Isolation of UV-sensitive clones from a haploid frog cell line

Characterization of a mutant rat kangaroo cell line with alterations in the cell cycle and DNA repair

Using a positive selection system for isolating DNA replication and repair related mutants, we isolated a clone from a rat kangaroo cell line (PtK2) that has increased sensitivity to UV light. Characterization of this clone indicated normal post-replication repair after UV irradiation, and normal removal rates of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and pyrimidine(6-4)pyrimidone photoproducts by excision repair. However, this cell line has decreased ability to make early incisions on damaged DNA, possibly indicating a defect in preferential repair of actively transcribed genes, and a slower cell proliferation rate, including a longer S-phase. This phenotype reinforces the present notion that control of key mechanisms in cell metabolism, such as cell cycle control, repair, transcription and cell death, can be linked.

Isolation of a mutant cell line derived from ICR 2A frog cells hypersensitive to the induction of non-dimer DNA damage by solar ultraviolet radiation

A mutant cell line DRP 36, hypersensitive to nondimer DNA damage induced by exposure of cells to the Mylar-filtered solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation produced by a fluorescent sunlamp plus photoreactivating light (PRL) was isolated from the haploid ICR 2A frog cell line. The DO for mutant cells exposed to this solar UV source was 3.3 kJ/m2 compared with a DO of 7.3 kJ/m2 for the parental ICR 2A cells. In contrast, DRP 36 and ICR 2A cells exhibited similar levels of survival following 254-nm irradiation which causes the induction primarily of pyrimidine dimers. The cross-sensitivity to additional DNA damaging agents was examined, and it was determined that the DRP 36 cells are also hypersensitive to treatment with gamma-rays, ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS), cis-dichlorodiammine platinum (II) (DDP), and 4-nitroquinoline oxide (4-NQO) while exhibiting normal sensitivity to L-phenylalanine mustard (L-PAM), 1,3-bis-(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU) and mitomycin C (MMC).

UV-induced mutagenesis at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase locus in two L5178Y mouse lymphoma cell strains with different UV sensitivities

Two strains of L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells, L5178Y-R (LY-R) and L5178Y-S (LY-S), differ markedly in their sensitivity to 254 nm UV radiation (D0 = 0.7 and 5.5 J/m2; n = 6.0 and 2.0 for LY-R and LY-S cells, respectively). In this study, the frequency of hypoxanthine-guanine-phosphoribosyl-transferase-deficient mutants was determined, using 6-thioguanine (TG) as a selective agent, in populations of LY-R and LY-S cells exposed to various fluences of UV radiation. The spontaneous mutation frequency for LY-R cells was (3.7 +/- 0.6) X 10(-5) TGr mutants per viable cell, and the UV induction rate was (2.2 +/- 0.8) X 10(-4) TGr mutants per viable cell, per J/m2. Both spontaneous and induced mutation frequencies were much lower for LY-S cells. The spontaneous mutation frequency for these cells were too low to make its measurement practicable (less than 0.0013 X 10(-5) TGr mutants per viable cell). Mutation induction rate was (4.2 +/- 2.2) X 10(-7) TGr mutants per viable cell, per J/m2. These differences in mutability do not appear to be due to gene duplication in LY-S cells, or to selective growth disadvantage of LY-S-derived TG-resistant mutants. Possible mechanisms underlying the differences in mutability of LY-R and LY-S cells are considered.

Isolation of Chinese hamster ovary cells with reduced unscheduled DNA synthesis after UV irradiation

A simple procedure has been worked out to obtain UV-sensitive mutants of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. In this procedure, conventional mutagenesis is followed by BrdU--light treatment to enrich the population for UV-sensitive cells. Colonies that are allowed to form subsequently are duplicated by replica plating and screened on the master plate for their UV sensitivity and their capacity to carry out UV-induced DNA repair synthesis. Putative mutants are isolated from the replica. With this combination of methods, we succeeded in isolating CHO mutants with an 85-95% reduced level of UV-induced DNA synthesis in combination with an increased UV sensitivity.

Isolation of UV-sensitive mutants of mouse L5178Y cells by a cell suspension spotting method

We have isolated 56 UV-sensitive mutant clones from a mouse L51 T/t line of L5178Y cells by a cell suspension spotting method. Five mutants have also been isolated from L51 T/t and L5178Y cells by the method reported by Thompson and coworkers (22). We divided the mutants into two groups, "highly sensitive" and "moderately sensitive" mutants, according to their sensitivity to UV irradiation. Fifty-eight mutants were highly sensitive and three were moderately sensitive to UV. The reconstruction experiments indicate that more than 90% of highly sensitive mutants were recovered by the cell suspension spotting method. Frequencies of recovered mutants highly sensitive to UV increased with increasing dose of mutagens. Recovered mutant frequency reached 10(-2) after treatment with 1.5 micrograms/ml of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) (survival 0.2%). Eight UV-sensitive mutants were divided into four complementation groups. These mutants were 2-6 times more sensitive to UV than parental L51 T/t cells in terms of D37 (dose required to reduce survival to 37%). Four representative UV-sensitive mutants which are classified into different complementation groups were examined for their sensitivity to killing by UV, 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO), mitomycin C (MMC), X-rays, and MNNG. All four classes of mutants were found to be cross-sensitive to UV, 4NQO, and MMC, but not sensitive to X-rays and MNNG.

DNA repair in a UV-sensitive mutant of a mouse cell line

A UV-sensitive mutant, Q31, isolated from mouse-lymphoma L5178Y cells, was studied for excision and post-replication repairs. A nearly equal number of UV endonuclease-sensitive sites was induced by UV in L5178Y, Q31, and human Raji cells. L5178Y cells irradiated with 10 J/m2 removed 18% of sensitive sites from DNA of detection, whereas Raji cells eliminated about 60% of the sites. These results during incubation for 24 h, and Q31 cells removed 3% of the sites, a fraction less than the limit indicate that mouse-lymphoma cells are capable of excision repair to a limited extend as compared with human cells and that mutant Q31 cells are essentially devoid of dimer excision. The newly synthesized DNA was of smaller size in UV-irradiated and unirradiated Q31 cells than that in the corresponding L5178Y cells, but the DNAs in both cell strains increased to comparable sizes after a 2-h chase.

Chinese hamster ovary mutant UV-1 is hypomutable and defective in a postreplication recovery process

CHO-UV-1 is a mutant of the Chinese hamster cell CHO-K1 hypersensitive to killing by ultraviolet light but with normal resistance to X-ray. It is also hypersensitive to killing by ethyl methane sulfonate. Hybrid clones formed bu fusing UV-1 and Chinese hamster lung cells display the normal ultraviolet resistance of the latter. The sensitive phenotype behaves, therefore, in a genetically recessive manner. Ultraviolet sensitivity of UV-1 is not associated with a deficiency in excision repair. Alkaline sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis of nascent DNA from ultraviolet-irradiated cells reveals that UV-1 is, however, markedly deficient in postreplication recovery. Furthermore, UV-1 has a lower rate of induced mutation to 6-thioguanine resistance than does the parental cell when treated with ultraviolet light or ethyl methane sulfonate. These results suggest that the phenotype of UV-1 is due to a mutation in a form of postreplication recovery which in normal cells is error prone.

Isolation and partial characterization of mutagen-sensitive and DNA repair mutants of Chinese hamster fibroblasts

Through a new approach, we have sought to isolate ultraviolet light (UV)-sensitive and DNA repair mutant Chinese hamster fibroblasts. The procedure consisted of 1) mutation induction by 5-bromodeoxyuridine (Brd U)-blacklight and UV treatments; 2) incorporation of 3H-thymidine in repair-proficient cells at high temperature (38.5 degrees C) following UV damage; 3) cold holding (4.0 degrees C) of these cells to induce tritium killing; and 4) recovery and testing of repair-deficient and UV-sensitive cells which have survived and formed colonies at low temperature (34.0 degrees C). In our initial attempt at this protocol, we isolated 72 surviving colonies from 2 x 10(7) cells plated for selection. Of the 72 colonies, 20 demonstrated potential interest and four were selected for extensive study. One, identified as UVs-7, is slightly more sensitive to UV, but not sensitive to X rays or N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (NAc-AAF). The mutant exhibits a highly reduced level of unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS), as compared to the parental line. Two additional lines, UVs-40 UVs-44, are sensitive to UV, X ray, N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), and NAc-AAF, but exhibit normal UDS. A fourth line, UVr-23, has enhanced UDS, is resistant to UV, but exhibits no difference in sensitivity to x ray or NAc-AAf. These mutants are all stable, and should be useful for the study of mammalians DNA repair processes and mechanisms of mutagenesis.

DNA repair after ultraviolet irradiation of ICR 2A frog cells. Pyrimidine dimers are long acting blocks to nascent DNA synthesis

The ability of ICR 2A frog cells to repair DNA damage induced by ultraviolet irradiation was examined. These cells are capable of photoreactivation but are nearly totally deficient in excision repair. They have the ability to convert the small molecule weight DNA made after irradiation into large molecules but do not show an enhancement in this process when the UV dose is delivered in two separate exposures separated by a 3- or 24-h incubation. Total DNA synthesis is depressed and low molecular weight DNA continues to be synthesized during pulse-labeling as long as 48 h after irradiation. The effects of pyrimidine dimer removal through exposure of UV irradiated cells to photoreactivating light indicate that dimers act as the critical lesions blocking DNA synthesis.

Large-scale isolation of UV-sensitive clones of CHO cells

We have isolated 54 ultraviolet light (UV) sensitive clones of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, including two from a parent cell line which is hypersensitive to ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) and is also sensitive to X rays. A replica plating technique was used for the isolation of two of the clones, and a semiautomated technique was used for the isolation of the other 52 clones. We have observed UV sensitization of up to 5-fold in the mutants relative to the parent in terms of the slopes of the survival curves. Seven of the clones were examined for DNA repair competence using a repair replication assay, and all exhibited a DNA repair defect resembling that seen in human mutant xeroderma pigmentosum cells. We have also demonstrated an approximately 9-fold enhancement in the UV mutagenic response of two of the repair replication-defective clones relative to the parent for resistance to ouabain, 6-thioguanine, and 8-azaadenine.

A screening method for isolating DNA repair-deficient mutants of CHO cells

A simple procedure for isolating mutagen-sensitive clones of CHO cells was developed and applied in mutant hunts in which colonies were screened for hypersensitivity to killing by ultraviolet radiation (UV, ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), or mitomycin C (MMC). Each of two UV-sensitive clones studied in detail had a D37 dose of 1.0 J/m2 compared to 7.0 J/m2 for the wild-type cells, and each was shown to have no detectable repair replication following exposure to UV doses of up to 26 J/m2. Although these mutants resemble xeroderma pigmentosum human mutants with respect to their repair defect and cross-sensitivity to the carcinogen 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide, one of two clones (UV-20) is characterized by extreme hypersensitivity to MMC (80-fold as compared to the wild type). Clones having hypersensitivity to alkylating agents, but not UV, were obtained using MMC and EMS. In the latter case the two clones had significantly increased sensitivity to the killing action of 60Co gamma-rays.

Ultraviolet light induction of diphtheria toxin-resistant mutations in normal and DNA repair-deficient human and Chinese hamster fibroblasts

The role of unrepaired DNA lesions in the production of mutations is suspected of contributing to the initiation phase of carcinogenesis. Since the molecular basis of mutagenesis is not understood in eukaryotic cells, development of new genetic markers for quantitative in vitro measurement of mutations for mammalian cells is needed. Furthermore, mammalian cells, genetically deficient for various DNA repair enzymes, will be needed to study the role of unrepaired DNA lesions in mutagenesis. The results in this report relate to preliminary attempts (1) to characterize the diphtheria toxin resistance marker as a useful quantitative genetic marker in human cells and (2) to isolate and characterize various DNA repair-deficient Chinese hamster cells.

Survival and DNA repair in ultraviolet-irradiated haploid and diploid cultured frog cells

Survival and repair of DNA following ultraviolet (254-nm) radiation have been investigated in ICR 2A, a cultured cell line from haploid embryos of the grassfrog, Rana pipiens. Survival curves from cells recovering in the dark gave mean lethal dose value (Do) in the range 1.5--1.7 Jm-2 for both haploid and diploid cell stocks. The only significant difference observed between haploids and diploids was in the extent of the shoulder at low fluence (Dq), the value for exponentially multiplying diploid cells (3.0 Jm-2) being higher than that found for haploids (1.2 Jm-2). Irradiation of cultures reversibly blocked in the G1 phase of the cell cycle gave survival-curve coefficients indistinguishable between haploids and diploids. Post-irradiation exposure to visible light restored colony-forming capacity and removed chromatographically estimated pyrimidine dimers from DNA at the same rates. After fluences killing 90% of the cells, complete restoration of survival was obtained after 60-min exposure to 500 foot-candles, indicating that in this range lethality is entirely photoreversible and therefore attributable to pyrimidine dimers in DNA. Dimer removal required illumination following ultraviolet exposure, intact cells and physiological temperature, implying that the photoreversal involved DNA photolyase activity. Excision-repair capacity was slight, since no loss of dimers could be detected chromatographically during up to 48 h incubation in the dark and since autoradiographically detected "unscheduled DNA synthesis" was limited to a 2-fold increase saturated at 10 Jm-2. These properties make ICR 2A frog cells useful to explore how DNA-repair pathways influence mutant yield.