We transformed BALB/3T3 mouse cells with cellular DNA extracted from the Meth A sarcoma, a 3-methylcholanthrene-induced tumor ofBALB/c mice, and asked whether foci arising in the transfection possess the previously defined Meth A tumor-specific transplantation antigen (TSTA). Five of eight foci selected from one experiment possessed Meth A TSTA. DNA extracted from one of the five TSTA-positive clones was used in secondary rounds oftransfection transformation. Four out of five foci tested from the secondary transfections possessed Meth A TSTA. These results suggest that in the Meth A sarcoma a transforming gene and a genetic determinant of TSTA are intimately related: they may be identical or very closely linked; alternatively, a particular transforming gene might induce the expression of a particular TSTA. Another possible explanation for these results is that the cotransfer of certain cellular genes by DNA transfection is considerably higher than predicted from the limited studies presently available.An intriguing class oftumor antigens is the tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTAs) of carcinogen-induced murine sarcomas. TSTAs are defined by the ability of tumor cells and tumor cell particulates or solubilized antigens to immunize a syngeneic host against subsequent challenge by live cells of the same tumor (1-6). Each chemically induced sarcoma appears to possess a unique TSTA even if the tumors were induced by the same agent in the same animal. The genetic basis ofTSTAs ofcarcinogen-induced tumors is unknown, as is the relationship of the antigens to the transforming events that induced the tumor.To investigate the relationship between the genetic determinants of TSTAs and the transformed phenotype, we transformed BALB/3T3 mouse cells with DNA from the 3-methylcholanthrene-induced Meth A sarcoma (5), using the calcium phosphate precipitation technique (7-10), and asked whether the transformants possess the previously defined Meth A TSTA (5,6,11,12). Because the stable expression of mammalian cell genes after DNA transfection is very inefficient, one would expect the frequency of cotransfer of the two phenotypes, transformation and TSTA, to be only 0. 01-0. 001 ifthey are specified by unlinked genes (13,14). However, if the two phenotypes have common or linked determinants, one would expect a high frequency of cotransfer.The Meth A sarcoma was selected for these experiments because its TSTA has been well characterized immunologically and biochemically and shown to be distinct from TSTAs of all other syngeneic neoplasms assayed to date (5,6,11,12 Recipient cells were a subclone of BALB/3T3 clone A31 (18) designated BALB/3T3 clone 7 and were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium with 10% calf serum.DNA was precipitated with calcium phosphate essentially as described (7,20). Specifically, recipient cells were seeded at 1-1.5 X 106 per 10-cm dish for some experiments or 4 X 105 per 6-cm dish for others, and 40 Ag of high molecular weight DNA was sheared by two passages through a 20 gauge hyp...