Similarities in ornithine decarboxylase regulation in intact and enucleated 3T3 cells

Cycloheximide protection against actinomycin D cytotoxicity

Pretreatment plus concomitant treatment with 10 micrograms/ml cycloheximide protected Chinese hamster ovary cells and Swiss 3T3 cells against the cytotoxicity of actinomycin D. The cycloheximide treatment reduced the intracellular concentration of actinomycin D by reducing the level of actinomycin D bound to the acid precipitable fraction of the cell. Levels of unbound actinomycin D were unaffected by cycloheximide, indicating that the plasma membrane permeability to AD was not reduced. Actinomycin D inhibited total transcription but did not reduce cytoplasmic levels of rRNA nor of most tested mRNA; however, cytoplasmic levels of c-myc mRNA were reduced below detectability. Cycloheximide treatment further inhibited total transcription and had no effect on cytoplasmic levels of rRNA nor of most tested mRNA. Cytoplasmic levels of c-myc were elevated by cycloheximide and remained so even in the presence of actinomycin D. These data suggested that a reduction in cytoplasmic levels of short lived, essential mRNA, such as c-myc mRNA, was one lethal lesion of actinomycin D. Furthermore, cycloheximide's protection may result, in part, from its ability to stabilize and/or elevate cytoplasmic levels of these mRNA, thus counteracting their depletion by actinomycin D. Protection may also result from the cycloheximide-induced reduction of actinomycin D bound to the acid precipitable fraction of the cells.

A growth arrest-specific (gas) gene codes for a membrane protein

A set of growth arrest-specific (gas) genes whose expression is negatively regulated by serum has recently been identified. We report on the detailed analysis of one of these genes (gas3). The kinetics of regulation by the presence and absence of serum were investigated, and it was found that this gene is regulated at the post-transcriptional level. The encoded protein deduced from the nucleotide sequence showed some similarity to a mitochondrial oxyreductase, and in vitro translation established that the protein product is a transmembrane glycoprotein.

A growth arrest-specific (gas) gene codes for a membrane protein

A set of growth arrest-specific (gas) genes whose expression is negatively regulated by serum has recently been identified. We report on the detailed analysis of one of these genes (gas3). The kinetics of regulation by the presence and absence of serum were investigated, and it was found that this gene is regulated at the post-transcriptional level. The encoded protein deduced from the nucleotide sequence showed some similarity to a mitochondrial oxyreductase, and in vitro translation established that the protein product is a transmembrane glycoprotein.

Constitutive expression of growth-related mRNAs in proliferating and nonproliferating lung epithelial cells in primary culture: evidence for growth-dependent translational control

We describe the control of proliferation and growth-related gene expression in primary cultures of epithelial cells derived from rat lung. Type 2 epithelial cells line the gas-exchange surface of the alveoli where they produce and secrete surfactant. When isolated from adult animals, type 2 cells do not proliferate in culture, although they have a limited ability to do so in vivo. We show that type 2 cells isolated from neonatal rats proliferate in culture and that growth can be reversibly arrested by withdrawing serum from the medium. We studied the expression of five genes whose mRNA levels fluctuate with the state of proliferation in several cell systems: the c-myc and c-Ha-ras protooncogenes and the genes encoding actin, ornithine decarboxylase (L-ornithine carboxy-lyase, EC 4.1.1.17), and histone 3.2. All five mRNAs were constitutively expressed at identical levels in proliferating and nonproliferating (serum deprived) neonatal cells and in adult cells. Thus, at the level of mRNA abundance, the expression of these five genes was uncoupled from the growth state of the cells. By contrast, synthesis of the replication-dependent histones and the activity of ornithine decarboxylase were detectable only in proliferating neonatal cells and not in serum-deprived neonatal cells or in adult cells. The results suggest that, in type 2 cells, growth factors might regulate the translation, rather than the mRNA abundance, of at least some growth-related genes and that the ability to respond to this translational control may be developmentally regulated.

Ornithine decarboxylase activity in foetal rat brain cells and in the mouse embryo fibroblasts C3H/10T1/2 CL8 cells: differences in response to medium change and to the tumor promoter TPA

12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) induced ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, EC 4.1.1.17) in normal, preneoplastic and malignant rat brain cells in culture, but treatment with phorbol, acetate or medium shift resulted in a similar response. Medium shift induced ODC activity in C3H/10T1/2 CL8 cells 4 and 12 hr after treatment. TPA induced only the 12 hr peak. ODC induction in C3H/10T1/2 CL8 cells was completely inhibited by cycloheximide and actinomycin D. Addition of alpha-amanitin abolished the 12 hr peak, but the TPA induced ODC activity was only partly inhibited. ODC induction by TPA was lower in C3H/10T1/2 CL8 cells initiated with 3-methyl-cholanthrene (MCA). ODC increased with TPA up to 10(-7) M and decreased at higher concentrations of TPA.

Superinduction by cycloheximide of mitogen-induced secreted proteins produced by Balb/c 3T3 cells

We describe here some of the characteristics of the regulation of a group of secretory proteins whose secreted levels rise within 2-4 h of adding fibroblast growth factor (FGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), or serum to quiescent Balb/c 3T3 cells. The levels of these secretory proteins are regulated similarly to the interferons. When cycloheximide is present during the induction period, the amounts of [35S]methionine incorporated into five of these proteins that we have called "superinducible proteins" (SIPs) is increased 2-5-fold. Superinduction of the SIPs is seen also in response to polyribol-polyriboC, the classical inducer of interferons. None of the SIPs, however, are immuno-precipitated by anti-beta-interferon antibody. Induction and superinduction of the SIPs is inhibited by actinomycin D. Superinduction occurs at concentrations of cycloheximide that inhibit protein synthesis by at least 85%. The SIPs are not major intracellular proteins; they are barely detectable in cellular fractions. Their induction is, however, correlated with the ability of the polypeptide growth factor to stimulate DNA synthesis; EGF, FGF, and serum induce the SIPs, whereas insulin does not, and insulin alone weakly stimulates DNA synthesis in these cells. Because FGF, EGF, and serum cause the SIPs to be produced at concentrations of cycloheximide that inhibit 85% of bulk protein and DNA synthesis, it follows that the SIPs are produced directly from the action of the growth factor and not as a consequence of increased growth. Although probably not interferons, in analogy to the lymphokines, the SIPs could be a set of autocrine or paracrine factors that rapidly convey the growth or differentiation signal between cells.

Molecular biology of cell division

Different domains of the SV40 A gene have different functions, such as viral DNA replication, cell DNA replication, and stimulation of cellular RNA synthesis. The sequences in the SV40 A gene that are critical for the induction of cell DNA synthesis lie on the map between nucleotide 4360 and nucleotide 4001, a stretch of 360 nucleotides coding for 120 of the 708 amino acids of the large T antigen. The sequences critical for stimulation of rRNA synthesis lie on the map further downstream, between nucleotides 3827 and 3506, thus indicating that the signals for growth in size and for cell DNA replication can be dissociated. Methylation of the SV40 A gene at multiple ECoRI* sites has no effect on its expression. However, methylation of the HSV-TK gene at one single ECoRI site 70 base pairs upstream from the cap site inhibits its expression. The results indicate that methylation of genes affects their expression, but only when methylation occurs at specific sites.

Glucocorticoid-mediated inhibition of ornithine decarboxylyase activity in S49 lymphoma cells

Incubation of wild-type S49 lymphoma cells with glucocorticoids, such as dexamethasone and hydrocortisone, inhibits the activity of ornithine decarboxylase (L-ornithine carboxylyase, EC 4.1.1.17), the rate-limiting enzyme in the pathway of polyamine biosynthesis. The kinetics of this inhibition are more rapid than the glucocorticoid-mediated growth arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle or in glucocorticoid-mediated cytolysis of these cells. The inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase activity by corticosteroids is specific for steroids of the glucocorticoid class. Results obtained with variant S49 cells having lesions in the pathways of glucocorticoid or cyclic AMP action indicate that cytoplasmic glucocorticoid receptors, as well as nuclear transfer of steroid--receptor complexes, are required for the inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase activity but that this inhibition does not require hormonal activation of adenylate cyclase or cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Because glucocorticoid-mediated inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase occurs when cellular protein synthesis has decreased less than 20%, this inhibition may represent a specific glucocorticoid-mediated deinduction of ornithine decarboxylase in S49 cells. Inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase activity may offer a useful marker for suppression of growth and cell cycle progression in these and other lymphoma cells.

A mutant of Chinese hamster ovary cells resistant to alpha-methyl- and alpha-difluoromethylornithine

We describe a mutant of Chinese hamster ovary cells which is resistant to elevated levels of alpha-methylornithine and alpha-difluoromethylornithine, reversible and enzyme-activated irreversible inhibitors, respectively, of the enzyme ornithine decarboxylase (ODC). The mutant cells have significantly elevated levels of enzyme activity compared to wild-type cells, but several of the physical parameters of the enzyme are completely normal: Michaelis-Menten parameter, Km, affinity for the analog, and half-life. The temporal regulation of this activity in synchronized cells is not perturbed, and the suppression of ODC activity by the addition of putrescine is still observed. Indirect experiments suggest increased concentrations of ODC mRNA in the mutant cells.

Enzyme induction in a temperature-sensitive cell cycle mutant of Chinese hamster fibroblasts

A temperature-sensitive (ts) cell cycle mutant of Chinese hamster fibroblasts with a block in G1 was investigated. Attention was on the expression of the activity of three enzymes: ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC), and thymidine kinase (TK). ODC and SAMDC activities are normally induced in the middle of, or late in, the G1 phase, while TK activity starts to appear at the G1/S boundary. In the ts mutant released from serum starvation at the nonpermissive temperature (40.8 degrees C), we find no effect on the expression of SAMDC activity, a significantly reduced level of ODC activity compared to the control at the permissive temperature (34 degrees C), and no induction of TK activity. Results presented here and in a previous publication (Landy-Otsuka and Scheffler, '78) suggest that the decrease in ODC activity is due to an effect of the nonpermissive temperature on a post-transcriptional step, possibly a very rapid inactivation of the enzyme. The absence of TK activity, on the other hand, appears to be due to a block in transcription at the nonpermissive temperature.

Cytoplasmic regulation of two G1-specific temperature-sensitive functions

tsAF8 and ts13 cells are temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of BHK cells that specifically arrest, at nonpermissive temperature, in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. These two mutants can complement each other. Both cell lines can be made quiescent by serum deprivation (G0). When subsequently stimulated by serum, they can enter S phase at 34 degrees C but not at 39.5 degrees-40.6 degrees C. We have used these mutants to determine whether the nucleus is needed during the G0 leads to S transition for the expression of the G1 ts functions. For this purpose, we fused cytoplasts of G0-tsAF8 with whole ts13 cells in G0, and cytoplasts of G0-ts13 with whole tsAF8 cells in G0. Serum stimulation at the nonpermissive temperature induced DNA synthesis in both types of such fusion products. No DNA synthesis was induced by serum stimulation at the nonpermissive temperature in fusion products constructed between either G0-tsAF8 cytoplasts and whole G0-tsAF8 cells or G0-ts13 cytoplasts and whole G0-ts13 cells. These results demonstrate that the information for these two ts functions, which are required for entry of serum-stimulated cells into the S phase, are already present in the cytoplasm of G0 cells--that is, before serum stimulation commits them to the transition from the nonproliferating to the proliferating state.