Relief of temperature sensitivity in a concanavalin A resistant Chinese hamster ovary cell line auxotrophic for cholesterol

1987 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 635-641
Author(s):  
Robert A. R. Hurta ◽  
David N. Burton

The concanavalin A resistant, glycosylation-deficient, Chinese hamster ovary cell variant CR-7 is auxotrophic for cholesterol owing to an inability to adequately convert lanosterol to cholesterol. It is also temperature sensitive for growth, being unable to proliferate at 39 °C. Temperature sensitivity was relieved by addition of mevalonolactone, dolichol, or dolichyl-P to the growth medium, provided that cholesterol was also present in amounts sufficient to overcome cholesterol auxotrophy at 34 °C. Other metabolites of mevalonolactone (squalene, ubiquinone, lanosterol, and isopentenyladenine) were inactive in this regard. Measurement of dolichol levels in CR-7 and wild-type cells at 34 °C and after exposure to 39 °C showed that dolichol increased at 39 °C to an approximately equal extent in both cell types. Dolichol, dolichyl-P, ubiquinone, and isopentenyladenine had no effect on the sensitivity of either wild-type or CR-7 cells to the cytotoxic effects of concanavalin A. Mevalonolactone or lanosterol markedly increased the resistance of CR-7 to the lectin, but had no effect on wild-type cells. This raises the possibility that the presence of unusually large amounts of lanosterol, coupled with low amounts of cholesterol, in the membranes of CR-7 may be related to its concanavalin A resistance and other characteristic phenotypic abnormalities.

1982 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 720-729
Author(s):  
Fernando Cabral ◽  
Irene Abraham ◽  
Michael M. Gottesman

We recently described the isolation of a mutant Chinese hamster ovary cell (Cmd 4) resistant to the cytotoxic effects of colcemid (Cabral et al., Cell 20 :29-36, 1980). This mutant carries an altered β-tubulin but still grows normally at 37°C. In the present study we found that Cmd 4 is temperature sensitive for growth at 40.3°C. A class of revertants selected for temperature resistance had simultaneously lost colcemid resistance and the altered β-tubulin. In addition, we isolated a temperature-resistant revertant which carries a further alteration in the mutant β-tubulin polypeptide. This second alteration appears to make the mutant β-tubulin incompetent to assemble into microtubules, resulting in a strain which is again colcemid sensitive. These revertant cell lines provide strong evidence that a mutation in β-tubulin can confer both colcemid resistance and temperature sensitivity on a mammalian cell line. Cellular microtubules studied by indirect immunofluorescence in both mutant and revertant cell lines had an apparently normal distribution at permissive and nonpermissive temperatures, yet mitosis appears to be abnormal in the mutant cell line. We conclude from these studies that incorporation of the altered β-tubulin into microtubules does not affect their distribution but may affect their function during mitosis.


1982 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 720-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Cabral ◽  
Irene Abraham ◽  
Michael M. Gottesman

We recently described the isolation of a mutant Chinese hamster ovary cell (Cmd 4) resistant to the cytotoxic effects of colcemid (Cabral et al., Cell20:29-36, 1980). This mutant carries an altered β-tubulin but still grows normally at 37°C. In the present study we found that Cmd 4 is temperature sensitive for growth at 40.3°C. A class of revertants selected for temperature resistance had simultaneously lost colcemid resistance and the altered β-tubulin. In addition, we isolated a temperature-resistant revertant which carries a further alteration in the mutant β-tubulin polypeptide. This second alteration appears to make the mutant β-tubulin incompetent to assemble into microtubules, resulting in a strain which is again colcemid sensitive. These revertant cell lines provide strong evidence that a mutation in β-tubulin can confer both colcemid resistance and temperature sensitivity on a mammalian cell line. Cellular microtubules studied by indirect immunofluorescence in both mutant and revertant cell lines had an apparently normal distribution at permissive and nonpermissive temperatures, yet mitosis appears to be abnormal in the mutant cell line. We conclude from these studies that incorporation of the altered β-tubulin into microtubules does not affect their distribution but may affect their function during mitosis.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1754-1758
Author(s):  
T M Underhill ◽  
W F Flintoff

A methotrexate-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cell line deficient in methotrexate uptake has been complemented to methotrexate sensitivity by transfection with DNA isolated from either wild-type Chinese hamster ovary or human G2 cells. Primary and secondary transfectants regained the ability to take up methotrexate in a manner similar to that of wild-type cells, and in the case of those transfected with human DNA, to contain human-specific DNA sequences. The complementation by DNA-mediated gene transfer of this methotrexate-resistant phenotype provides a basis for the cloning of a gene involved in methotrexate uptake.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document