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Biomedical subjects

I Sandlie

Publications and source records attributed to I Sandlie.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

The expression of the Escherichia coli uvrA gene in human cells.

Cells cultured from xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) patients are defective in excision repair of damaged DNA specifically at the incision step. In Escherichia coli this step is mediated by the UvrA, UvrB and UvrC gene products. Our goal is to express each of these genes in XP cells, singly or in combination, and to determine the most suitable conditions for generating faithful E. coli Uvr protein copies in functional concentrations and properly localized for the eventual repair of damaged chromosomal DNA or DNA which is introduced exogenously. The E. coli gpt gene in pSV2gpt is used as a selection marker for uvr gene transfection into XP cells. The uvr genes were cloned into composite pBR322, SV40 and gpt vectors in which each E. coli gene is flanked by individual SV40 regulatory elements. SV40-transformed XP-A cells were transfected with pSV2uvrASV2gpt, gpt+ colonies were selected, and cell lines established. Several lines were examined in detail. Cell lines 714 and 1511 contain uvrA together with flanking SV40 regulatory elements integrated intact in genomic DNA and express UvrA protein as well as a 95,000-dalton UvrA-related protein. The expression of uvrA was found to be 50-100-fold lower than the expression of gpt. Attempts were made to assay the mammalian UvrA protein for functionality, but endogenous activities interfered with assays for each of the UvrA protein's three activities. The peptide maps derived from partial proteolysis of the "mammalian" UvrA protein are identical to the E. coli UvrA protein. The sub-cellular location of UvrA protein in uvrA+ XP cells was investigated by fractionation of cell extracts in which an indirect immunofluorescence method revealed its location as being largely extra-nuclear. Two uvrA+ cell lines were examined for their UV-resistant phenotype and not unexpectedly were found not to be reverted to a state of repair proficiency.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Mechanism of caffeine-induced inhibition of DNA synthesis in escherichia coli.

Caffeine inhibited DNA synthesis in toluene-treated Escherichia coli K12 strains to the same extent as in intact cells using the incorporation of [3H]thymidine as a measure of DNA synthesis. The inhibition was found to be competitive with ATP, and it was not influenced by the concentrations of deoxynucleoside triphosphates to any extent. When caffeine was added together with other DNA synthesis inhibitors such as novobiocin, nalidixic acid or actinomycin D, the inhibition in all cases was non-additive. It is suggested that caffeine inhibits one of the ATP-requiring enzymes in the DNA replication machinery, possibly DNA polymerase III or one of the DNA helicases.

Caffeine↗

Effect of caffeine on nucleotide pools in Escherichia coli.

The influence of caffeine on the intracellular concentration of various nucleoside triphosphates in addition do dTMP and dTDP, in Escherichia coli has been investigated. For most of the nucleoside triphosphates the presence of 10 mM caffeine in the medium resulted in a small increase in pool size 5 min after addition, followed by a slow decrease to the initial concentration. In the case of dTTP, however, the pool size reached a maximum, 2-fold higher than the initial value, 30 min after caffeine addition. This increase in dTTP level is probably due to an effect of caffeine on the DNA synthesis process and synthesis of dTDP-sugars.

Caffeine↗

The effect of caffeine on cell growth and metabolism of thymidine in Escherichia coli.

(1) The influence of caffeine on growth and on the metabolism of thymidine was investigated in various E. coli strains. Caffeine caused filamentous growth in all strains investigated. The caffeine effect was reversible. (2) The incorporation of thymidine into DNA was inhibited by caffeine, and the inhibition was most pronounced with bacterial cultures grown overnight in the presence of caffeine before the addition of thymidine. For cells not pretreated with caffeine the inhibitory effect of caffeine decreased with increasing concentrations of thymidine up to about 1 microM whereafter it remained constant. The effect of thymidine concentration on the inhibition was less for bacteria that had grown overnight in the presence of caffeine than for bacteria not pretreated with caffeine. (3) Caffeine inhibited thymidine kinase, but it had no effect on thymidine phosphorylase or thymidine nucleotide kinases. (4) It is suggested that caffeine interferes with uptake of thymidine, conversion of thymidine to dTTP and the DNA synthesis process itself. Filamentous growth could be the result of the inhibition of DNA synthesis.

Biological Transport, Active↗

Immunoglobulin as a vehicle for foreign antigenic peptides immunogenic to T cells.

Antibody (Ab) molecules may serve as targeting vehicles for delivery of foreign antigenic peptides to antigen presenting cells (APC). An attractive strategy is to substitute segments between beta-strands of immunoglobulin (Ig) constant (C)-region domains with antigenic peptides. For this to work, the mutant Ab must maintain its conformation so that it can be secreted from transfected cells. Furthermore, the antigenic peptides must be excised by the processing machinery of APC and loaded onto major histo-compatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules. To test this, we have introduced a peptide of eleven amino acids (a.a.) as either of three different loops in the first C-region domain of the heavy (H) chain (CH1) of human IgG3. When the resulting mutant H chain genes were expressed in a fibroblast cell line equipped with proper class II molecules, the H chains were retained intracellularly, probably due to the light (L) chain deficiency of the fibroblasts. Nevertheless, by the endogenous class II processing pathway, presentation of the epitope to CD4+ cells was observed for all three mutants. The presentation efficiency, however, depended on the position of the peptide in the H chain. This could be due to influence of flanking sequences, which differ in the three loop replacement mutants. When L chain-expressing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) lambda cells were transfected with the same constructs, two out of the three mutant Ig were secreted. The mutants had the expected antigen specificity and were recognized by anti-IgG Ab. When added exogenously to dendritic cell APC, the mutant IgG3 were processed, and the liberated foreign epitopes presented to T cells. The results suggest that the loops connecting beta-strands in the Ig fold may be replaced by foreign peptides, which upon processing become stimulatory to CD4+ T cells. Combined with the well-known targeting function of antibodies, this principle may be useful for construction of a new generation of vaccines.

Amino Acid Sequence↗