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We have described previously procedures for the isolation of specific mRNA employing immunoprecipitation of polysomes. In spite of our success with ovalbumin mRNA in the chicken oviduct, we have had considerable difficulties in applying these same published techniques to the immunopurification of conalbumin mRNA, despite the fact that the chicken oviduct synthesizes up to 10% of protein as conalbumin. Here we describe a number of modifications and refinements which have proved essential in obtaining intact conalbumin mRNA in high purity and high yields. These refinements include: (a) improved purification of conalbumin in order to remove contaminating proteins that result in impure antibodies; (b) improved isolation of specific conalbumin antibody in high yields; (c) improved methods for reducing contamination by non-specific polysomes; (d) improved techniques for isolation of RNA from immunoprecipitates resulting in less degradation and higher recovery of conalbumin mRNA; (E) improved techniques for efficient translation of conalbumin mRNA involving treatment of the RNA with methylmercury prior to translation. We conclude that problems involved in the immunoprecipitation of different mRNAs may differ, and that various refinements in techniques may be required for obtaining highly purified preparations of intact mRNA in high yields.

Protein degradation in mammalian cells may be regulated by size of the polypeptide subunit, susceptibility to degradation by proteases, alteration by mutational changes, and interaction with various ligands, including other proteins, lipids, cofactors, or metabolic intermediates. The pathway of degradation is not defined but appears to involve both lysosomal and nonlysosomal proteases.

We have employed Chinese hamster ovary cells synchronized by mitotic selection to study the replication and amplification of the dihydrofolate reductase gene. Using bromodeoxyuridine to differentially label newly replicated DNA, we show that the dihydrofolate reductase gene is replicated during the first 2 h of S phase, a time when, at most, 10% of the total genome has been replicated. We find that a 6-h inhibition of DNA synthesis by hydroxyurea beginning 2 h after the initiation of S phase markedly increases the frequency with which cells become resistant to a 100-fold increment in methotrexate. When DNA synthesis resumes following removal of the hydroxyurea, virtually all of the DNA replicated prior to inhibition, including the dihydrofolate reductase gene, is rereplicated. Analysis of the dihydrofolate reductase enzyme content of cells 24 h after treatment with hydroxyurea using the fluorescence-activated cell sorter reveals a subset of cells with elevated dihydrofolate reductase. It is this subset that contains additional copies of the dihydrofolate reductase gene and from which emerge highly methotrexate-resistant cells. We propose that the initial event of amplification is the rereplication of a variable, but relatively large, amount of the genome. As cells are subsequently placed under selection, a number of processes, including recombination events and loss of nonselected DNA sequences occur, resulting in what appears as differential gene amplification.

We have studied the effects of gamma-radiation on the frequency of methotrexate resistance and dihydrofolate reductase gene amplification. gamma-Irradiation of Chinese hamster ovary cells resulted in enhancement of the frequency of methotrexate resistant colonies (maximum enhancement: 2000-fold after 1000 rads). The enhancement of methotrexate resistance was dependent on the dose of gamma-radiation and increased with time after irradiation; a maximum enhancement was observed when methotrexate was added 18 h after irradiation. Methotrexate resistant clones of Chinese hamster ovary cells showed no increase in dihydrofolate reductase gene copy number but were found to be defective in methotrexate transport. However, when these experiments were extended to 3T6 murine cells, 54% of nonirradiated and 44% of gamma-radiation induced methotrexate resistant clones showed an increase in dihydrofolate reductase gene copy number. These results suggest that the cells that survive irradiation have a very high probability of becoming methotrexate resistant and may explain why some malignant tumors (e.g., head and neck cancer) either do not respond or respond poorly to chemotherapy if the patient had prior radiotherapy.

The construction and analysis of bacterial plasmids that contain and phenotypically express a mammalian genetic sequence are described. Such plasmids specify a protein that has enzymatic properties, immunological reactivity and molecular size characteristic of the mouse dihydrofolate reductase, and render host cells resistant to the antimetabolic drug trimethoprim.

We have used a microtiter assay to study the toxicity of various folate analogs in a series of cultured human cell lines that exhibit different degrees of resistance to methotrexate, an inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase. These cells retain their sensitivity to the lipophilic antifolate BW301U despite the amplification of dihydrofolate reductase genes. Because the cell lines under investigation grow very slowly and have poor plating efficiencies in unconditioned medium, an assay was developed that relies on cell proliferation rather than colony formation as a measure of toxicity. This approach is easily generalized to provide a rapid and inexpensive assay of drug competition. Two-dimensional studies indicate that methotrexate and BW301U show differences in patterns of toxicity, competition, and rescue by folinic acid, suggesting that the two drugs act on different targets. Further applications of the microtiter assay to the analysis of multidrug interactions are discussed.

Selection of mammalian cells in progressively increasing concentrations of methotrexate results in selective amplification of DNA sequences coding for dihydrofolate reductase (tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate:NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.5.1.3). In some cell variants the amplified genes are stable with growth in the absence of methotrexate, whereas in other variants the amplified genes are lost from the population. We have previously reported that in a stably amplified variant of Chinese hamster ovary cells, the genes are localized to a single chromosome. Herein we report that in mouse S-180 and L5178Y cell lines unstably amplified dihydrofolate reductase DNA sequences are associated with small, paired chromosomal elements denoted "double minute chromosomes," whereas in stably amplified cells of the same origin, the genes are associated with large chromosomes.

A 23-kilobase-pair segment of DNA containing the entire mouse serum albumin gene as well as 2.2 kilobase pairs of 5' and 4.3 kilobase pairs of 3' flanking sequences has been introduced into pSV2dhfr, a plasmid in which expression of the mouse dihydrofolate reductase cDNA is under the control of simian virus 40 sequences. This vector, pSV2dhfr-alb, was used to transfect differentiated and variant dedifferentiated rat hepatoma cells. Nine independent clones of transfected differentiated cells secrete considerable amounts of mouse albumin, while the expression of the normal rat albumin is the same as in nontransfected cells. In contrast, only small amounts of mouse and rat albumin are produced by transfected dedifferentiated cells. The amounts of albumin mRNA present in the cells are consistent with the amounts of albumin produced. These results show that a transfected gene can be regulated in a fashion consistent with the overall differentiation profile of the cell.

We have studied the effect of a post-translational modification mutation upon four developmentally regulated glycosidases of Dictyostelium discoideum. The presence of the modA mutation affects the intracellular level of these multimeric enzymes differently. The level of alpha-glucosidase is unaffected in the modA mutant. The mutant cell contains only a very small fraction of the wild type beta-glucosidase-1 activity. The alteration in modification renders beta-glucosidase-1 holoenzyme thermolabile and susceptible to degradation in vivo. alpha-Mannosidase-1 and N-acetylglucosaminidase are found at approximately 1/3 of the wild type level in the modA mutant. Degradation of holoenzyme does not appear to be responsible for the low level of these activities. We propose that alpha-mannosidase-1 and N-acetylglucosaminidase subunits are being degraded prior to subunit assembly. We conclude the modification bestows different properties upon the various glycosidases.

Translation of total mRNA in heterologous protein-synthesizing systems is often employed as an indirect means of assessing relative mRNA concentrations. However, it is well known that the efficiency of translation of specific mRNAs differs. One such example is the poor translational efficiency of conalbumin mRNA relative to ovalbumin mRNA. In this report we have studied the translation of conalbumin and ovalbumin mRNAs in crude mRNA preparations and with highly purified mRNA preparations. We find that treatment of RNA with methylmercury hydroxide prior to translation improves the translational efficiency of both mRNAs and preferentially improves translational efficiency of conalbumin mRNA to the point where it more correctly reflects the relative concentration of these two mRNAs in crude mRNA preparations. Conalbumin mRNA is also a poor template for the synthesis of full length cDNA synthesis by avian myeloblastosis virus reverse transcriptase, and treatment of this mRNA with methylmercury hydroxide increases the size of DNA sequences synthesized. We conclude that treatment with methylmercury hydroxide produces a partial denaturation of mRNA complexed with either itself or with other RNA molecules and results in more efficient utilization in both translational assays and DNA polymerization reactions.

The genomic organization of the mouse dihydrofolate reductase gene has been determined by hybridization of specific cDNA sequences to restriction endonuclease-generated fragments of DNA from methotrexate-resistant S-180 cells. The dihydrofolate reductase gene contains a minimum of five intervening sequences (one in the 5' untranslated region and four in the protein-coding region) and spans a minimum of 42 kilobase pairs on the genome. Genomic sequences at the junction of the intervening sequence and mRNA-coding sequence and at the polyadenylation site have been determined. A similar organization is found in independently isolated methotrexate-resistant cell lines, in the parental sensitive cell line and in several inbred mouse strains, indicating that this organization represents that of the natural gene.

We have investigated the intragenomic DNA sequence homologies of twelve species of birds representing five orders, and emphasizing Galliformes. This study differs in two important ways from the classical approaches taken in constructing and evaluating phylogenies based on DNA sequence similarities. Comparisons are made on the basis of sequence homologies within genomes of related birds, rather than between genomes. DNA is reassociated at 50 degrees C in 0.5M phosphate buffer; these conditions allow formation and detection of duplexes containing more mismatch than would normally be permitted using more stringent conditions, affording an opportunity to observe more ancient sequence homologies. Thermal stability profiles of DNA duplexes formed under these conditions are the basis of comparison; three general patterns were observed. This approach emphasizes differences in sequence composition between genomes while the more traditional method of intergenomic tracer DNA hybridization at higher stringency emphasizes sequence similarities. No correlation was found between taxonomic position and intragenomic sequence composition, either within or between lineages. The thermal stability profiles of DNA duplexes formed within avian genomes did not reflect the biological similarities inferred from morphology, karyotype, and studies of interspecific hybridization. While all of the differences observed could have occurred over geological time, it was surprising that the genomes of the domestic chicken and the Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus) differ in their sequence compositions. It appears that amolification/reduction events and/or positional changes occur rather often during evolution of a lineage.

We are studying mechanisms of resistance to hydrophilic and lipophilic antifolates in cultured mammalian cells. We determined the cytotoxicity of methotrexate and the lipid-soluble antifolate trimetrexate to various human carcinoma cells and their doxorubicin-resistant sublines. These multidrug-resistant cells were 17-fold to 26-fold more resistant to trimetrexate but as sensitive to methotrexate as their parental cells. Verapamil and quinidine, which are known to modulate the degree of pleiotropic drug resistance, reversed the cross-resistance to trimetrexate but did not alter methotrexate toxicity in multidrug-resistant cells. By flow cytometry, we show that multidrug-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells retained eightfold more fluorescein-methotrexate bound to dihydrofolate reductase upon competition with trimetrexate than the drug-sensitive cells did. However, methotrexate displaced fluorescein-methotrexate equally well in sensitive and multidrug-resistant cells. Furthermore, verapamil produced dose-dependent displacement of fluorescein-methotrexate from the multidrug-resistant cells in the presence of low concentrations of trimetrexate but had no significant effect on displacement of fluorescein-methotrexate from sensitive cells. Hamster cells that overproduce dihydrofolate reductase by 93-fold were 145-fold and 96-fold more resistant to methotrexate and trimetrexate, respectively, than their sensitive parental cells. This form of antifolate resistance was not altered by verapamil or quinidine. We conclude that the cross-resistance to trimetrexate in cells that do not overproduce dihydrofolate reductase is associated with the multidrug-resistant phenotype. Possible implications of trimetrexate resistance in cancer chemotherapy are discussed.

We have developed an in vitro transcription system for the murine dihydrofolate reductase gene. Although transcription in vitro from a linearized template was initiated at the same start sites as in vivo, the correct ratios were more closely approximated when a supercoiled template was used. In addition, whereas the dihydrofolate reductase promoter functions bidirectionally in vivo, the initiation signals directed unidirectional transcription in this in vitro system. The dihydrofolate reductase gene does not have a typical TATA box, but has four GGGCGG hexanucleotides within 300 base pairs 5' of the AUG codon. Deletion analysis suggested that, although sequences surrounding each of the GC boxes could specify initiation approximately 40 to 50 nucleotides downstream, three of the four GC boxes could be removed without changing the accuracy or efficiency of initiation at the major in vivo site. The dihydrofolate reductase promoter initiated transcription very rapidly in vitro, with transcripts visible by 1 min and almost maximal by 2 min at 30 degrees C with no preincubation. Nuclear extracts prepared from cells blocked in the S phase by aphidicolin or from adenovirus-infected cells at 16 h postinfection had enhanced dihydrofolate reductase transcriptional activity. This increased in vitro transcription mimicked the increase in dihydrofolate reductase mRNA seen in S-phase cells and suggested the presence of a cell-cycle-specific factor(s) which stimulated transcription from the dihydrofolate reductase gene.

We have isolated three mammalian cell lines which are resistant to compactin, a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase. The drug resistance in all three cell lines is due to an increase of HMG-CoA reductase activity. Two of the three cell lines overaccumulate HMG-CoA reductase messenger RNA when grown in the presence of compactin. DNA hybridization experiments indicate that both a baby hamster kidney-derived compactin-resistant cell line, C100, and a cell line derived from mouse 3T6 cells, 3T6-40, exhibit amplifications of the HMG-CoA reductase gene. A third compactin-resistant cell line derived from Chinese hamster ovary cells, ML100, does not exhibit an amplification of the HMG-CoA reductase gene, nor does it show an elevated level of HMG-CoA reductase mRNA, comparable to that seen in the other cell lines.

We have determined whether the gene encoding dihydrofolate reductase (5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate: NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.5.1.3) varies spontaneously in gene copy number in cells in vitro. Cells were stained under nonselective conditions with fluoresceinated methotrexate, which binds quantitatively to dihydrofolate reductase. Cells with the highest fluorescence were collected by a fluorescence-activated cell sorter and subsequently grown in the absence of methotrexate. At no time during the experiment were the cells placed under metabolic stress. After 10 successive rounds of growth and sorting, the derived population showed a 50-fold increase in fluorescence intensity, was highly resistant to methotrexate, and was amplified 40-fold in content of dihydrofolate reductase gene. We also found that cells already having amplified genes can undergo increases or decreases in their fluorescence and in gene copy number even more rapidly (at rates as high as 3 X 10(-2) amplification events per cell division) than do parental cells (ca. 10(-3) events per division). We therefore conclude that gene amplification can occur spontaneously in cells and that the rate of its occurrence varies with gene copy number.

A large library of hen oviduct cDNA-pCR1 recombinant plasmids has been established in Escherichia coli X1776. From this library, ovomucoid cDNA and lysozyme cDNA-bearing plasmids have been identified. One of these plasmids, pMu7, yielded the sequence of the 3'-untranslated region of ovomucoid mRNA.

The messenger RNA for ovalbumin, the major secretory protein of the chick oviduct, appears not to be made as a high-molecular-weight precursor when artifacts due to aggregation are eliminated. No ovalbumin messenger RNA sequences that will hybridize to complementary DNA made against ovalbumin mRNA are found in concentrated samples of hen oviduct RNA larger than 28 S. The sensitivity of the hybridization assay is sufficient to detect less than one molecule of ovalbumin mRNA precursor per tubular gland cell. Newly synthesized ovalbumin messenger RNA isolated from immature chicks stimulated briefly by estrogen is the same size as that found in hen polyribosomes. We conclude that ovalbumin messenger RNA does not undergo any significant change in molecular weight from its initial transcription to its incorporation into polyribosomes.

One member of a repeated sequence family has been found in the second intron of the mouse dihydrofolate reductase gene. The family consists of approximately 20 members/haploid genome, two of which have been sequenced and found to contain a 480-base pair region of homology with a significant amount of sequence divergence. Rat, Chinese hamster, Syrian hamster, and human DNAs contain homologous repetitious elements, and the four rodent species have a member of this family associated with the dihydrofolate reductase gene.

Resistance of mouse cells to the folate analog, methotrexate, results from selection of increasingly resistant cells on progressive increases of methotrexate in the culture medium. High-level resistance is associated with high rates of synthesis of dihydrofolate reductase and correspondingly high numbers of reductase genes. In some variants high resistance and gene copy number are stable in the absence of selection pressure, whereas in others they are unstable. Analogies are made to antibiotic and insecticide resistance wherein selection of organisms with increased capacity to counteract the drug effect results in emergence of resistance. Gene amplification may underlie many such resistance phenomena.

We have used the technique of DNA-mediated gene transfer to introduce dihydrofolate reductase genes into dihydrofolate reductase-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cells. The transferred sequences include: dihydrofolate reductase minigenes, dihydrofolate reductase cDNA clones, and genomic DNA from mouse cells with highly amplified dihydrofolate reductase genes. The hamster cells were capable of utilizing the murine transcription initiation sites, splice junctions, and polyadenylation sites in complete murine dihydrofolate reductase genes. Only a short region of 5'-flanking sequence (160 base pairs (bp] was sufficient for proper initiation of dihydrofolate reductase transcription. In contrast only those clones with all of the dihydrofolate reductase introns and extensive (greater than 6.5 kilobase pairs) 3'-flanking regions utilized the dihydrofolate reductase polyadenylylation sites. Four of nine clones tested regulate the transfected genes normally, synthesizing dihydrofolate reductase preferentially at the onset of S phase. Regulated genes include one which entirely lacks intervening sequences, two with fewer than 420 bp of 5'-flanking sequence, and two in which polyadenylylation occurs predominantly in the adjacent hamster sequences. Two of the five cell lines which do not exhibit normal regulation contain genes which appear to be transcribed primarily from promoters present in the flanking hamster DNA. The other genes which fail to regulate do not appear to differ significantly in the structure of their transcripts or protein products from genes which regulate normally. We conclude that only the coding sequences, a region of less than 340 bp of sequence 5' of the translation initiation codon, and a short region of 3'-flanking sequence are required for regulated production of dihydrofolate reductase. The regulation can be abolished, however, by unknown properties of the site of insertion.

Chicken metaphase chromosomes were partially purified by rate zonal centrifugation, and DNA was prepared from each of the fractions of the sucrose gradient. The DNA was digested with various restriction enzymes and subjected to electrophoresis in agarose gels. The DNA was transferred to nitrocellulose filters (as described by Southern), and the filters were hybridized with cDNA probes. Four globin genes alpha A, alpha D, beta, and rho or epsilon are located on at least two chromosomes, and three of the estrogen-inducible genes of the hen oviduct--ovalbumin, ovomucoid, and transferrin--are on three different chromosomes. These experiments also confirm our earlier assignment of the endogenous viral sequence related to Rous-associated virus-0 to a separate (and larger) chromosome than the cellular sequence related to the transforming gene of avian sarcoma virus (cellular sarc), although it now appears that cellular sarc is on a small macrochromosome, rather than on a microchromosome.

Gene amplification is a mechanism whereby cultured animal cells and human tumours become resistant to cancer chemotherapeutic agents. This review of studies from the authors' laboratory describes properties of the acquisition of resistance to methotrexate in cultured mammalian cells by virtue of amplification of the dihydrofolate reductase gene. These properties result in a heterogeneous cell population with respect to many cell properties, including the number and stability of the amplified genes. Gene amplification results from overreplication of DNA in a single cell cycle as a result of inhibition of DNA synthesis. The cells surviving such overreplication constitute a heterogeneous population with multiple chromosomal changes, including partial or complete endoreduplication of chromosomes, as well as a variety of chromosomal rearrangements. A similar phenomenon may underlie the generation of aneuploidy in tumours, their malignant progression, and the generation of heterogeneity in the tumour cell population.

We have isolated a mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum, M31, which produces a reduced number of alpha-mannosidase-1 molecules per cell during the developmental program of the organism. We find that several of the glycosidases, a group of lysosomal proteins produced by D. discoideum, are altered in strain M31 and that this strain produces a reduced level of at least three of these activities. These enzymes do not share a common protein subunit but are known to share a common antigenic determinant which is, in part, carbohydrate in nature. In the wild type parent of M31, alpha-mannosidase-1 is modified by the addition of mannose and glucosamine (probably as N-acetylglucosamine) in the molar ratio of 5:2. alpha-Mannosidase-1 was also found to contain phosphoserine/phosphothreonine residues. alpha-Mannosidase-1 and other glycosidases are electrophoretically less negative when isolated from strain M31 than when isolated from wild type cells. The mutation present in M31, modA, appears to affect posttranslational modification, modA is a recessive mutation which we map onto linkage group I.

We have examined the karyological consequences of dihydrofolate reductase gene amplification in a series of six rat hepatoma cell lines, all derived from the same clone. Cells of three of these lines express a series of liver-specific functions whereas those of three others fail to express these functions. Cells of each line have been subjected to stepwise selection for methotrexate resistance and, in most cases, resistance is associated with a 40-50-fold amplification of sequences hybridizing to a dihydrofolate reductase cDNA probe. In one line no modified chromosome is observed, whereas in two others the amplified genes are associated with an expanded chromosomal region. R-banding analysis of these karyotypes showed that few changes have occurred. These observations apply to two of the well-differentiated lines, and to a variant able to revert to the differentiated state. In contrast, in the two stably dedifferentiated hepatoma cell lines, amplified dihydrofolate reductase genes are found on large chromosomes of variable size, on ring chromosomes, and on chromosomes containing terminal, median, or multiple centromeres. We conclude that the nature of the chromosomal changes associated with dihydrofolate reductase gene amplification are the result of differences in cell lines rather than in the protocols employed for selection.

We investigated the cell cycle modulation of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR; tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, 7,8-dihydroxyfolate:NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.5.1.3) levels in methotrexate-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells synchronized by mitotic selection. DNA content and DHFR concentration were analyzed throughout the cell cycle by standard biochemical techniques and by double fluorescence staining utilizing the fluorescence-activated cell sorter. We found an S phase-specific period of DHFR biosynthetic activity. Commencing within hour 2 of S phase and continuing throughout the duration of S phase, there is a 90% increase in DHFR specific activity. This results from an approximately 2.5-fold increase in the level of DHFR, while total soluble protein increases 50% during the same period. This increase is the result of new synthesis of DHFR molecules initiated after the cell is physiologically committed to DNA replication. This increase in DHFR activity through S phage parallels the increasing rate of [3H]thymidine incorporation during the same interval. The maximum peak of DHFR activity is coincident with the maximum rate of DNA synthesis, both activities occurring during the bulk of DNA replication within the last stages of the 6.5-hr S phase.

Resistance to methotrexate (MTX) has been shown in mouse, hamster, and human cell lines grown in sequentially increased MTX concentrations to be due to increased dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) synthesis and a proportional increase in DHFR gene copy number. Leukemia cells of a patient were studied to assess change in DHFR gene copy number after MTX treatment. The patient presented with chronic myeloid leukemia which rapidly evolved into blast crisis; 90% of peripheral white cells were lymphoblasts. Treatment included intrathecal and intravenous MTX; the lymphoblasts were reduced to undetectable levels. Three months later a second blast crisis occurred; 90% of peripheral white cells were lymphoblasts. Cells from each blast crisis were obtained by leukapheresis and stored for study. Quantification of DHFR gene copy number in DNA from lymphoblasts before and after MTX treatment was done: a radiolabeled cloned cDNA constituting the mouse DHFR coding sequence was used to probe high molecular weight pretreatment and posttreatment DNA bound to nitrocellulose filters. Posttreatment DNA contained two- to three-fold more DHFR gene sequences than pretreatment DNA. Quantitative Southern blotting of EcoRI-digested pretreatment and posttreatment DNA confirmed amplification of the DHFR gene. Karyotype analysis showed no double minute chromosomes or homogeneously staining regions. This is the first study demonstrating DHFR gene amplification in leukemia cells sampled in vivo from a patient treated with MTX.

During stepwise increases in the methotrexate concentration in culture medium, we selected Chinese hamster ovary cells that contained elevated dihydrofolate reductase levels which were proportional to the number of dihydrofolate reductase gene copies (i.e., gene amplification). We studied the dihydrofolate reductase levels in individual cells that underwent the initial steps of methotrexate resistance by using the fluorescence-activated cell sorter technique. Such cells constituted a heterogeneous population with differing dihydrofolate reductase levels, and they characteristically lost the elevated enzyme levels when they were grown in the absence of methotrexate. The progeny of individual cells with high enzyme levels behaved differently and could lose all or variable numbers of the amplified genes.

A methotrexate (MTX)-resistant murine lymphoblastoid cell line has been obtained by serial passage in increasing concentrations of MTX which is greater than 100,000-fold resistant to MTX (L5178YR) and has dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) levels 300-fold higher than the parental line. The L5178YR cell line synthesizes approximately 10-11% of its total soluble cell protein as DHFR regardless of growth phase, as measured by direct immunoprecipitation with a monospecific antiserum. Molecular hybridization of a purified [3H]DNA probe complimentary to DHFR specific mRNA with cellular DNA and RNA indicates that DHFR coding sequences are elevated several hundred fold in both nucleic acid species in the mutant cell line. Giemsa-banding studies of the diploid mutant line indicate the presence of a large homogeneously staining region on chromosome No. 2. In situ molecular hybridization studies indicate that the DHFR genes are localized in this homogeneously staining region. The homogeneously staining region probably consists of tandom repeats of a basic segment approximately 800 kilo base pairs long.

A highly specific assay for folate reductase mRNA activity from Sarcoma 180 cells was developed using the rabbit reticulocyte lysate protein synthesizing system. Quantitation of in vitro folate reductase synthesis was accomplished by direct immunoprecipitation from lysate reactions. The in vitro labeled folate reductase was synthesized in a linear response to a wide range of RNA concentrations, migrated as a single prominent radioactive species upon polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and was indistinguishable from authentic 14C-labeled folate reductase on the basis of molecular weight and immunotitration with anti-folate reductase gamma-globulin. The assay was used to quantitate folate reductase mRNA activity in various cell lines and under several conditions known to affect folate reductase synthesis. These included (a) sensitive and methotrexate-resistant Sarcoma 180 cells, (b) two lines of resistant cells having different relative rates of folate reductase synthesis, (c) growth of methotrexate-resistant cells in the absence of methotrexate, and (d) growth phase. The results indicate that the relative rate of folate reductase synthesis in each case can be explained solely by the level of translatable folate reductase mRNA. The use of poly(U)-Sepharose and sucrose gradient fractionation procedures indicated that folate reductase mRNA contains poly(A) and has a sedimentation coefficient of approximately 14 S. These two fractionation steps were combined to achieve an approximately 90-fold purification of folate reductase mRNA over total cytoplasmic RNA.

We have studied the frequency of transport mutations in methotrexate-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells using a rapid-flow cytometric technique. After saturating cells with fluoresceinated methotrexate, we examined the ability of hydrophilic and lipophilic antifolates to displace fluoresceinated methotrexate binding to dihydrofolate reductase. Cells with methotrexate transport deficiency are unable to take up methotrexate and thus retain the fluorescence, whereas the lipophilic antifolates displace fluoresceinated methotrexate equally well in sensitive and resistant cell lines. These resistant clones fail to take up methotrexate and occur with high frequencies upon single-step selections at methotrexate concentrations approximately equal to 7-fold the 50% killing concentration. The majority of such first-step resistant clones appear to derive their resistance solely from transport deficiency; they exhibit no overproduction of dihydrofolate reductase and no increase in either steady-state mRNA levels or gene copy number. Possible applications of the use of fluoresceinated methotrexate to the characterization of various mechanisms of methotrexate resistance in mixed cell populations are discussed.

The murine dihydrofolate reductase gene codes for mRNAs that differ in the length of their 3' untranslated region as well as in the length of their 5' leader sequence. In addition, the dihydrofolate reductase promoter functions bidirectionally, producing a series of RNAs from the opposite strand than the dihydrofolate reductase mRNAs. We have examined the production of these RNAs and their heterogeneous 5' and 3' termini as mouse 3T6 cells progress through a physiologically continuous cell cycle. We found that all of the transcripts traverse the cell cycle in a similar manner, increasing at the G1/S boundary without significantly changing their ratios relative to one another. We conclude that cell-cycle regulation of dihydrofolate reductase is achieved without recruiting new transcription initiation sites and without a change in polyadenylation sites. It appears that the mechanism responsible for the transcriptional cell-cycle regulation of the dihydrofolate reductase gene is manifested only by transiently increasing the efficiency of transcription at the dihydrofolate reductase promoter.

We have studied a line of 3T6 mouse embryo fibroblasts grown in progressively increasing concentrations of methotrexate. Resistance of cells to low concentrations of the inhibitor (less than 5 X 10(-5) M) is attributed to selective multiplication of the genes coding for dihydrofolate reductase and the resulting elevation of enzyme content. Cells isolated at a higher methotrexate concentration (4 X 10(-4) M) contain high levels of a dihydrofolate reductase with a reduced affinity for methotrexate. The altered dihydrofolate reductase exhibits a 270-fold reduction in binding affinity for methotrexate as measured by equilibrium dialysis (Kd = 5.4 X 10(-8) M versus 2 X 10(-10) M for the wild type enzyme). While binding to NADPH is unchanged, the Km for dihydrofolate is increased 3-fold over wild type enzyme and the turnover number for the reduction of dihydrofolate to tetrahydrofolate is decreased 20-fold. The altered dihydrofolate reductase shows a broader and more predominant acidic peak in its pH profile for this reaction. The molecular weights of the altered and wild type enzymes are identical as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis, but 2-dimensional electrophoresis reveals a significant basic shift in the migration of the altered enzyme. Studies with various folic acid analogs suggest that modifications involving the para-aminobenzoyl moiety of the inhibitor molecules are associated with the most dramatic differential binding between the altered and wild type dihydrofolate reductases.

We have examined the chromosomal effects of heating asynchronously growing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO K1) cells in the presence of actinomycin D or cycloheximide. Actinomycin D was found to strongly potentiate the chromosome damaging effects of heat shock, an effect correlated with a strong nonadditive reduction in cell survival. In contrast, cycloheximide treatment reduced heat shock induced chromosome damage and resulted in a significant nonadditive increase in cell survival following heat shock. The different effects of these two inhibitors on chromosomal damage and cell survival are correlated in part with their effects on the rate of DNA synthesis during heat shock. The results suggest that an important aspect of the interaction of heat and metabolic inhibitors involves changes in cell cycle phase distribution of and/or progression through the S phase of the cell cycle induced by drug treatment prior to and during heat shock. The data indicate that the protective effect of cycloheximide in heat shocked cells may involve altered cell cycle progression and/or phase distribution of cells during hyperthermia.

We have examined the question, is the carbohydrate moiety of ovalbumin attached to nascent chains or to the completed protein after its release from polyribosomes. Ovalbumin nascent chains have been isolated from hen oviduct by immunoprecipitation of ovalbumin-synthesizing polysomes and subsequent isolation of peptidyl-tRNA by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. Our results indicate that both glucosamine and mannose are incorporated into ovalbumin nascent chains by hen oviduct fragments. Although the asparagine to which the carbohydrates are attached is 10 amino acid residues from the NH2 terminus, the majority of the carbohydrate, if not all, is attached only to those peptide chains that have been essentially completed.

Methotrexate-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells selected for high resistance by progressive increments of methotrexate in the culture medium have levels of dihydrofolate reductase (tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase, 7,8-dihydrofolate: NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.5.1.3) 200 times that of sensitive cells and a corresponding increase in the number of copies of the dihydrofolate reductase gene. The resistant cells contain an expanded region on the second chromosome (homogeneously staining region) that is not present in sensitive cells. In situ hybridization of DNA complementary to dihydrofolate reductase mRNA shows that the dihydrofolate reductase genes are specifically localized to the homogeneously staining region of this chromosome in the resistant cells.