Malignant transformation of primary cells requires at least two distinct and characteristic alterations in cellular behaviour. The first, cellular immortality, can be induced by chemical carcinogens or by cloned oncogenes such as polyoma large T (ref. 4), adenovirus early region 1A (E1A) or the oncogene from avian (MC29) myelocytomatosis virus, v-myc. Cells whose in vitro life-span has been extended by these procedures can be fully transformed by transfection with oncogenes belonging to a different complementation group, including genes of the ras family, adenovirus E1b and polyoma virus middle T (refs 4, 5). The unstable cellular phosphoprotein p53 is frequently present at elevated levels in transformed cells and is stabilized by the formation of complexes with simian virus 40 (SV40) large T or adenovirus E1b 57K protein. Although several reports have associated p53 with cell proliferation, its role remains obscure. We have cloned complementary DNA sequences encoding murine p53 and report here that transfection of p53 expression constructs into cells of finite lifespan in vitro results in cellular immortality and susceptibility to transformation by a ras oncogene.

p53 is a cellular phosphoprotein that is present at elevated concentrations in cells transformed by different agents. p53 complementary DNA expression-constructs immortalize primary cells in vitro and co-operate with an activated ras oncogene in malignant transformation. Several reports have implicated p53 in mammalian cell cycle control and specifically with events occurring at the G0-G1 boundary. p53 forms specific complexes with simian virus 40 (SV40) large-T antigen, and such complexes are found associated with both replicating and mature SV40 DNA in lytically infected cells. In an accompanying paper Gannon and Lane report that in in vitro plate-binding assays, mouse p53 can displace polymerase alpha from complex with T-antigen. We have examined the in vivo consequences of expressing wild-type and mutant p53 proteins from other species in SV40-transformed monkey cells. We report here that expression of mouse p53 results in a substantial and selective inhibition of SV40 origin-dependent DNA replication. In addition to any function in the G0-G1 transition, the data presented suggest that p53 may affect directly the initiation or maintenance of replicative DNA synthesis.

P53 is a cellular phosphoprotein of short half-life (t1/2) which is present at elevated levels in cells transformed by various stimuli including viruses, chemicals and radiation. p53 forms specific stable complexes with simian virus 40 (SV40) large-T antigen and an adenovirus E1b protein of relative molecular mass (Mr) 57,000. A number of reports have associated p53 with cell proliferation, and p53 complementary DNA expression constructs immortalize primary cells in vitro and render them sensitive to transformation by an activated ras oncogene. We have examined the biological properties of a set of p53 expression constructs, and report here that cellular immortalization by a wild-type p53 cDNA gene is conditional upon the promoter/enhancer construction used, but that p53 can extend cellular lifespan by a second distinct mechanism involving rearrangements of the coding sequence which give rise to stable protein products. Cells immortalized by one of these mutants are refractory to subsequent transformation by a ras oncogene, indicating that cellular immortalization and ras cooperation are separate activities.

We have cloned and sequenced overlapping cDNA fragments which together encode the entire mouse protein p53. Using these cDNA's we have reconstructed the full length coding region for the protein, and have analysed its coding potential by expression in vitro, both as a full length sequence and as a subfragment contained in a fusion protein. The predicted amino acid sequence contains no obvious homologies to any known oncogenes but includes a possible tyrosine kinase acceptor site.

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