New region of the simian virus 40 genome required for efficient viral transformation.

Viable mutants of simian virus 40 with deletions in three regions of the virus genome (map coordinates 0.21-0.17, 0.59-0.54, and 0.67-0.74) have been tested for their ability to transform rat fibroblasts to anchorage independence. Only those mutants whose deletions occur between 0.59 and 0.55 in the proximal part of the early region are defective in transforming ability. The most severely defective of these transform with less than one-hundredth the efficiency of wild type. They retain their defect when tested in Chinese hamster lung cells and when infection is initiated with viral DNA instead of intact virions. Complementation for transformation can be observed between these transformation-defective deletions and a simian virus 40 temperature-sensitive A mutant.