Abstract
POLYOMA virus (PV) induces intranuclear tumour (T) antigen formation in permissive and semipermissive cells. In virus-infected cells, T antigen appears before the onset of viral DNA synthesis and is continuously demonstrable in PV-transformed cells1. The biological function of the T antigen is still uncertain, but the temporal relationship between early virus-specific messenger RNA (mRNA) synthesis, T antigen formation and stimulation of host cell DNA synthesis led to the hypothesis that T antigen acts as an activator for DNA synthesis2,3. Furthermore there exists only indirect evidence that T antigen is a virus-coded protein1. We have tested this by a more direct experimental approach. For this reason PV DNA was transcribed in vitro, and the complementary RNA (cRNA) obtained was further purified and injected into mouse tissue culture cells by our microinjection technique4,5. PV-specific T and V antigen formation was investigated.
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GRAESSMANN, M., GRAESSMANN, A., NIEBEL, J. et al. Experimental evidence that polyoma-specific tumour antigen is a virus-coded protein. Nature 258, 756–758 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/258756a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/258756a0
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