Temperature-sensitive periods of mutations affecting cell division in Tetrahymena thermophila

1980 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Frankel ◽  
J. Mohler ◽  
A.K. Frankel

Temperature-sensitive periods were determined by application of temperature shifts and shocks to 3 temperature-sensitive cell division arrest (cda) mutants of Tetrahymena thermophila. A restrictive temperature, 36 degrees C, was found at which all 3 mutants are fully penetrant, yet other physiological effects are minimal. At this temperature, the temperature-sensitive period of cdaC2 is a unique 5-min period in mid-division, that of cdaA1 is a similarly brief period situated about 0.5 h prior to cell division, while the temperature-sensitive period of cdaH1 is 20 to 30 min long and immediately precedes cell division. These periods either coincide with (cdaC2, cdaH1) or immediately precede (cdaA1) the onset of phenotypic abnormality at the restrictive temperature. Brief exposure to 36 degrees C during the temperature-sensitive period in any of these mutants brings about irreversible arrest of division furrows in progress or preparation. Mutant cells suffering such arrest can, however, divide again at a permissive temperature by forming new furrows at different sites.

1980 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
J. Frankel ◽  
J. Mohler ◽  
A.K. Frankel

Although temperatures of 37.5 and 39 degrees C allow continuous and rapid exponential growth of wild type Tetrahymena thermophila, sudden shifts up to these temperatures can bring about long excess-delays of cell division with accompanying resorption of developing oral primordia. A characteristic parameter of this delay-phenomenon is the physiological transition point, before which delays are maximal and after which they are negligible. When measured at a restrictive temperature that does not induce excess delays (36 degrees C), the end of the temperature-sensitive period of the cell division arrest of mutant cdaA1 precedes the physiological transition point, that of cdaH1 roughly coincides with it, while the entire temperature-sensitive period of cdaC2 comes after the physiological transition point. When cdaA1 cells are exposed to 37.5 degrees C or above, the manifestations of temperature sensitivity are drastically affected: the estimate of the end of the temperature-sensitive period (the execution point) becomes spuriously late, and the characteristic division arrest following heat shocks is not manifested. The differential effects of the higher restrictive temperatures on cdaH1 are most subtle, whereas those on cdaC2 are negligible. We conclude that the excess-delay phenomenon involves a set-back of genemediated processes occurring at specific stages of the cell cycle.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 902-905
Author(s):  
M Narkhammar ◽  
R Hand

ts BN-2 is a temperature-sensitive hamster cell line that is defective in DNA synthesis at the restrictive temperature. The mutant expresses its defect during in vitro replication in whole-cell lysates. Addition of a high-salt-concentration extract from wild-type BHK-21, revertant RBN-2, or CHO cells to mutant cells lysed with 0.01% Brij 58 increased the activity in the mutant three- to fourfold, so that it reached 85% of the control value, and restored replicative synthesis. The presence of extract had an insignificant effect on wild-type and revertant replication and on mutant replication at the permissive temperature. Extract prepared from mutant cells was less effective than the wild-type cell extract was. Also, the stimulatory activity was more heat labile in the mutant than in the wild-type extract. Nuclear extract was as active as whole-cell extract.


1988 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 1171-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Hirano ◽  
Y Hiraoka ◽  
M Yanagida

A temperature-sensitive mutant nuc2-663 of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe specifically blocks mitotic spindle elongation at restrictive temperature so that nuclei in arrested cells contain a short uniform spindle (approximately 3-micron long), which runs through a metaphase plate-like structure consisting of three condensed chromosomes. In the wild-type or in the mutant cells at permissive temperature, the spindle is fully extended approximately 15-micron long in anaphase. The nuc2' gene was cloned in a 2.4-kb genomic DNA fragment by transformation, and its complete nucleotide sequence was determined. Its coding region predicts a 665-residues internally repeating protein (76.250 mol wt). By immunoblots using anti-sera raised against lacZ-nuc2+ fused proteins, a polypeptide (designated p67; 67,000 mol wt) encoded by nuc2+ is detected in the wild-type S. pombe extracts; the amount of p67 is greatly increased when multi-copy or high-expression plasmids carrying the nuc2+ gene are introduced into the S. pombe cells. Cellular fractionation and Percoll gradient centrifugation combined with immunoblotting show that p67 cofractionates with nuclei and is enriched in resistant structure that is insoluble in 2 M NaCl, 25 mM lithium 3,5'-diiodosalicylate, and 1% Triton but is soluble in 8 M urea. In nuc2 mutant cells, however, soluble p76, perhaps an unprocessed precursor, accumulates in addition to insoluble p67. The role of nuc2+ gene may be to interconnect nuclear and cytoskeletal functions in chromosome separation.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 902-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Narkhammar ◽  
R Hand

ts BN-2 is a temperature-sensitive hamster cell line that is defective in DNA synthesis at the restrictive temperature. The mutant expresses its defect during in vitro replication in whole-cell lysates. Addition of a high-salt-concentration extract from wild-type BHK-21, revertant RBN-2, or CHO cells to mutant cells lysed with 0.01% Brij 58 increased the activity in the mutant three- to fourfold, so that it reached 85% of the control value, and restored replicative synthesis. The presence of extract had an insignificant effect on wild-type and revertant replication and on mutant replication at the permissive temperature. Extract prepared from mutant cells was less effective than the wild-type cell extract was. Also, the stimulatory activity was more heat labile in the mutant than in the wild-type extract. Nuclear extract was as active as whole-cell extract.


Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven I Reed

ABSTRACT Thirty-three temperature-sensitive mutations defective in the start event of the cell division cycle of Saccharomyces cereuisiae were isolated and subjected to preliminary characterization. Complementation studies assigned these mutations to four complementation groups, one of which, cdc28, has been described previously. Genetic analysis revealed that these complementation groups define single nuclear genes, unlinked to one another. One of the three newly identified genes, cdc37, has been located in the yeast linkage map on chromosome IV, two meiotic map units distal to hom2.—Each mutation produces stage-specific arrest of cell division at start, the same point where mating pheromone interrupts division. After synchronization at start by incubation at the restrictive temperature, the mutants retain the capacity to enlarge and to conjugate.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 4594-4601
Author(s):  
J J Dermody ◽  
B E Wojcik ◽  
H Du ◽  
H L Ozer

We described a strategy which facilitates the identification of cell mutants which are restricted in DNA synthesis in a temperature-dependent manner. A collection of over 200 cell mutants temperature-sensitive for growth was isolated in established Chinese hamster cell lines (CHO and V79) by a variety of selective and nonselective techniques. Approximately 10% of these mutants were identified as ts DNA- based on differential inhibition of macromolecular synthesis at the restrictive temperature (39 degrees C) as assessed by incorporation of [3H]thymidine and [35S]methionine. Nine such mutants, selected for further study, demonstrated rapid shutoff of DNA replication at 39 degrees C. Infections with two classes of DNA viruses extensively dependent on host-cell functions for their replication were used to distinguish defects in DNA synthesis itself from those predominantly affecting other aspects of DNA replication. All cell mutants supported human adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) and mouse polyomavirus DNA synthesis at the permissive temperature. Five of the nine mutants (JB3-B, JB3-O, JB7-K, JB8-D, and JB11-J) restricted polyomavirus DNA replication upon transfection with viral sequences at 33 degrees C and subsequent shift to 39 degrees C either before or after the onset of viral DNA synthesis. Only one of these mutants (JB3-B) also restricted Ad2 DNA synthesis after virion infection under comparable conditions. No mutant was both restrictive for Ad2 and permissive for polyomavirus DNA synthesis at 39 degrees C. The differential effect of these cell mutants on viral DNA synthesis is expected to assist subsequent definition of the biochemical defect responsible.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 6350-6360
Author(s):  
F Houman ◽  
C Holm

To investigate chromosome segregation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we examined a collection of temperature-sensitive mutants that arrest as large-budded cells at restrictive temperatures (L. H. Johnston and A. P. Thomas, Mol. Gen. Genet. 186:439-444, 1982). We characterized dbf8, a mutation that causes cells to arrest with a 2c DNA content and a short spindle. DBF8 maps to chromosome IX near the centromere, and it encodes a 36-kDa protein that is essential for viability at all temperatures. Mutational analysis reveals that three dbf8 alleles are nonsense mutations affecting the carboxy-terminal third of the encoded protein. Since all of these mutations confer temperature sensitivity, it appears that the carboxyl-terminal third of the protein is essential only at a restrictive temperature. In support of this conclusion, an insertion of URA3 at the same position also confers a temperature-sensitive phenotype. Although they show no evidence of DNA damage, dbf8 mutants exhibit increased rates of chromosome loss and nondisjunction even at a permissive temperature. Taken together, our data suggest that Dbf8p plays an essential role in chromosome segregation.


1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 1255-1265
Author(s):  
S K Dutcher ◽  
L H Hartwell

The ability of a functional gene to complement a nonfunctional gene may depend upon the intracellular relationship of the two genes. If so, the function of the gene product in question must be limited in time or in space. CDC (cell division cycle) gene products of Saccharomyces cerevisiae control discrete steps in cell division; therefore, they constitute reasonable candidates for genes that function with temporal or spatial restrictions. In an attempt to reveal such restrictions, we compared the ability of a CDC gene to complement a temperature-sensitive cdc gene in diploids where the genes are located within the same nucleus to complementation in heterokaryons where the genes are located in different nuclei. In CDC X cdc matings, complementation was monitored in rare heterokaryons by assaying the production of cdc haploid progeny (cytoductants) at the restrictive temperature. The production of cdc cytoductants indicates that the cdc nucleus was able to complete cell division at the restrictive temperature and implies that the CDC gene product was provided by the other nucleus or by cytoplasm in the heterokaryon. Cytoductants from cdc28 or cdc37 crosses were not efficiently produced, suggesting that these two genes are restricted spatially or temporally in their function. We found that of the cdc mutants tested 33 were complemented; cdc cytoductants were recovered at least as frequently as CDC cytoductants. A particularly interesting example was provided by the CDC4 gene. Mutations in CDC4 were found previously to produce a defect in both cell division and karyogamy. Surprisingly, the cell division defect of cdc4 nuclei is complemented by CDC4 nuclei in a heterokaryon, whereas the karyogamy defect is not.


1988 ◽  
Vol 255 (3) ◽  
pp. C261-C270 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Handlogten ◽  
M. S. Kilberg

Fetal RLA209-15 hepatocytes, transformed with a temperature-sensitive SV40 mutant, behave like fully differentiated cells at the growth-restrictive temperature of 40 degrees C. Conversely, incubation at the growth-permissive temperature of 33 degrees C results in a transformed phenotype characterized by rapid cell division and decreased production of liver-specific proteins. The results presented here demonstrate that the cells at 33 degrees C exhibited high rates of system A transport, but transfer to 40 degrees C reduced the activity greater than 50% within 24 h. This decline in transport was independent of cell density, although the basal rate of uptake was inversely proportional to cell density in rapidly dividing cells. Transfer of cells from 40 to 33 degrees C resulted in an enhancement of system A activity that was blocked by tunicamycin. Plasma membrane vesicles from cells maintained at either 33 or 40 degrees C retained uptake rates proportional to those in the intact cells; this difference in transport activity could also be demonstrated after detergent solubilization and reconstitution. Collectively, these data indicate that de novo synthesis of the system A carrier is regulated in conjunction with temperature-dependent cell growth in RLA209-15 hepatocytes.


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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