Analysis of the Stoichiometry and the Domain for Interaction of Simian Virus 40 Small-t Antigen with Protein Phosphatase 2A

Simian virus 40 (SV40) small-t antigen (small-t) has been known to regulate the activity of a cellular enzyme, protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), composed of A. B, and C subunits, via binding to the A subunit In the study presented here, the stoichiometry of the binding of small-t to PP2A was determined to be 1: 1. It was also shown that small-t binds to the AC form of PP2A with a higher apparent affinity than it binds to the free A subunit. We also characterized the interaction of PP2A with wild-type and various mutant small-ts. A single-point mutant (Val134Met) and a double-point mutant (Trp147Gly;Leu152 Pro) of small-t exhibited 3-fold and 5-fold lower potencies in inhibiting PP2A activity. respectively. This suggests that the region around amino acids between 134 and 152 of small-t might be important in regulating the enzyme activity of PP2A.