DNA synthesis and changes in radiosensitivity during the cell cycle of vegetative culture of Chlamydomonas reinhardii.
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Xenopus egg extracts provide a powerful system for in vitro reconstitution of nuclei and analysis of nuclear transport. Such cell-free extracts contain three major N-acetylglucosaminylated proteins: p200, p97, and p60. Both p200 and p60 have been found to be components of the nuclear pore. Here, the role of p97 has been investigated. Xenopus p97 was isolated and antisera were raised and affinity purified. Immunolocalization experiments indicate that p97 is present in a punctate pattern on the nuclear envelope and also in the nuclear interior. Peptide sequence analysis reveals that p97 contains a GLFG motif which defines a family of yeast nuclear pore proteins, as well as a peptide that is identical at 11/15 amino acids to a specific member of the GLFG family, NUP116. An additional peptide is highly homologous to a second sequence found in NUP116 and other members of the yeast GLFG family. A monoclonal antibody to the GLFG domain cross-reacts with a major Xenopus protein of 97 kD and polyclonal antiserum to p97 recognizes the yeast GLFG nucleoporin family. The p97 antiserum was used to immunodeplete Xenopus egg cytosol and p97-deficient nuclei were reconstituted. The p97-depleted nuclei remained largely competent for nuclear protein import. However, in contrast to control nuclei, nuclei deficient in p97 fail to grow in size over time and do not replicate their chromosomal DNA. ssDNA replication in such extracts remains unaffected. Addition of the N-acetylglucosaminylated nuclear proteins of Xenopus or rat reverses these replication and growth defects. The possible role(s) of p97 in these nuclear functions is discussed.
The extent of coordinate control over the multiple initiation events in DNA replication has been investigated in three mammalian cell lines by DNA fiber autoradiography. Quantitative estimates have been obtained of the degree of synchrony among initiations occurring on stretches of DNA. Synchrony decreases markedly with increasing distance between initiation sites in MDBK (bovine) and L929 (mouse) cells, but only slightly in muntjac cells. Possible control mechanisms for the initiation process are discussed.
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After inhibition of protein synthesis, the number of nuclear bodies (nucleoids) visible in cells of Escherichia coli B/rA corresponded closely to the number of completely replicated chromosomes. We calculated that nucleoid partition follows almost immediately after replication forks reach the chromosome terminus. We show that such a partition is dependent on protein synthesis and that this may reflect the requirement that cells must achieve a certain minimum length before partition (and subsequent cell division) can take place.
We examined repair replication of HeLa cell deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in cells infected with mengovirus or Newcastle disease virus or treated with puromycin. Cellular DNA was damaged by ultraviolet light and then pulse-labeled with (3)H-thymidine. Autoradiographic analysis of non-S-phase DNA synthesis (repair replication) showed that there was no inhibition of this process at a time when overall cellular DNA synthesis was severely inhibited by either virus infection or puromycin treatment.
A new protocol for inducing mutations in mammalian cells in culture by exposure to the thymidine analog 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd) was established. This protocol, called "DNA-dependent" mutagenesis, involved the incorporation of BrdUrd into DNA under nonmutagenic conditions and the subsequent replication of the 5-bromouracil (BrUra)-containing DNA under mutagenic conditions but with no BrdUrd present in the culture medium. The mutagenic conditions were induced by allowing BrUra-containing DNA to replicate in the presence of high concentrations of thymidine. This generated high intracellular levels of dTTP and dGTP, causing nucleotide pool imbalance. The mutagenesis induced by this protocol was found to correlate with the level of BrUra substituted for thymine in DNA.
A novel expression system based on coinfection of cells with two recombinant vaccinia viruses has been developed. One recombinant vaccinia virus contained the bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase gene under control of a vaccinia virus promoter. The second recombinant vaccinia virus contained a target gene of choice flanked by bacteriophage T7 promoter and termination sequences. Maximum expression of the target gene occurred when cells were infected with 10 PFU of each recombinant virus. Although T7 RNA polymerase synthesis began shortly after infection, the target gene was not expressed until late times and was largely inhibited when DNA replication was blocked. Target gene transcripts were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis and had the predicted size. With this system, Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase, hepatitis B virus surface antigen, and human immunodeficiency virus envelope proteins were made. In each case, the level of synthesis was greater than had previously been obtained with the more conventional recombinant vaccinia virus expression system.
Host genomes have adopted several strategies to curb the proliferation of transposable elements and viruses. A recently discovered novel primate defense against retroviral infection involves a single-stranded DNA-editing enzyme, APOBEC3G, that causes hypermutation of HIV. The HIV-encoded virion infectivity factor (Vif) protein targets APOBEC3G for destruction, setting up a genetic conflict between the APOBEC3G and Vif genes. This kind of conflict leads to rapid fixation of mutations that alter amino acids at the protein-protein interface, referred to as positive selection. We show that the APOBEC3G gene has been subject to strong positive selection throughout the history of primate evolution. Unexpectedly, this selection appears more ancient than, and is likely only partially caused by, modern lentiviruses. Furthermore, five additional APOBEC genes in the human genome appear to be engaged in similar genetic conflicts, displaying some of the highest signals for positive selection in the human genome. Despite being only recently discovered, editing of RNA and DNA may thus represent an ancient form of host defense in primate genomes.
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A method is described that enables the unequivocal detection of the integration of hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV-DNA) into the genomic DNA of the host cell, while at the same time the virus exhibits active replication. This detection was achieved by separating the low molecular weight replicating HBV-DNA from the high molecular weight genomic DNA of the host by electrophoresis of the total undigested cellular DNA through low melting agarose. The high molecular weight DNA was isolated from this gel and electrophoresed after digestion with restriction enzyme(s) on a second agarose gel. Transfer of the DNA content of both gels and hybridization of these blots with 32P-labelled HBV-DNA will reveal whether any integrated and/or actively replicating DNA is present. By using this method the presence of a single copy of HBV-DNA integrated in host DNA was demonstrated in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue of a patient with active HBV replication.
The region containing the GABAA receptor beta3 and alpha5 subunit-encoding genes is subject to parental imprinting and is organized in different allele-specific replication timing domains. A 60-kb domain displaying a maternal early/paternal late pattern of allele-specific replication timing asynchrony is nested within a larger region displaying the opposite pattern. The proximal portion of this maternal early replicating domain is incorporated into phage clone lambda84. In order to identify DNA structures which may be associated with the boundary between the replication domains, phage lambda84 has been subcloned into smaller fragments and several of these have been analyzed by nucleotide sequencing. A plot of helical stability for 13kb of contiguous sequence reveals several A + T-rich regions which display potential DNA unwinding. The plasmid subclones from phage lambda84 have been analyzed for bent DNA and one of these, p82, contains bent DNA and overlaps with the region of highest potential helical instability. Of the seven plasmids tested, only p82 shows strong autonomous replication activity in an in vitro replication assay, with replication initiating within the genomic insert. These results suggest that a putative origin of DNA replication contained within p82 may play a role in establishing the allele-specific replication timing domains in the GABAA receptor subunit gene cluster.
A method of computer analysis was developed to evaluate the kinetic changes in the rate of cell division in non-synchronous cultures of E. coli resulting from changes in the velocity or initiation of chromosome replication. This method takes into account that the cell division pathway in E. coli includes a reaction of indeterminate length described by a probability function that applies to the cell population. The analysis yields a hypothetical cell number kinetics as it would be observed if the stochastic element in the division pathway were absent. Since this derived cell number curve responds to experimentally induced perturbations of replication at defined times whereas the actual cell number curve reflects these perturbations only in a blurred fashion, replication and division events can be precisely correlated with this method. The method was applied to the evaluation of thymine starvation experiments with two Thy- derivatives of E. coli B/r; one of the strains has a mutationally altered (60% increased) cell mass at initiation of chromosome replication. In both strains, the stochastic phase of the cell cycle had the same half-life value of 10 min and began 18 min after each termination of replication. This suggests that the time of cell division is linked to replication, not to cell mass or length. This interpretation is supported by results of experiments in which the rate of cell growth was altered at the time of thymine starvation.
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