A frameshift at a mutational hotspot in the polyoma virus early region generates two new proteins that define T-antigen functional domains.

A frameshift mutation, arising from the deletion of any one of nine consecutive cytidines in the region of Py DNA encoding both the midregion of large T-Ag and the C-terminal region of middle T-Ag, yields unstable flat cell revertants that synthesize two novel viral proteins in which shuffling of the different domains of the Py T-Ags has occurred. The first protein (37 kd) is a hybrid containing the N-terminus of large T-Ag and the hydrophobic C-terminus of middle T-Ag. The latter domain is responsible for membrane association, even in the 37 kd hybrid protein. The second protein (43 kd), which contains the N-terminal 75% of middle T-Ag, has an associated protein kinase activity and forms a complex with c-src, but cannot induce a transformed phenotype.