Kinetochore size variation in mammalian chromosomes: an image analysis study with evolutionary implications

1989 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.M. Cherry ◽  
A.J. Faulkner ◽  
L.A. Grossberg ◽  
R. Balczon

The kinetochore, a proteinaceous plate that is the site for attachment of spindle microtubules to the metaphase chromosome, can be visualized using anti-kinetochore indirect immunofluorescence. We have used computer-assisted image analysis to measure the variation of kinetochore surface areas, as reflected by immunofluorescence areas, in cell lines derived from rat kangaroo, Chinese hamster and common rat, to determine if our size estimates correlate well with those obtained using measurements from electron micrographs. In addition, we used male and female human fibroblast cell lines, as well as a transformed human female cell line as well as a transformed human female cell line (HeLa), to examine kinetochore size variation among cells, between sexes, and between cell lines. We found that our system gave reproducible estimates of kinetochore size, and that these sizes correlated very well (r = 0.95) with the electron micrograph measurements. In examining variation within humans, we observed measurable differences between cell lines. Despite this difference, all the human lines had size distributions that were leptokurtotic and positively skewed. The fact that very few chromosomes exhibited areas smaller than the mode gives support to the idea that mammalian chromosomes may require a specific, minimum amount of kinetochore material in order to maintain stable attachment to the mitotic spindle. On the other hand, the positive skewness seems to indicate that larger kinetochores, possibly the result of events such as Robertsonian fusions, are fully functional. The retention of this plasticity may allow the chromosomes to maintain an evolutionary adaptability that might otherwise be lost.

2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Nur Atiqah Md Othman ◽  
Norazah Basar ◽  
Siti Pauliena Mohd Bohari

P. macrocarpa is a well known Indonesian medicinal plant which is traditionally claimed to have anticancer properties. To date, there are numerous cytotoxic studies conducted on crude extracts of this plant. However, there are limited informations available regarding cytotoxic activity of the compounds isolated from this plant. Thus, this study investigated cytotoxic activity of two benzophenones derivatives identified as 2,6,4'-trihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (1) and 6,4'-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2) isolated from the ethyl acetate extract. Cytotoxic activities of these compounds were performed against human cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa) and mouse embryonic fibroblast cell line (3T3) using MTT assay. The result showed that benzophenone (1)  exhibited low cytotoxic effect against HeLa and 3T3 cell lines with IC50 values of 132 µg/ml and 158 µg/ml, repectively while benzophenone (2) was non toxic against HeLa and 3T3 cell lines are because the IC50 is more than 250 µg/ml. These findings may sheds light on the actual properties of this plant.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1635-1641 ◽  
Author(s):  
S G Grant ◽  
R G Worton

We have investigated the genetic activation of the hprt (hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase) gene located on the inactive X chromosome in primary and transformed female diploid Chinese hamster cells after treatment with the DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacytidine (5azaCR). Mutants deficient in HPRT were first selected by growth in 6-thioguanine from two primary fibroblast cell lines and from transformed lines derived from them. These HPRT- mutants were then treated with 5azaCR and plated in HAT (hypoxanthine-methotrexate-thymidine) medium to select for cells that had reexpressed the hprt gene on the inactive X chromosome. Contrary to previous results with primary human cells, 5azaCR was effective in activating the hprt gene in primary Chinese hamster fibroblasts at a low but reproducible frequency of 2 x 10(-6) to 7 x 10(-6). In comparison, the frequency in independently derived transformed lines varied from 1 x 10(-5) to 5 x 10(-3), consistently higher than in the nontransformed cells. This increase remained significant when the difference in growth rates between the primary and transformed lines was taken into account. Treatment with 5azaCR was also found to induce transformation in the primary cell lines but at a low frequency of 4 x 10(-7) to 8 x 10(-7), inconsistent with a two-step model of transformation followed by gene activation to explain the derepression of hprt in primary cells. Thus, these results indicate that upon transformation, the hprt gene on the inactive Chinese hamster X chromosome is rendered more susceptible to action by 5azaCR, consistent with a generalized DNA demethylation associated with the transformation event or with an increase in the instability of an underlying primary mechanism of X inactivation.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1667
Author(s):  
Laura Abaandou ◽  
David Quan ◽  
Joseph Shiloach

The HEK293 cell line has earned its place as a producer of biotherapeutics. In addition to its ease of growth in serum-free suspension culture and its amenability to transfection, this cell line’s most important attribute is its human origin, which makes it suitable to produce biologics intended for human use. At the present time, the growth and production properties of the HEK293 cell line are inferior to those of non-human cell lines, such as the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and the murine myeloma NSO cell lines. However, the modification of genes involved in cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, metabolism, glycosylation, secretion, and protein folding, in addition to bioprocess, media, and vector optimization, have greatly improved the performance of this cell line. This review provides a comprehensive summary of important achievements in HEK293 cell line engineering and on the global engineering approaches and functional genomic tools that have been employed to identify relevant genes for targeted engineering.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1183
Author(s):  
Cecilia Spedalieri ◽  
Gergo Péter Szekeres ◽  
Stephan Werner ◽  
Peter Guttmann ◽  
Janina Kneipp

Gold nanostars are a versatile plasmonic nanomaterial with many applications in bioanalysis. Their interactions with animal cells of three different cell lines are studied here at the molecular and ultrastructural level at an early stage of endolysosomal processing. Using the gold nanostars themselves as substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering, their protein corona and the molecules in the endolysosomal environment were characterized. Localization, morphology, and size of the nanostar aggregates in the endolysosomal compartment of the cells were probed by cryo soft-X-ray nanotomography. The processing of the nanostars by macrophages of cell line J774 differed greatly from that in the fibroblast cell line 3T3 and in the epithelial cell line HCT-116, and the structure and composition of the biomolecular corona was found to resemble that of spherical gold nanoparticles in the same cells. Data obtained with gold nanostars of varied morphology indicate that the biomolecular interactions at the surface in vivo are influenced by the spike length, with increased interaction with hydrophobic groups of proteins and lipids for longer spike lengths, and independent of the cell line. The results will support optimized nanostar synthesis and delivery for sensing, imaging, and theranostics.


1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-209
Author(s):  
Anders H. G. Andrén ◽  
Anders P. Wieslander

Cytotoxicity, measured as inhibition of cell growth of cultured cell lines, is a widely used method for testing the safety of biomaterials and chemicals. One major technical disadvantage with this method is the continuous routine maintenance of the cell lines. We decided to investigate the possibility of storing stock cultures of fibroblasts (L-929) in an ordinary refrigerator as a means of reducing the routine workload. Stock cultures of the mouse fibroblast cell line L-929 were prepared in plastic vials with Eagle's minimum essential medium. The vials were stored in a refrigerator at 4–10°C for periods of 7–31 days. The condition of the cells after storage was determined as cell viability, cell growth and the toxic response to acrylamide, measured as cell growth inhibition. We found that the L-929 cell line can be stored for 2–3, weeks with a viabilty > 90% and a cell growth of about 95%, compared to L-929 cells grown and subcultured in the normal manner. The results also show that the toxic response to acrylamide, using refrigerator stored L-929 cells, corresponds to that of control L-929 cells. We concluded that it is possible to store L-929 cells in a refrigerator for periods of up to 3 weeks and still use the cells for in vitro cytotoxic assays.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria I. Turilova ◽  
Tatyana S. Goryachaya ◽  
Tatiana K. Yakovleva

Abstract Background Chinese hamster ovary cell lines, also known as CHO cells, represent a large family of related, yet quite different, cell lines which are metabolic mutants derived from the original cell line, CHO-ori. Dihydrofolate reductase-deficient DXB-11 cell line, one of the first CHO derivatives, serves as the host cell line for the production of therapeutic proteins. It is generally assumed that DXB-11 is identical to DUKX or CHO-DUK cell lines, but, to our knowledge, DXB-11 karyotype has not been described yet. Results Using differential staining approaches (G-, C-banding and Ag-staining), we presented DXB-11 karyotype and revealed that karyotypes of DXB-11 and CHO-DUK cells have a number of differences. Although the number of chromosomes is equal—20 in each cell line—DXB-11 has normal chromosomes of the 1st and 5th pairs as well as an intact chromosome 8. Besides, in DXB-11 line, chromosome der(Z9) includes the material of chromosomes X and 6, whereas in CHO-DUK it results from the translocation of chromosomes 1 and 6. Ag-positive nucleolar organizer regions were revealed in the long arms of chromosome del(4)(q11q12) and both chromosome 5 homologues, as well as in the short arms of chromosomes 8 and add(8)(q11). Only 19 from 112 (16.96%) DXB-11 cells display identical chromosome complement accepted as the main structural variant of karyotype. The karyotype heterogeneity of all the rest of cells (93, 83.04%) occurs due to clonal and nonclonal additional structural rearrangements of chromosomes. Estimation of the frequency of chromosome involvement in these rearrangements allowed us to reveal that chromosomes 9, der(X)t(X;3;4), del(2)(p21p23), del(2)(q11q22) /Z2, der(4) /Z7, add(6)(p11) /Z8 are the most stable, whereas mar2, probably der(10), is the most unstable chromosome. A comparative analysis of our own and literary data on CHO karyotypes allowed to designate conservative chromosomes, both normal and rearranged, that remain unchanged in different CHO cell lines, as well as variable chromosomes that determine the individuality of karyotypes of CHO derivatives. Conclusion DXB-11and CHO-DUK cell lines differ in karyotypes. The revealed differential instability of DXB-11 chromosomes is likely not incidental and results in karyotype heterogeneity of cell population.


1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (6) ◽  
pp. 2411-2420 ◽  
Author(s):  
E F Plow ◽  
D E Freaney ◽  
J Plescia ◽  
L A Miles

The capacity of cells to interact with the plasminogen activator, urokinase, and the zymogen, plasminogen, was assessed using the promyeloid leukemic U937 cell line and the diploid fetal lung GM1380 fibroblast cell line. Urokinase bound to both cell lines in a time-dependent, specific, and saturable manner (Kd = 0.8-2.0 nM). An active catalytic site was not required for urokinase binding to the cells, and 55,000-mol-wt urokinase was selectively recognized. Plasminogen also bound to the two cell lines in a specific and saturable manner. This interaction occurred with a Kd of 0.8-0.9 microM and was of very high capacity (1.6-3.1 X 10(7) molecules bound/cell). The interaction of plasminogen with both cell types was partially sensitive to trypsinization of the cells and required an unoccupied high affinity lysine-binding site in the ligand. When plasminogen was added to the GM1380 cells, a line with high intrinsic plasminogen activator activity, the bound ligand was comprised of both plasminogen and plasmin. Urokinase, in catalytically active or inactive form, enhanced plasminogen binding to the two cell lines by 1.4-3.3-fold. Plasmin was the predominant form of the bound ligand when active urokinase was added, and preformed plasmin can also bind directly to the cells. Plasmin on the cell surface was also protected from its primary inhibitor, alpha 2-antiplasmin. These results indicate that the two cell lines possess specific binding sites for plasminogen and urokinase, and a family of widely distributed cellular receptors for these components may be considered. Endogenous or exogenous plasminogen activators can generate plasmin on cell surfaces, and such activation may provide a mechanism for arming cell surfaces with the broad proteolytic activity of this enzyme.


1983 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1053-1061
Author(s):  
W H Lewis ◽  
P R Srinivasan

Metaphase chromosomes purified from a hydroxyurea-resistant Chinese hamster cell line were able to transform recipient wild-type cells to hydroxyurea resistance at a frequency of 10(-6). Approximately 60% of the resulting transformant clones gradually lost hydroxyurea resistance when cultivated for prolonged periods in the absence of drug. One transformant was subjected to serial selection in higher concentrations of hydroxyurea. The five cell lines generated exhibited increasing relative plating efficiency in the presence of the drug and a corresponding elevation in their cellular content of ribonucleotide reductase. The most resistant cell line had a 163-fold increase in relative plating efficiency and a 120-fold increase in enzyme activity when compared with the wild-type cell line. The highly hydroxyurea-resistant cell lines had strong electron paramagnetic resonance signals characteristic of an elevated level of the free radical present in the M2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase. Two-dimensional electrophoresis of cell-free extracts from one of the resistant cell lines indicated that a 53,000-dalton protein was present in greatly elevated quantities when compared with the wild-type cell line. These data suggest that the hydroxyurea-resistant cell lines may contain an amplification of the gene for the M2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 3525-3531
Author(s):  
J K Griffith

Recombinant DNA probes complementary to Chinese hamster metallothionein (MT)-1 and MT-2 mRNAs were used to compare MT gene copy numbers, zinc-induced MT mRNA levels, and uninduced MT mRNA levels in cadmium-resistant (Cdr) Chinese hamster ovary cell lines. Quantitative hybridization analyses determined that the MT-1 and MT-2 genes are each present at approximately single-copy levels in the genome of cell line Cdr2C10 and are coordinately amplified approximately 7, 3, and 12 times over the Cdr2C10 value in the genomes of cell lines Cdr20F4, Cdr30F9, and Cdr200T1, respectively. The maximum zinc-induced MT-1 mRNA concentrations in cell lines Cdr20F4, Cdr30F9, and Cdr200T1 were equal to 1, 3, and 15 times that measured in Cdr2C10, respectively. Similarly, the maximum zinc-induced MT-2 mRNA concentrations were equal to 1, 3, and 14 times that measured in Cdr2C10, respectively, and in each instance they were 90 to 150 times greater than their respective concentrations in uninduced cells. Thus, relative MT gene numbers are closely correlated with both zinc-induced and uninduced MT mRNA levels in Cdr2C10, Cdr30F9, and Cdr200T1, but not in Cdr20F4. Each of the latter two lines possesses structurally altered chromosomes whose breakpoints are near the MT locus. Nonetheless, the ratio of the levels of MT-1 to MT-2 mRNAs was constant in each of the four cell lines, including Cdr20F4. These results demonstrate that MT-1 and MT-2 mRNAs are induced coordinately in each Cdr cell line. Therefore, the coordination of the induction of MT-1 and MT-2 mRNA is independent of MT gene amplification, MT gene rearrangement, and the relative inducibilities of amplified MT genes. However, MT mRNA and protein levels each indicate that MT-1 and MT-2 expression is non-coordinate in uninduced cells. Thus, regulation of MT expression may involve two different mechanisms which are differentially operative in induced and uninduced cells.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 4612-4622
Author(s):  
P J Beck ◽  
P Orlean ◽  
C Albright ◽  
P W Robbins ◽  
M J Gething ◽  
...  

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae DPM1 gene product, dolichol-phosphate-mannose (Dol-P-Man) synthase, is involved in the coupled processes of synthesis and membrane translocation of Dol-P-Man. Dol-P-Man is the lipid-linked sugar donor of the last four mannose residues that are added to the core oligosaccharide transferred to protein during N-linked glycosylation in the endoplasmic reticulum. We present evidence that the S. cerevisiae gene DPM1, when stably transfected into a mutant Chinese hamster ovary cell line, B4-2-1, is able to correct the glycosylation defect of the cells. Evidence for complementation includes (i) fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis of differential lectin binding to cell surface glycoproteins, (ii) restoration of Dol-P-Man synthase enzymatic activity in crude cell lysates, (iii) isolation and high-performance liquid chromatography fractionation of the lipid-linked oligosaccharides synthesized in the transfected and control cell lines, and (iv) the restoration of endoglycosidase H sensitivity to the oligosaccharides transferred to a specific glycoprotein synthesized in the DPM1 CHO transfectants. Indirect immunofluorescence with a primary antibody directed against the DPM1 protein shows a reticular staining pattern of protein localization in transfected hamster and monkey cell lines.


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