A survey of differences between membrane polypeptides of transformed and nontransformed chick embryo fibroblasts.

Plasma membrane-associated polypeptides of chick embryo fibroblasts and cells transformed by the Schmidt-Ruppin wild-type strain of Rous sarcoma virus and its temperature-sensitive tsNY68 mutant were compared by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Polypeptide and glycoprotein alterations were identified after incubation of cells with [35S]methionine and [3H]mannose and by staining of the gels with 125I-labeled concanavalin A and Coomassie brilliant blue. Polypeptides found to be consistently transformation-sensitive included a group of five polypeptides that were detected only by short-term labeling with methionine, fibronectin, a 180 kDa polypeptide with a pI of 5.6, a mannose-containing glycoprotein of 48 kDA and an unusually high pI of 8.4, and a 19 kDa polypeptide with a pI of approx. 4.5. Several of these polypeptides appear to be particularly interesting for further characterization.