scholarly journals Studies on cell division in mammalian cells. VII. A temperature-sensitive cell line abnormal in centriole separation and chromosome movement.

1983 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 301-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Wang ◽  
W Wissinger ◽  
E J King ◽  
G Wang

A temperature-sensitive Syrian hamster mutant cell line, ts-745, exhibiting novel mitotic events has been isolated. The cells show normal growth and mitosis at 33 degrees C, the permissive temperature. At the nonpermissive temperature of 39 degrees C, mitotic progression becomes aberrant. Metaphase cells and those cells still able to form a metaphase configuration continue through and complete normal cell division. However, cells exposed to 39 degrees C for longer than 15 min can not form a normal metaphase spindle. Instead, the chromosomes are distributed in a spherical shell, with microtubules (MT) radiating to the chromosomes from four closely associated centrioles near the center of the cell. The cells progress from the spherical monopolar state to other monopolar orientations conical in appearance with four centrioles in the apex region. Organized chromosome movement is present, from the spherical shell state to the asymmetrical orientations. Chromosomes remain in the metaphase configuration without chromatid separation. Prometaphase chromosome congression appears normal, as the chromosomes and MT form a stable monopolar spindle, but bipolar spindle formation is apparently blocked in a premetaphase state. When returned from 39 degrees to 33 degrees C, the defective phenotype is readily reversible. At 39 degrees C, the mitotic abnormality lasts 3-5 h, followed by reformation of a single nucleus and cell flattening in an interphase-like state. Subsequent cell cycle events appear to occur, as the cells duplicate chromosomes and initiate a second round of abnormal mitosis. Cell cycle traversion continues for at least 5 d in some cells despite abnormal mitosis resulting in cells accumulating several hundred chromosomes.

1992 ◽  
Vol 117 (5) ◽  
pp. 1041-1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
JR Hamaguchi ◽  
RA Tobey ◽  
J Pines ◽  
HA Crissman ◽  
T Hunter ◽  
...  

The mouse FT210 cell line is a temperature-sensitive cdc2 mutant. FT210 cells are found to arrest specifically in G2 phase and unlike many alleles of cdc2 and cdc28 mutants of yeasts, loss of p34cdc2 at the nonpermissive temperature has no apparent effect on cell cycle progression through the G1 and S phases of the division cycle. FT210 cells and the parent wild-type FM3A cell line each possess at least three distinct histone H1 kinases. H1 kinase activities in chromatography fractions were identified using a synthetic peptide substrate containing the consensus phosphorylation site of histone H1 and the kinase subunit compositions were determined immunochemically with antisera prepared against the "PSTAIR" peptide, the COOH-terminus of mammalian p34cdc2 and the human cyclins A and B1. The results show that p34cdc2 forms two separate complexes with cyclin A and with cyclin B1, both of which exhibit thermal lability at the non-permissive temperature in vitro and in vivo. A third H1 kinase with stable activity at the nonpermissive temperature is comprised of cyclin A and a cdc2-like 34-kD subunit, which is immunoreactive with anti-"PSTAIR" antiserum but is not recognized with antiserum specific for the COOH-terminus of p34cdc2. The cyclin A-associated kinases are active during S and G2 phases and earlier in the division cycle than the p34cdc2-cyclin B1 kinase. We show that mouse cells possess at least two cdc2-related gene products which form cell cycle regulated histone H1 kinases and we propose that the murine homolog of yeast p34cdc/CDC28 is essential only during the G2-to-M transition in FT210 cells.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 2954-2969 ◽  
Author(s):  
G L Condorelli ◽  
A Tocci ◽  
R Botta ◽  
F Facchiano ◽  
U Testa ◽  
...  

The TAL-1 gene specifies a basic helix-loop-helix domain (bHLH) transcription factor, which heterodimerizes with E2A gene family proteins. tal-1 protein is abnormally expressed in the majority of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALLs). tal-1 is expressed and plays a significant role in normal erythropoietic differentiation and maturation, while its expression in early myeloid differentiation is abruptly shut off at the level of late progenitors/early differentiated precursors (G. L. Condorelli, L. Vitelli, M. Valtieri, I. Marta, E. Montesoro, V. Lulli, R. Baer, and C. Peschle, Blood 86:164-175, 1995). We show that in late myeloid progenitors (the phenotypically normal murine 32D cell line) and early leukemic precursors (the human HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cell line) ectopic tal-1 expression induces (i) a proliferative effect under suboptimal culture conditions (i.e., low growth factor and serum concentrations respectively), via an antiapoptotic effect in 32D cells or increased DNA synthesis in HL-60 cells, and (ii) a total or marked inhibitory effect on differentiation, respectively, on granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-induced granulopoiesis in 32D cells or retinoic acid- and vitamin D3-induced granulo- and monocytopoiesis in HL-60 cells. Furthermore, experiments with 32D temperature-sensitive p53 cells indicate that aberrant tal-1 expression at the permissive temperature does not exert a proliferative effect but causes p53-mediated apoptosis, i.e., the tal-1 proliferative effect depends on the integrity of the cell cycle checkpoints of the host cell, as observed for c-myc and other oncogenes. tal-1 mutant experiments indicate that ectopic tal-1 effects are mediated by both the DNA-binding and the heterodimerization domains, while the N-terminally truncated tal-1 variant (M3) expressed in T-ALL malignant cells mimics the effects of the wild-type protein. Altogether, our results (i) indicate proliferative and antidifferentiative effects of ectopic tal-1 expression, (ii) shed light on the underlying mechanisms (i.e., requirement for the integrity of the tal-1 bHLH domain and cell cycle checkpoints in the host cell, particularly p53), and (iii) provide new experimental models to further investigate these mechanisms.


Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (4) ◽  
pp. 1561-1576
Author(s):  
Neil Macpherson ◽  
Vivien Measday ◽  
Lynda Moore ◽  
Brenda Andrews

Abstract In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the Swi6 protein is a component of two transcription factors, SBF and MBF, that promote expression of a large group of genes in the late G1 phase of the cell cycle. Although SBF is required for cell viability, SWI6 is not an essential gene. We performed a synthetic lethal screen to identify genes required for viability in the absence of SWI6 and identified 10 complementation groups of swi6-dependent lethal mutants, designated SLM1 through SLM10. We were most interested in mutants showing a cell cycle arrest phenotype; both slm7-1 swi6Δ and slm8-1 swi6Δ double mutants accumulated as large, unbudded cells with increased 1N DNA content and showed a temperature-sensitive growth arrest in the presence of Swi6. Analysis of the transcript levels of cell cycle-regulated genes in slm7-1 SWI6 mutant strains at the permissive temperature revealed defects in regulation of a subset of cyclin-encoding genes. Complementation and allelism tests showed that SLM7 is allelic with the TAF17 gene, which encodes a histone-like component of the general transcription factor TFIID and the SAGA histone acetyltransferase complex. Sequencing showed that the slm7-1 allele of TAF17 is predicted to encode a version of Taf17 that is truncated within a highly conserved region. The cell cycle and transcriptional defects caused by taf17slm7-1 are consistent with the role of TAFIIs as modulators of transcriptional activation and may reflect a role for TAF17 in regulating activation by SBF and MBF.


Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
Kazuo Tatebayashi ◽  
Jun-ichi Kato ◽  
Hideo Ikeda

Abstract The fission yeast DNA repair gene rad21+ is essential for cell growth. To investigate the function essential for cell proliferation, we have isolated a temperature-sensitive mutant of the rad21+ gene. The mutant, rad21-K1, showed abnormal mitosis at the nonpermissive temperature. Some cells contained abnormal nuclear structures, such as condensed chromosomes with short spindles, or chromosomes stretched or unequally separated by elongating spindles. Other cells exhibited the displaced nucleus or a cut-like phenotype. Similar abnormalities were observed when the Rad21 protein was depleted from cells. We therefore concluded that Rad21 is essential for proper segregation of chromosomes. Moreover, the rad21-K1 mutant is sensitive not only to UV and γ-ray irradiation but to thiabendazole and hydroxyurea, indicating that Rad21 plays important roles in microtubule function, DNA repair, and S phase function. The relation to the microtubule function was further confirmed by the fact that rad21+ genetically interacts with tubulin genes, nda2+ and nda3+. Finally, the growth of the rad21-K1 mutant was inhibited at the permissive temperature by introduction of another mutation in the cut9+ gene, coding for a component of the 20S cyclosome/anaphase promoting complex, which is involved in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. The results suggest that these diverse functions of Rad21 may be facilitated through ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis.


1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.E. Truckenmiller ◽  
Ora Dillon-Carter ◽  
Carlo Tornatore ◽  
Henrietta Kulaga ◽  
Hidetoshi Takashima ◽  
...  

In vitro growth properties of three CNS-derived cell lines were compared under a variety of culture conditions. The M213-20 and J30a cell lines were each derived from embryonic CNS culture with the temperature-sensitive (ts) allele of SV40 large T antigen, tsA58, while the A7 cell line was immortalized using wild-type SV40 large T antigen. Cells immortalized with tsA58 SV40 large T proliferate at the permissive temperature, 33° C, while growth is expected to be suppressed at the nonpermissive temperature, 39.5°C. Both the M213-20 and J30a cell lines were capable of proliferating at 39.5°C continuously for up to 6 mo. All three cell lines showed no appreciable differences in growth rates related to temperature over a 7-day period in either serum-containing or defined serum-free media. The percentage of cells in S-phase of the cell cycle did not decrease or was elevated at 39.5°C for all three cell lines. After 3 wk at 39.5°C, the three cell lines also showed positive immunostaining using two monoclonal antibodies reacting with different epitopes of SV40 large T antigen. Double strand DNA sequence analyses of a 300 base pair (bp) fragment of the large T gene from each cell line, which included the ts locus, revealed mutations in both the J30a and M213-20 cell lines. The J30a cell line ts mutation had reverted to wild type, and two additional loci with bp substitutions with predicted amino acid changes were also found. While the ts mutation of the M213-20 cells was retained, an additional bp substitution with a predicted amino acid change was found. The A7 cell line sequence was identical to the reference wild-type sequence. These findings suggest that (a) nucleic acid sequences in the temperature-sensitive region of the tsA58 allele of SV40 large T are not necessarily stable, and (b) temperature sensitivity of cell lines immortalized with tsA58 is not necessarily retained.


2005 ◽  
Vol 277-279 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Joo Jang ◽  
Young Sook Kil ◽  
Jee Hee Ahn ◽  
Jae Hoon Ji ◽  
Jong Seok Lim ◽  
...  

The fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a single-celled free-living fungus that shares many features with cells of more complicated eukaryotes. Many of the genes required for the cell-cycle control, proteolysis, protein modification, and RNA splicing are highly conserved with those of higher eukaryotes. Moreover, fission yeast has the merit of genetics and its genetic system is already well characterized. As such, the current study evaluated the use of a fission yeast system as a tool for the functional study of mammalian genes and attempted to set up an assay system for novel genes. Since the phenotypes of a deletion mutant and the overexpression of a gene are generally analyzed for a functional study of specific genes in yeast, the present study used overexpression phenotypes to study the functions of mammalian genes. Therefore, based on using a thiamine-repressive promoter, two mammalian genes were expressed in fission yeast, and their overexpressed phenotypes compared with those in mammalian cells. The phenotypes resulting from overexpression were analyzed using a FACS, which analyzes the DNA contents, and a microscope. One of the selected genes was the mammalian Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), which is activated and plays a role in the mitotic phase of the cell division cycle. The overexpression of various constructs of Plk1 in the HeLa cells caused cell cycle defects, suggesting that the ectopic Plk1s blocked the endogenous Plk1 in the cells. As expected, when the constructs were overexpressed in the fission yeast system, the cells were arrested in mitosis and defected at the end of mitosis. As such, this data suggests that the Plk1-overexpressed phenotypes were similar in the mammalian cells and the fission yeast, thereby enabling the mammalian Plk1 functions to be approximated in the fission yeast. The other selected gene was the N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (ndrg2), which is upregulated during cell differentiation, yet still not well characterized. When the ndrg2 gene was overexpressed in the fission yeast, the cells contained multi-septa. The septa were positioned well, yet their number increased per cell. Therefore, this gene was speculated to block cell division in the last stage of the cell cycle, making the phenotype potentially useful for explaining cell growth and differentiation in mammalian cells. Accordingly, fission yeast is demonstrated to be an appropriate species for the functional study of mammalian genes.


Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
T A Weinert ◽  
L H Hartwell

Abstract In eucaryotes a cell cycle control called a checkpoint ensures that mitosis occurs only after chromosomes are completely replicated and any damage is repaired. The function of this checkpoint in budding yeast requires the RAD9 gene. Here we examine the role of the RAD9 gene in the arrest of the 12 cell division cycle (cdc) mutants, temperature-sensitive lethal mutants that arrest in specific phases of the cell cycle at a restrictive temperature. We found that in four cdc mutants the cdc rad9 cells failed to arrest after a shift to the restrictive temperature, rather they continued cell division and died rapidly, whereas the cdc RAD cells arrested and remained viable. The cell cycle and genetic phenotypes of the 12 cdc RAD mutants indicate the function of the RAD9 checkpoint is phase-specific and signal-specific. First, the four cdc RAD mutants that required RAD9 each arrested in the late S/G2 phase after a shift to the restrictive temperature when DNA replication was complete or nearly complete, and second, each leaves DNA lesions when the CDC gene product is limiting for cell division. Three of the four CDC genes are known to encode DNA replication enzymes. We found that the RAD17 gene is also essential for the function of the RAD9 checkpoint because it is required for phase-specific arrest of the same four cdc mutants. We also show that both X- or UV-irradiated cells require the RAD9 and RAD17 genes for delay in the G2 phase. Together, these results indicate that the RAD9 checkpoint is apparently activated only by DNA lesions and arrests cell division only in the late S/G2 phase.


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