Role of SV40 Small t in Cell Lysis, Transformation, and Signaling

Simian virus 40 small t antigen (st) is encoded on a differentially spliced transcript of the SV40 early region. It shares its aminoterminal 82 amino acids with the large T antigen and contains a unique cysteine-rich carboxyterminal half. Small t mutant viruses were obtained originally as deletion mutations within the large T intron (1 ,2 ). These are fully viable, although they grow somewhat more slowly and to slightly lower yields, as compared to wild-type (wt) viruses.