This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nomura, S Articles by Khoury, G Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Nomura, S Articles by Khoury, G

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Virol. 1986 April; 58(1): 165-172

Spontaneous deletion mutants resulting from a frameshift insertion in the simian virus 40 agnogene.

ABSTRACT

The 61-amino-acid agnoprotein is a nonessential polypeptide encoded by the late leader region of simian virus 40 which appears to play a role in viral assembly. A 2-base-pair (bp) insertion mutant (in2379) was created by altering the coding region of this protein. This mutation prevents the synthesis of the agnoprotein and, in contrast to the more extensive deletion mutations previously described in this region, might be expected to have a lesser effect on the template for late viral transcription. In fact, the 2-bp insertion mutant grew significantly less well than most mutants containing larger deletions in the agnoprotein region and frequently gave rise to stock containing second-site alterations in the same region. These observations suggested that the defect in mutant in2379 extends beyond the loss of the agnoprotein. Characterization of a number of second-site mutants indicated that all of them grew more efficiently than the original 2-bp insertion mutant. Based on the nucleotide sequence of these mutants, we suggest possibilities for the deleterious effect induced by the insertion in mutant in2379.