Polyoma virus T antigen. I. Synthesis of modified heat-labile T angiten in cells transformed with the ts-a mutant.

In mouse cells transformed with the ts-a mutant of polyoma virus (ts-a-3T3), only low amounts of the virus-specific T antigen were synthesized at high temperature (39 C). After a shift-down to the permissive temperature (31 C), these cells exhibited the same level of T-antigen production as wild-type polyoma transformants. The T antigen produced by ts-a-transformed cells was inactivated at 39 C in vitro at a faster rate than that produced by wild-type-transformed cells. These observations indicate that T antigen is, or includes, a virus-coded peptide.