Alterations in the components of ribonucleotide reductase in hydroxyurea-resistant hamster cells

1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 741-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim A. Wright ◽  
Joseph G. Cory

Two components of mammalian ribonucleotide reductase have been separated by blue dextran-Sepharose chromatography from a hydroxyurea-resistant cell line, NcR-30A2, and its parental wild type. Analysis of reductase activity in these cells and the enzyme components reveals that there are three alterations involving ribonucleotide reductase activity in NcR-30A2 cells. There is an elevation in the effector-binding (EB) component, an elevation in the non-heine-ironcontaining (NHI) component, and an alteration in the NHI component that renders the enzyme less sensitive to inhibition by hydroxyurea. These findings easily account for the resistance of NcR-30A2 cells to the antitumor agent hydroxyurea, and to other drugs with a similar mode of action.

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (12) ◽  
pp. 1332-1338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine S. M. Chiu ◽  
Arthur K. Chan ◽  
Jim A. Wright

Ribonucleotide reductase is a highly regulated, rate-limiting activity in the synthesis of DNA. A previous study has shown that the Escherichia coli enzyme is inhibited by the clinically important antitumor agent cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (DDP), and this has led to the hypothesis that ribonucleotide reductase is an important site of action for this chemotherapeutic agent. This hypothesis has been directly tested in this investigation. We observed that DDP inhibits the mammalian ribonucleotide reductase, with 50% inhibition occurring at 0.3 mM. Unlike the E. coli enzyme where only one of the two protein components is targeted by DDP, we observed that both of the mammalian proteins (R1 and R2) were sites for the inhibitory activity of the drug. Colony-forming experiments, enzyme activity studies, and analyses of R1 and R2 message levels in mutant cell lines containing either high levels of ribonucleotide reductase activity or exhibiting resistance to the cytotoxic effects of DDP were used to further investigate the potential role of ribonucleotide reductase in DDP cytotoxic action and drug resistance. These studies did not support a hypothesis formulated in the earlier investigation that inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase is an important component of DDP cytotoxic activity or that it is a major participant in DDP resistance mechanisms. From a biological point of view, DDP is a very active drug, and in addition to its cytotoxic effects it is capable of inducing a variety of cellular changes. Whether or not the inhibition of mammalian ribonucleotide reductase activity that we have described in this study plays a role in mediating any of these other effects remains to be determined.Key words: cisplatin, ribonucleotide reductase, drug resistance, hydroxyurea.


Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (4) ◽  
pp. 1523-1532
Author(s):  
Marie-Claude Marsolier ◽  
Pascal Roussel ◽  
Christophe Leroy ◽  
Carl Mann

Abstract RAD53 encodes a conserved protein kinase that acts as a central transducer in the DNA damage and the DNA replication checkpoint pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To identify new elements of these pathways acting with or downstream of RAD53, we searched for genes whose overexpression suppressed the toxicity of a dominant-lethal form of RAD53 and identified PTC2, which encodes a protein phosphatase of the PP2C family. PTC2 overexpression induces hypersensitivity to genotoxic agents in wild-type cells and is lethal to rad53, mec1, and dun1 mutants with low ribonucleotide reductase activity. Deleting PTC2 specifically suppresses the hydroxyurea hypersensitivity of mec1 mutants and the lethality of mec1Δ. PTC2 is thus implicated in one or several functions related to RAD53, MEC1, and the DNA checkpoint pathways.


1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (9) ◽  
pp. 635-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. R. Hurta ◽  
Jim A. Wright

The reduction of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides, a rate-limiting step in DNA synthesis, is catalyzed by ribonucleotide reductase. This enzyme is composed of two components, M1 and M2. Recent work has shown that inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase by the antitumor drug hydroxyurea leads to a destabilized iron centre in protein M2. We have examined the relationship between the levels of ferritin, the iron storage protein, and the iron-containing M2 component of ribonucleotide reductase. These studies were carried out with hydroxyurea-sensitive, -resistant, and -revertant cell lines. Hydroxyurea-resistant mouse L cells contained M2 gene amplification and elevated levels of enzyme activity, M2 message, and total cellular M2 protein concentration. Hydroxyurea-revertant cells exhibited a wild-type M2 gene copy number, and approximately wild-type levels of enzyme activity, M2 message, and M2 protein concentration. In addition, we observed that the hydroxyurea-resistant cells possessed elevated levels of L-chain ferritin message and total cellular H-chain ferritin protein when compared to wild-type cells. In contrast, the revertant cell population contained approximately wild-type levels of ferritin mRNA and protein. In keeping with these observations, obtained with mouse L cells, was the finding that hydroxyurea-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells with increased ribonucleotide reductase activity exhibited elevated expression of both ferritin and M2 genes, which declined in drug-sensitive revertant hamster cell lines with decreased levels of ribonucleotide reductase activity. This is the first demonstration that reversion of hydroxyurea resistance and a decline in ribonucleotide reductase activity are accompanied by decreased ferritin expression, and supports the concept that ferritin is important in establishing resistance to hydroxyurea, and may play a role in DNA synthesis, through the regulation of functional iron-containing M2 protein levels required for ribonucleotide reduction.Key words: ribonucleotide reductase, ferritin, hydroxyurea, drug resistance.


2000 ◽  
Vol 345 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. CHITAMBAR ◽  
Janine P. WERELEY ◽  
Thomas HEIMAN ◽  
William E. ANTHOLINE ◽  
William J. O'BRIEN

Ribonucleotide reductase is an iron-containing enzyme that is essential for DNA synthesis. Whereas previous studies have used various iron chelators to examine the relationship between cellular iron metabolism and ribonucleotide reductase activity in cells, they have not elucidated the relationship between iron transport into cells and the expression of the gene for ribonucleotide reductase. To investigate this, we examined ribonucleotide reductase mRNA, protein and enzyme activity in a novel line of CCRF-CEM cells (DFe-T cells) that display an approx. 60% decrease in their uptake of iron compared with the parental wild-type cell line. We found that DFe-T cells displayed an approx. 40% decrease in ribonucleotide reductase specific enzyme activity relative to wild-type cells without a change in their proliferation. Kinetic analysis of CDP reductase activity revealed an approx. 60% decrease in Vmax in DFe-T cells without a change in Km. Despite the decrease in enzyme activity, the mRNA and protein for the R1 and R2 subunits of ribonucleotide reductase in DFe-T cells were similar to those of wild-type cells. ESR spectroscopy studies revealed that DFe-T cells had a 22% decrease in the tyrosyl free radical of the R2 subunit, suggesting that a larger amount of R2 protein was present as functionally inactive apo-R2 in these cells. Our studies indicate that ribonucleotide reductase activity in CCRF-CEM cells can be down-regulated by more than 50% in response to down-regulated iron transport without an adverse effect on cell proliferation. Furthermore, our studies suggest a regulatory link between ribonucleotide reductase activity and iron transport into these cells.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 5688-5699
Author(s):  
B E Wojcik ◽  
J J Dermody ◽  
H L Ozer ◽  
B Mun ◽  
C K Mathews

JB3-B is a Chinese hamster ovary cell mutant previously shown to be temperature sensitive for DNA replication (J. J. Dermody, B. E. Wojcik, H. Du, and H. L. Ozer, Mol. Cell. Biol. 6:4594-4601, 1986). It was chosen for detailed study because of its novel property of inhibiting both polyomavirus and adenovirus DNA synthesis in a temperature-dependent manner. Pulse-labeling studies demonstrated a defect in the rate of adenovirus DNA synthesis. Measurement of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) pools as a function of time after shift of uninfected cultures from 33 to 39 degrees C revealed that all four dNTP pools declined at similar rates in extracts prepared either from whole cells or from rapidly isolated nuclei. Ribonucleoside triphosphate pools were unaffected by a temperature shift, ruling out the possibility that the mutation affects nucleoside diphosphokinase. However, ribonucleotide reductase activity, as measured in extracts, declined after cell cultures underwent a temperature shift, in parallel with the decline in dNTP pool sizes. Moreover, the activity of cell extracts was thermolabile in vitro, consistent with the model that the JB3-B mutation affects the structural gene for one of the ribonucleotide reductase subunits. The kinetics of dNTP pool size changes after temperature shift are quite distinct from those reported after inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase with hydroxyurea. An indirect effect on ribonucleotide reductase activity in JB3-B has not been excluded since human sequences other than those encoding the enzyme subunits can correct the temperature-sensitive growth defect in the mutant.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document