Phosphorylation of a 36,000 Mr cellular protein in cells infected with partial transformation mutants of rous sarcoma virus.

We have isolated and characterized mutants of Rous sarcoma virus which induce some parameters of transformation but fail to fully induce other parameters. We believe these mutants code for a pp60src which phosphorylates some targets well but phosphorylates others poorly. Using these mutants, we examined the phosphorylation of a 36,000 Mr protein which is phosphorylated on a tyrosine in cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus, in an attempt to correlate this phosphorylation with the expression of specific transformation parameters. We found that phosphorylation of the 36,000 Mr protein was neither necessary nor sufficient for loss of fibronectin or for loss of density-dependent inhibition of growth. Phosphorylation of the protein was not sufficient for morphological alterations, increased hexose transport, or loss of adhesiveness. For the parameters measured, the best correlation was with increased plasminogen activator. In addition, it is noteworthy that cells infected with the mutant CU2 displayed low levels of phosphorylation of the 36,000 Mr protein and also were deficient in anchorage-independent growth and tumorigenicity, raising the possibility that the phosphorylation of the 35,000 Mr protein may be required for malignant growth properties.