the colonies induced by MRSV could be established as continuous cell lines that demonstrated unrestricted self-renewal in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo. The transformants, all of which expressed high levels of the Rous sarcoma virus transforming protein, pp60src, appeared to be at an early stage in lymphoid cell differentiation. They lacked Fc receptors and detectable immunoglobulin mu heavy chain synthesis, markers normally associated with committed B cells. The majority of the MRSV-transformed cell lines contained high levels of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, an enzyme present in lymphoid progenitor cells committed to the T-cell lineage. One cell line expressed Thy-1 antigen, but none expressed Lyt-1 and Lyt-2, markers of more differentiated T cells. These findings demonstrate that the src gene is capable of transforming cells of hematopoietic origin.     

Reversion from transformed to normal phenotype by inhibition of protein synthesis in rat kidney cells infected with a temperature-sensitive mutant of Rous sarcoma virus.

By the use of a rat kidney cell line infected with a temperature-sensitive Rous sarcoma virus, we have shown that, at permissive temperatures where the cells are transformed, concanavalin A induces a clustering of its cell membrane receptors into patches, and the intracellular smooth muscle myosin-like protein is in a disordered state. By contrast, with infected cells grown at nonpermissive temperatures, the addition of concanavalin A does not alter the uniform distribution of its receptors, and the smooth muscle myosin-like protein is arranged in an ordered filamentous structure. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the myosin protein is part of an intracellular aggregating-disaggregating complex. In the normal cell it is in its aggregated state and inhibits the lateral mobility of the concanavalin A receptors in the membrane; in the transformed cell the complex is relatively disaggregated and permits the concanavalin A receptors to be mobile. The addition of protein synthesis inhibitors to infected cells grown at the permissive temperature causes the cell to change from the transformed phenotype to the normal. Removal of the reversible inhibitors causes the cells to revert to the transformed phenotype. These results show that (i) protein synthesis, presumably of an unstable product of the transforming gene of the temperature-sensitive virus, is required to maintain the transformed state in these infected cells at the permissive temperature; and (ii) protein synthesis is not required for the intracellular myosin-containing complex to revert from its disordered transformed state to its ordered normal state. This suggests that the product of the transforming gene directly or indirectly causes the disaggregation of the myosin-containing complex in the process of transformation.     

pp60v-src tyrosine kinase is expressed and active in sarcoma-free avian embryos microinjected with Rous sarcoma virus.

Early embryonic avian tissue is resistant to transformation by Rous sarcoma virus. To determine the nature of this resistance, we examined the expression and properties of the Rous sarcoma virus transforming protein pp60v-src, in infected embryonic chicken limbs in ovo. Lysates from Rous sarcoma virus-infected limbs contained the viral structural protein p19gag, as detected by immunoblot analysis, and showed pp60v-src kinase activity in vitro. Immunoblot analysis of lysates with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies revealed a number of phosphotyrosine-containing proteins present in lysates of Rous sarcoma virus-infected embryos but not in lysates of control, uninfected embryos. Anti-phosphotyrosine immunoreactivity was observed in frozen sections in the same cell types that expressed pp60v-src and p19gag. These studies demonstrate that pp60v-src is co-expressed with viral structural determinants in infected embryonic avian tissue. Furthermore, pp60v-src is active in ovo as a tyrosine-specific phosphotransferase, despite the apparent lack of sarcoma induction. The localization pattern of the major src gene substrate p36 (calpactin I) was compared with that of p19gag by double-label immunofluorescence and found to be generally nonoverlapping. These observations are consistent with the concept that the induction of tumors in ovo requires complementation between viral determinants and host factors. These host factors, which may be critical substrates of pp60v-src, are subject to developmental regulation in the avian embryo.