Biosynthesis of plasma membrane components by SV40-virus-transformed 3T3 mouse cells temperature sensitive for expression of some transformed cell properties

Cell cycle arrest of heat-inactivated ts 2 BALB/c-3T3 mouse fibroblasts, temperature-sensitive for DNA synthesis

The ts 2 derivative of BALB/c-3T3 mouse fibroblasts is a cell division cycle (cdc) mutant. Upon expression of the heat-sensitive defect, ts 2 cells arrest late in G1 at, or very near the G1/S traverse. This conclusion derives from three kinds of experiment. In the first the cells were brought to different stages of the cell cycle by physiological manipulation, or with specific anti-metabolites. They were then released from the resulting blocks, and their subsequent cell-cycle progression, at the permissive- and non-permissive temperature (npt), was followed. The second experiment was an execution point analysis. In the third, premature chromosome condensation was performed between metaphase HeLa cells and temperature-blocked ts 2 cells. The resulting prematurely-condensed chromosomes were largely of the morphotype of very late G1 cells. The ts 2 cells are prevented from expressing their defect by temporary incubation at 38.5 degrees C in the G0, non-cycling state and by prior arrest in early S phase, imposed by hydroxyurea treatment. Such prevention is not allowed ts 2 cells incubated at the npt in the absence of isoleucine, a procedure which brings cells to mid-G1 arrest.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase activity in mouse cells which exhibit temperature-sensitive DNA synthesis

The poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase activity of wild-type mouse L cells and of Balb/C-3T3 mouse fibroblasts remained relatively unchanged (at approx. 400 nmol substrate utilized/mg DNA per h) in actively-growing cells incubated at 34 degrees C or at 38.5 degrees C for at least 72 h. A similar result was obtained with the following temperature-sensitive cells grown at the permissive temperature (34 degrees C): ts A1S9 mouse L cells, ts C1 mouse L cells and Balb/C-3T3 ts mouse fibroblasts. The poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase activity of the temperature-sensitive cells was little affected during incubation for 20-24 h at the non-permissive temperature of 38.5 degrees C under which conditions temperature-inactivation of DNA replication was complete. Thereafter, this enzyme activity was found to increase some 2-fold, at a time when normal semi-conservative DNA synthesis was totally suppressed and replaced by repair replication (Sheinin, R. and Guttman, S. (1977) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 479, 105-118; Sheinin, R., Dardick, I. and Doane, F.W. (1980) Exp. Cell. Res., in the press).

DNA and histone synthesis in mouse cells which exhibit temperature-sensitive DNA synthesis

It is demonstrated that temperature inactivation of histone synthesis is coupled to inhibition of DNA replication in ts AlS9 and ts Cl mouse L-cells, which are temperature-sensitive (ts) in an S-phase function. In contrast, uncoupling of histone and DNA synthesis occurs in BalB/C-3T3 ts 2 cells which are ts in a function of the pre-DNA-synthetic phase. Termination of histone synthesis in ts AlS9 and ts Cl cells is 16--18 h after onset of temperature inactivation of DNA replication and appears to be associated with general cessation of chromatin replication triggered by the earlier event. Synthesis of histone and other chromosomal proteins proceeds in ts 2 cells under conditions in which DNA synthesis undergoes temperature inactivation. It is suggested that the terminal phenotype of coupled temperature inactivation of DNA and histone synthesis may be diagnostic of cells ts in an S-phase function and may therefore be a useful secondary screen in designation of cell cycle mutants.

Fibronectins--adhesive glycoproteins of cell surface and blood

A recently characterised class of adhesive, high molecular weight glycoproteins is present on the surfaces of cells, in connective tissue matrices, and in extracellular fluids. These proteins may have important roles in cellular adhesion, malignant transformation, reticuloendothelial system function, and embryonic differentiation.

A consideration of the role of cell surface macromolecules in the process of viral transformation

There is extensive physiological evidence implicating the cell surface as the key organelle which mediates the cell:cell interactions which underlie both normal and neoplastic growth. This information has now been supplemented with biochemical and biophysical data which indicates that surface macromolecules, in particular the heteroglycans of transformed cells, differ from those which lie at the periphery of normal cells. In the case of cells neoplastically transformed by most tumour viruses it is clear that the small virus genome (2-5 x 10(6) daltons) cannot carry the total genetic information to accomodate these various biochemical modifications, if indeed they are encoded in separate genes (1). To examine the part played in transformation by cellular genes coding for surface heteroglycan formation, we have turned to a study of SV-3T3 cells (ts H6-15) which are temperature-sensitive for expression of the transformed cell phenotype (2). The data show that cells grown under conditions permissive and non-permissive for such expression exhibit the same pattern of formation of glycolipids, and the majority of the polypeptides of the plasma membrane. There are, however, significant differences in the synthesis of some glycopeptides. A large molecular weight, trypsin-labile glycopeptide, present at the surface of untransformed fibroblasts but barely measurable in some of their virus-transformed derivatives (3), was detected, essentially at the same level, at the surface of ts H6-15 cells grown at the permissive and non-permissive temperatures. The signficance of these observations is discussed.