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By the mid 1980's, it was clear that the transforming activity of oncogenic Src was linked to the activity of its tyrosine kinase domain and attention turned to identifying substrates, the putative next level of control in the pathway to transformation. Among the first to recognize the potential of phosphotyrosine-specific antibodies, Parsons and colleagues launched a risky shotgun-based approach that led ultimately to the cDNA cloning and functional characterization of many of today's best-known Src substrates (for example, p85-Cortactin, p110-AFAP1, p130Cas, p125FAK and p120-catenin). Two decades and over 6000 citations later, the original goals of the project may be seen as secondary to the enormous impact of these protein substrates in many areas of biology. At the request of the editors, this review is not restricted to the current status of the substrates, but reflects also on the anatomy of the project itself and some of the challenges and decisions encountered along the way.

Tumor-derived Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cell lines, induced in vitro by treatment with chemical carcinogens, contained increased levels of pp60c-src kinase activity compared to preneoplastic parental cell lines and normal SHE cells. The increased kinase activity did not result from an increase in the pp60c-src content of the SHE cell lines, but represented a 4-11 fold increase in pp60c-src kinase specific activity. Both the extent of phosphorylation and the velocity of pp60c-src phosphotransferase activity were increased in the tumor-derived cell lines. SHE cell lines producing chicken pp60c-src were isolated following co-transfection with plasmids bearing the chicken c-src and neoR genes. Chicken pp60c-src expressed in an asbestos-transformed, tumor-derived cell line showed an approximate 3-fold activation of tyrosine kinase activity compared to chicken pp60c-src expressed in the preneoplastic cell line. We suggest that these results indicate that activation of pp60c-src is mediated by trans-acting cellular factors present in the tumor-derived cells. Analysis of pp60c-src in normal SHE cells, preneoplastic cell lines and tumor-derived cell lines showed no alteration in the phosphorylation of tyr-527 or tyr-416, two tyrosine residues whose phosphorylation states have been associated with modulation of kinase activity. These studies indicate that the neoplastic progression of cells may be accompanied by the activation of proto-oncogene products, such as the pp60c-src tyrosine kinase, by mechanisms that may not directly involve genetic alteration of the proto-oncogene DNA sequence.

Treatment of normal Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells in vitro with various chemical carcinogens results in transformed preneoplastic cell lines. Continued passage of these preneoplastic cells gives rise to rare variant cells with enhanced capacity for tumorigenic growth. We have previously shown that tumor-derived SHE cell lines contain an activated proto-oncogene product, pp60c-src. Here we demonstrate that tumor-derived SHE cell lines contain several novel tyrosine phosphoproteins in addition to those found in preneoplastic parent cell lines. A correlation was observed between the activation of endogenous pp60c-src tyrosine kinase specific activity and the presence of new phosphotyrosine-containing proteins. Tyrosine phosphoproteins of approximate Mr 81 kilodaltons (kDa), 55 kDa, and 39 kDa were noted in different tumor-derived cell lines. The 81 kDa and 55 kDa proteins were membrane-associated phosphoproteins, whereas the 39 kDa protein was predominantly cytosolic. Additional signature tyrosine phosphoproteins in individual tumor-derived cell lines apparently were unique to the particular inducing carcinogen or target cell. These studies indicate that during chemical carcinogenesis, activation of the tyrosine kinase proto-oncogene protein pp60c-src coincides with the appearance of novel tyrosine phosphorylations.