Selection of somatic cell hybrids between BK virus transformed BHK-21 and human embryonic kidney cells to study viral...

Somatic cell hybrids were constructed between the human papovavirus, BKV, transformed BHK-21 cells and human embryonic kidney cells, the permissive host for BKV using the polyethylene glycol-DMSO cell fusion method. Hybrids were selected to preserve the phenotype of transformation as anchorage independence to allow examination of the synthesis of BKV early gene products, the T proteins. Several hybrid clones which survived the selection procedure demonstrated an enhanced production of the small t or approximately 22 K protein while the viral large T or approximatley 94 K protein was not detectable. It was also determined in this study that BHK-21 cells which are thymidine kinase deficient (TK-) can be stably transformed by BKV and appear to remain enzyme deficient after transformation.