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Efficient expression and utilization of mutant 5 S rRNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The expression of mutant 5 S rRNA genes in vivo is examined as a basis for further studies on the control, structure, and function of the ribosomal 5 S RNA. Specific single base substitutions (e.g. positions 98 or 99) or short insertions can result in substantial structural changes that can easily be detected by gel electrophoresis and permit the assay of mutant RNA synthesis and utilization. In addition, the use of high and low copy shuttle vectors as well as alternate growth conditions permits the adjustment of mutant RNA levels in vivo. Despite the high genomic copy number for the 5 S rRNA gene, under optimized conditions as much as 80% of the cellular 5 S RNA can be mutant, and RNA structure analyses indicate that some of these RNAs can readily be assembled into the ribosome structure resulting in an in vivo ribosome population which is also approximately 80% mutant. The results indicate that plasmid integrated 5 S rRNA genes are preferentially expressed and suggest that additional features of the chromosome structure regulate 5 S rRNA gene expression in vivo.

Base Sequence

Efficient expression system for human antithrombin III in baby hamster kidney cells.

A DNA fragment carrying the enhancer of an immediate early gene of human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) was tested as a transcriptional control element by fusion downstream of a transcription unit for human antithrombin III (AT III) driven by the Simian virus (SV40) enhancer and promoter. Measurement of transient AT III expression in baby hamster kidney cells (BHK) shows that by the presence of the hCMV enhancer the synthesis of AT III is increased considerably (three to fourfold). The AT III expression vectors carrying the hCMV enhancer were used to establish stable BHK cell-lines by a new and fast G418/methotrexate selection protocol, which express up to 12 micrograms AT III/10(6) cells/24h after 40-50 days. The given system might be generally useful for the fast expression of recombinant proteins in mammalian cells, e.g. the screening of altered AT III molecules obtained by site directed mutagenesis.

Animals

Binding of host-cell factors to DNA sequences in the long terminal repeat of human T-cell leukemia virus type I: implications for viral gene expression.

Efficient expression of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) genes requires both host and viral proteins and is dependent on DNA sequences in the proviral long terminal repeats (LTRs). We have used DNase I-protection assays (footprinting) to construct a map of protein-DNA interactions over a 250-nucleotide region of the LTR upstream of the start site for viral RNA synthesis. We find that a host factor (host expression factor 1, or HEF-1) binds to the imperfect 21-nucleotide repeats that have previously been implicated in HTLV-I gene expression. HEF-1 binding activity is present in preparations from both lymphoid and nonlymphoid cell lines. However, the boundaries of the protected regions and the presence of a flanking DNase-hypersensitive site vary with cell type. Several regions of binding are detected in addition to the HEF-1 sites, including a complex group of sites 40-90 nucleotides upstream of the RNA start site. A comparison of HTLV-I-transformed T lymphocytes that do and do not express the viral trans-activating protein p40xI shows that none of the observed features of the DNase I footprint pattern correlate directly with the presence of this protein in the extract. These results suggest (i) that the primary recognition of promoter elements in the HTLV-I LTR involves specific interactions with host-cell proteins and (ii) that p40xI influences the activity of one or more of these proteins, rather than interacting directly with the DNA.

Binding Sites

The dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-binding protein c of ATP synthase from Escherichia coli is not sufficient to express an efficient H+ conduction.

Bacteriophage Mu was inserted into the unc genes of Escherichia coli. The resulting mutation AS12 had a polar effect on the unc operon: membranes of the mutant AS12 contained the dicyclohexylcarbodiimide-binding protein c and the protein a as sole subunits of the ATP synthase. It was shown by peptide mapping and amino acid analysis of the fragments that protein c from mutant AS12 was identical with the wild-type protein c. The absence of subunit b in mutant AS12 drastically lowered the H+ conduction dependent on the membrane-integrated moiety (F0) of the ATP synthase. This suggests that both subunits b and c are necessary for an efficient expression of H+ conduction.

ATP Synthetase Complexes

Multi-copy introduction and high-level expression of interleukin-3 genes by retroviral vector superinfection.

We constructed a retroviral expression vector carrying multiple cloning sites. This vector was found to express efficiently the cloned gene. Using this vector and a helper virus-free system, a murine interleukin-3 (mlL-3) high-producing cell line was established by multiple cycles of infection with recombinant retroviruses carrying mlL-3 cDNA. The infected cells produced a considerable amount of mlL-3 and the concentration of mlL-3 in culture media increased as a function of the frequency of infection. High levels of mlL-3 cDNA, mRNA and protein in this cell line were confirmed by Southern, Northern and biological assays, respectively. These results suggest that artificial gene amplification is possible in a helper-free retroviral system. This should be applicable to efficient expression of bioactive molecules in a wide variety of mammalian cells including suspension cells.

Animals

Cloning and characterization of genes responsible for metabolism of nitrile compounds from Pseudomonas chlororaphis B23.

The nitrile hydratase (NHase) of Pseudomonas chlororaphis B23, which is composed of two subunits, alpha and beta, catalyzes the hydration of nitrile compounds to the corresponding amides. The NHase gene of strain B23 was cloned into Escherichia coli by the DNA-probing method with the NHase gene of Rhodococcus sp. strain N-774 as the hybridization probe. Nucleotide sequencing revealed that an amidase showing significant similarity to the amidase of Rhodococcus sp. strain N-774 was also coded by the region just upstream of the subunit alpha-coding sequence. In addition to these three proteins, two open reading frames, P47K and OrfE, were found just downstream of the coding region of subunit beta. The direction and close locations to each other of these open reading frames encoding five proteins (amidase, subunits alpha and beta, P47K, and OrfE, in that order) suggested that these genes were cotranscribed by a single mRNA. Plasmid pPCN4, in which a 6.2-kb sequence covering the region coding for these proteins is placed under control of the lac promoter, directed overproduction of enzymatically active NHase and amidase in response to addition of isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the cell extract showed that the amount of subunits alpha and beta of NHase was about 10% of the total cellular proteins and that an additional 38-kDa protein probably encoded by the region upstream of the amidase gene was also produced in a large amount. The 38-kDa protein, as well as P47K and OrfE, appeared to be important for efficient expression of NHase activity in E. coli cells, because plasmids containing the NHase and amidase genes but lacking the region coding for the 38-kDa protein or the region coding for P47K and OrfE failed to express efficient NHase activity.

Amidohydrolases

Marked differences in the efficiency of expression of distinct alpha beta T cell receptor heterodimers.

Ag recognition by most T lymphocytes is mediated by clonally distributed alpha beta heterodimeric receptors. A major fraction of TCR diversity is believed to be due to the random coexpression in individual T cells of the products of independently rearranging alpha- and beta-genes (combinatorial diversity). However, analysis of cell surface receptors on transfected T hybridoma cells synthesizing various sets of alpha- and beta-chains revealed marked differences in the efficiency of expression of certain alpha beta-pairs. Specifically, using the functionally rearranged gene products of the 2B4 cytochrome c specific T hybridoma (V beta 3, V alpha 11.2) and BW5147 parent lymphoma (V beta 1, V alpha BW), a hierarchy of expression efficiency relative to indirectly measured precursor chain levels in the cell was shown to be 2B4 alpha-BW beta greater than 2B4 alpha - 2B4 beta greater than BW alpha - BW beta greater than BW alpha - 2B4 beta. The estimated difference between the best expressed and worst expressed pairs is on the order of 50-fold. For the beta-chain, the primary determinant of expression efficiency with a given alpha-chain appears to be the V segment, as a second V beta 1-chain with distinct D and J regions from BW beta was expressed with the same pattern. These data imply that alpha- and beta-chains do not form well-expressed TCR in a random manner and that limitations on the useful combinatorial association of these chains may significantly affect the functional T cell repertoire.

Alleles

Efficient bacterial expression of bovine and porcine growth hormones.

cDNAs prepared using poly(A)mRNA from pituitaries and containing the coding sequences for bovine and porcine growth hormones (bGH and pGH) were cloned in bacteria. The primary structures of the peptide hormones derived from the nucleotide sequences of the respective cDNAs show approximately 90% homology. The cloned cDNAs were modified using synthetic DNA to construct expression vectors for efficient bacterial production of the mature animal growth hormones.

Animals

Deletion of a B-cell-specific enhancer affects transfected, but not endogenous, immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene expression.

A transcriptional enhancer has recently been identified between the variable and constant region coding segments of an assembled immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene. This enhancer is required for efficient expression of such genes when transfected into myeloma cells. A class switch rearrangement in the mouse myeloma cell line 9.9.2.1 has resulted in deletion of this enhancer, and yet this cell line continues to produce heavy chains at a high level. Cell line 9.9.2.1 is a gamma 2a-producing class-switch variant derived from the gamma 2b-producing myeloma cell line, MPC11. We demonstrate that despite the high level of heavy-chain production in 9.9.2.1, the cloned 9.9.2.1 heavy-chain gene is not expressed efficiently when transfected into myeloma cells. Efficient expression after transfection can be obtained only if the deleted enhancer is reinserted into the gene. The implication of this finding for the role of this enhancer in establishing and/or maintaining immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene expression is discussed.

Animals

The simian virus 40 minimal origin and the 72-base-pair repeat are required simultaneously for efficient induction of late gene expression with large tumor antigen.

We have studied the temporal regulation of simian virus 40 (SV40) late gene expression by construction and transient expression analysis of plasmids containing the transposon Tn9 chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene placed downstream from the late control region. The SV40 origin region in the early (but not the late) orientation promotes chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene expression efficiently in monkey cells lacking large tumor (T) antigen. In monkey cells producing T antigen, the promoter activity of the late control region is induced by approximately 1,000-fold above the basal level. By deletion and point mutagenesis, we define two domains of the late control region required for efficient induction with T antigen. Domain I is the minimal replication origin containing T-antigen binding site II. Domain II consists of the 72-base-pair (bp) repeat and a 19-bp downstream sequence up to nucleotide 270. Domains I and II should act synergistically because the absence of either one or the other decreases induction efficiency by 2 orders of magnitude. Though a complete copy of domain II is optimal, the origin-proximal 22-bp portion of this domain is sufficient. The 21-bp repeat, located between domains I and II, is dispensable for this induction, as are sequences located downstream from nucleotide 270 in the late orientation.

Antigens, Viral, Tumor

Biparental products of bacterial protoplast fusion showing unequal parental chromosome expression.

Efficiently regenerated single colonies from mixed multiply auxotrophic Bacillus subtilis protoplasts, fused with polyethylene glycol, reveal colonies carrying each of the parent types (biparentals) and recombinant colonies. The latter appear in high yields (up to 1% of certain recombinant classes); the yield of biparentals may be as large as 10%, in the range of the indicated physical fusion events. Many of the biparentals are diploids although, contrary to expectation, they are not complementing prototrophs, but show precisely the phenotype of one (either one) of the parent strains. Extensive pedigree analysis and subcloning of diploid lines show that they can propagate with varying stability on the appropriate parental selective medium to reproduce diploid progeny, parental segregants, and late-appearing recombinants, including some prototrophs. Thus, the principal product of intertype protoplast fusion is a diploid carrying two chromosomes, only one of which is expressed in each particular clone. The extinction of one parental genome is especially well demonstrated when it includes suppression of a normally dominant antibiotic sensitivity marker. In transformation experiments, DNA made from a selected diploid clone was able to transfer several of the unexpressed genes. The structural or topological character of DNA associated with the chromosome extinction remains unexplained.

Bacillus subtilis

Efficient cDNA expression vectors for stable and transient expression of HLA-DR in transfected fibroblast and lymphoid cells.

cDNA expression vectors with several useful features were constructed. First, the long terminal repeat of Rous sarcoma virus was used as a promoter to obtain high levels of expression in various cells of human and mouse origin. Second, cis-linked expression units that confer resistance either to mycophenolic acid or the neomycin analog G418 were inserted to facitate the isolation of transfected cells expressing the cDNA of interest. Third, by replicating in simian COS cells, these vectors can be used for efficient transient expression. cDNA fragments encoding the DR alpha or DR beta chains of human class II major histocompatibility complex antigens were inserted into these vectors and high levels of cell surface HLA-DR antigen were obtained after cotransfection into mouse and human fibroblasts. These vectors were also successfully used to correct the inability of a class II-negative B cell line, derived from a patient with a congenital immunodeficiency, to present peptide antigen to DR-restricted T cells.

Animals

Mature apolipoprotein AI and its precursor proApoAI: influence of the sequence at the 5' end of the gene on the efficiency of expression in Escherichia coli.

Apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) plays a central role in the regulation of lipid metabolism. Initial attempts to express human apoAI cDNA in Escherichia coli did not yield detectable levels of the mature protein. By analyzing the efficiency of expression of apoAI-lacZ gene fusions, we have been able to show that the sequence at the 5' end of the ApoAI-coding region is a critical parameter. Indeed, silent changes in the codons for the first 8 residues of ApoAI, which did not alter the amino acid sequence, affected expression dramatically. Analysis of the corresponding mRNA steady-state levels suggested a role for differential mRNA stability in the control of apoAI expression in this system. Among all the possible alternative sequences, we have identified an optimal sequence which, when reinserted in the original expression plasmid, yields high level production of mature ApoAI. This procedure has been extended to the production of the natural variant ApoAI-Milano and the precursor proApoAI. Availability of these recombinant molecules would allow the investigation of their structural and biological features. In addition, the methodology used to optimize ApoAI expression is of general interest in assuring high expression of heterologous proteins in E. coli.

Amino Acid Sequence

Improved methods for maximizing expression of a cloned gene: a bacterium that synthesizes rabbit beta-globin.

In this paper we describe a method for constructing E. coli plasmids that direct efficient expression of genes that encode eucaryotic or procaryotic proteins. No functional assays for the proteins are needed, and they are produced in their native, unfused state. The only requirement is that the genes be isolable without intervening sequences. We describe as an example the construction of a plasmid that directs the synthesis of about 10,000-15,000 monomers per cell of rabbit beta-globin. The essential steps in a typical construction are as follows. --A region of the gene encoding the amino-terminal portion of the protein is fused to DNA encoding an enzymatically active carboxy terminal fragment of beta-galactosidase. The latter is carried on one of three plasmids designed to facilitate the fusion (the construction of these three plasmids is described in the Appendix). --A "portable promoter" of the lac operon is placed at many positions in front of the fused gene using nucleases in vitro. Those promoter placements that elicit efficient expression of the fused gene are identified by the beta-galactosidase activity that they express. (In the special case we describe, plasmids identified as directing efficient expression of beta-globin were found to bear "hybrid" ribosome binding sites consisting of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence carried on the promoter fragment and the ATG of the beta-globin gene.) --The gene of interest is reconstituted intact, with the portable promoter in place, by recombination in vitro or in vivo.

Animals

Identification of cis sequences controlling efficient position-independent tissue-specific expression of human major histocompatibility complex class I genes in transgenic mice.

We previously reported that genomic major histocompatibility complex class I human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B7 gene constructs with as little as 0.66 kb of 5'- and 2.0 kb of 3'-flanking DNA were expressed efficiently and appropriately in transgenic mice. To identify and characterize the relevant cis-acting regulatory elements in more detail, we have generated and analyzed a series of transgenic mice carrying native HLA-B7 genes with further 5' truncations or intronic deletions and hybrid constructs linking the 5'-flanking region of B7 to a reporter gene. We were unable to detect a specific requirement for sequence information within introns 2 to 7 for either appropriate constitutive or inducible class I expression in adult animals. The results revealed the presence of cis-acting regulatory sequences between -0.075 kb and -0.66 kb involved in driving efficient copy number-dependent constitutive and gamma interferon-enhanced tissue-specific expression. The region from -0.11 to -0.66 kb is also sufficient to prevent integration site-specific "position effects," because in its absence HLA-B7 expression is frequently detected at significant levels at inappropriate sites. Conserved sequence elements homologous to the H-2 class I regulatory element, or enhancer A, and the interferon response sequence are located between about -151 and -228 bp of the B7 gene. Our results also indicate the existence of sequences downstream of -0.11 kb which can influence the pattern of tissue-specific expression of the HLA-B7 gene and the ability of this gene to respond to gamma interferon.

Animals

Promoter domains required for expression of plasmid-borne copies of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene in virus-infected mouse fibroblasts and microinjected frog oocytes.

A transient expression assay was used to measure the relative template activities of mutated tk genes in mouse L cells induced in trans by herpes simplex virus (HSV). In this assay, expression of the wild-type HSV type 1 tk gene is induced at least 200-fold by the superinfecting virus. Genetic lesions that were assayed include 5' deletions, clustered base substitutions, single base substitutions, intrapromoter inversions, and intrapromoter recombinants with the HSV type 2 tk gene. Roughly half of the mutations that were tested were found to weaken tk expression efficiency, and the remaining mutations did not alter expression. The spatial distribution of mutations that reduce expression efficiency in trans-induced mouse fibroblasts facilitated the construction of a map of promoter domains. The most gene-proximal promoter domain is located between 16 and 32 base pairs (bp) upstream of the tk mRNA cap site and contains a TATA homology. Two more distally located promoter domains were mapped to discrete locations upstream from the TATA homology. One of these distal domains is located between 47 and 79 bp upstream from the mRNA cap site, and the other is located between 84 and 105 bp upstream from the tk gene. The boundaries of these three promoter domains, with one exception, coincided with the set of domains delineated previously in a frog oocyte microinjection assay. The concordant behavior of tk promoter mutants in microinjected frog oocytes and trans-induced mouse fibroblasts leads us to propose that recognition and activation of the HSV tk promoter is mediated by cellular transcription factors that are common to frogs and mice.

Animals