ASSOCIATION OF PROTEIN PHOSPHATASE-2A WITH POLYOMA-VIRUS MEDIUM TUMOR-ANTIGEN

The polyoma virus medium and small tumor antigens, as well as simian virus 40 small tumor antigen, form specific complexes with two cellular proteins designated 61- and 37-kDa proteins. In this report, we demonstrate that the 61-and 37-kDa proteins correspond to the A and C subunits, respectively, of the serine- and threonine-specific protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). On the one hand, antibodies raised against the 61-kDa protein reacted specifically with the purified A subunit of PP2A. Furthermore, the amino acid sequences of seven tryptic peptides from the A subunit were almost identical to sequences of the 61-kDa protein as deduced from the corresponding cDNA sequence. On the other hand, antibodies against the purified C subunit (catalytic subunit) of PP2A reacted specifically with the medium tumor antigen-associated 37-kDa protein. These data suggest a role of PP2A in cell transformation by polyoma virus and simian virus 40.