Mouse 3T6 cells that overproduce glutamine synthetase

Regulation of the spatiotemporal pattern of expression of the glutamine synthetase gene

Glutamine synthetase, the enzyme that catalyzes the ATP-dependent conversion of glutamate and ammonia into glutamine, is expressed in a tissue-specific and developmentally controlled manner. The first part of this review focuses on its spatiotemporal pattern of expression, the factors that regulate its levels under (patho)physiological conditions, and its role in glutamine, glutamate, and ammonia metabolism in mammals. Glutamine synthetase protein stability is more than 10-fold reduced by its product glutamine and by covalent modifications. During late fetal development, translational efficiency increases more than 10-fold. Glutamine synthetase mRNA stability is negatively affected by cAMP, whereas glucocorticoids, growth hormone, insulin (all positive), and cAMP (negative) regulate its rate of transcription. The signal transduction pathways by which these factors may regulate the expression of glutamine synthetase are briefly discussed. The second part of the review focuses on the evolution, structure, and transcriptional regulation of the glutamine synthetase gene in rat and chicken. Two enhancers (at -6.5 and -2.5 kb) were identified in the upstream region and two enhancers (between +156 and +857 bp) in the first intron of the rat glutamine synthetase gene. In addition, sequence analysis suggests a regulatory role for regions in the 3' untranslated region of the gene. The immediate-upstream region of the chicken glutamine synthetase gene is responsible for its cell-specific expression, whereas the glucocorticoid-induced developmental appearance in the neural retina is governed by its far-upstream region.

Rapid establishment of high-producing cell lines using dicistronic vectors with glutamine synthetase as the selection marker

Recombinant proteins are useful tools in biological research, drug development, and drug screening. Specially designed expression vectors have been developed to introduce cDNA for recombinant protein expression in mammalian cells. We have combined a dicistronic mRNA design for expression of the recombinant protein, using glutamine synthetase (GS) for selection. A soluble form of human interleukin-4 receptor alpha chain was used as the model protein. The dicistronic vectors were compared to a standard expression vector in CHO-K1 cells in parallel experiments. Our data showed that a dicistronic vector containing an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) of the encephalomyocarditis virus (ECMV) was superior to a conventional expression vector in both levels of protein expression and amplification efficiency. The productivity of these clones was stable without selection pressure for an extended period of time. The GS selection system within a dicistronic vector design can achieve rapid and efficient gene amplification for protein production.

Glutamine is a powerful effector of heat shock protein expression in Drosophila Kc cells

We have investigated the effects of extracellular anions on the regulation of expression of the heat shock response in Drosophila Kc cells incubated in defined balanced salt solutions. Widely varying chloride concentrations had no effect on normal or heat shock protein (hsp) expression. Increasing glutamate concentrations from zero to 15 mM increased hsp expression more than 100-fold while affecting expression of non-heat-shock proteins minimally. Glutamine was 20-100-fold more potent than glutamate in supporting hsp expression, while other amino acids were less effective or supported no detectable hsp synthesis in heat shock. Inhibition of glutamine synthetase with methionine-sulfoximine resulted in very low hsp expression with glutamate and normal high level expression with glutamine, confirming the importance of glutamine. The absence of glucose and treatment with 2-deoxyglucose did not change the requirement for adequate glutamine for hsp expression. Cells heat shocked under conditions which gave very low hsp expression resumed growth when returned to normal medium as well as cells which expressed normal levels of hsps. Measurements of free amino acid levels in cells heat shocked in the presence and absence of glutamine showed a correlation between glutamine levels and amount of hsp expression. We conclude that a physiological process regulated by glutamine or a glutamine metabolite is important for normal hsp expression in heat shock conditions in Drosophila.

Multiple small exposures of filtered mid-UV radiation increase the resistance of Chinese hamster cells to far-UV, mid-UV and filtered mid-UV radiation

The response of Chinese hamster cells (V79-MI2G) to multiple, low doses of filtered mid-UV radiation (wavelengths longer than 300 nm) were examined over an exposure period of 30 days. Cell survival and the induction of mutation at the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) locus using resistance to 6-thioguanine (TG) were the endpoints in this study. With increasing total accumulated dose given at 500 J/m2/day as a single short exposure, an increased resistance to cell killing was observed. This increase in resistance to cell killing was accompanied by a gradual decrease in sensitivity to the induction of mutants resistant to 6-TG. Above total accumulated doses of 5000 J/m2 the frequency of 6-TG resistance did not increase. After multiple doses of filtered mid-UV radiation the cells became more resistant to subsequent challenges with acute doses of far-UV, mid-UV or filtered mid-UV. The increased resistance to the cell killing action and to the mutation induction by UV suggests that during exposure to low, multiple doses of filtered mid-UV radiation the cells become adapted to the damaging effects of filtered mid-UV radiation.

Expression of high molecular weight astroglial extracellular proteins is altered by growth environment

Conditioned medium from primary rat cortical glia was analyzed with respect to the composition of the secreted high molecular weight protein species. Developmental characteristics of astroglia are affected by growth in the presence and absence of serum. These growth conditions had a pronounced effect on the extracellular protein profile, cellular morphology, and cell substratum adhesion. Cells cultured in defined serumless medium did not express certain proteins expressed in the presence of serum but rather synthesized proteins specifically stimulated by the defined serumless environment. A morphological change from flat amorphous to a contracted fibrous network having an increased affinity for self-self cellular adhesion rather than adhesion to the surface of the tissue culture dish was also stimulated by the defined serumless medium environment. A comparison of the extracellular proteins secreted by the rat C6 glioma and the rat PC12 cell demonstrated the cell-specific nature of the primary glial proteins.

Murine glutamine synthetase: cloning, developmental regulation, and glucocorticoid inducibility

We have cloned the murine glutamine synthetase (GS) gene and measured GS enzyme activity and mRNA in five tissues (retina, brain, liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle) during perinatal development. Retinal GS enzyme activity increases 200-fold between Day 1 and Day 21 and is accompanied by an increase in the level of GS mRNA; developmental regulation in other tissues is much less dramatic. Based on Southern blotting analysis, a single GS gene gives rise to the tissue-specific patterns of GS mRNA expression. The increase in murine retinal GS observed during perinatal development is similar in magnitude to that observed in the chicken retina just prior to hatching. In the embryonic chicken retina, glucocorticoid hormones mediate a large increase in the level of GS mRNA. However, although glucocorticoids induce a 12-fold increase in GS mRNA in murine skeletal muscle, expression of the retinal enzyme and mRNA is only modestly glucocorticoid-inducible in the mouse. Therefore, despite the hormonal responsiveness of the murine GS gene, it is not likely that glucocorticoids are important physiological modulators of the developmental rise in murine retinal GS.

Multiple mechanisms by which glutamine synthetase levels are controlled in murine tissue culture cells

We report the isolation of a complimentary DNA (cDNA) clone encoding glutamine synthetase, derived from a population of methionine sulfoxime-resistant mouse GF1 fibroblasts. When GF1 cells are incubated for 48 h in the presence of the glucocorticoid hormone dexamethasone, the specific activity of glutamine synthetase (GS), assayed as glutamyltransferase activity, increases by threefold. Based on dot hybridization analysis, hormonal treatment also produces a similar increase in the level of GS mRNA. When GF1 cells or mouse Neuro 2A neuroblastoma cells are transferred from medium containing 4 mM glutamine to glutamine-free medium, glutamyltransferase activity increases by at least fivefold. However, the presence or absence or glutamine in the medium does not affect the relative level of glutamine synthetase mRNA in either cell line. With both GF1 and Neuro 2A cells, the half-time for the decline in glutamine synthetase enzyme activity on addition of glutamine to the medium is approximately 1.5 h. This rapid decline, coupled with the lack of effect of glutamine on the level of GS messenger RNA in Neuro 2A cells, renders it unlikely that neural cells alter glutamine synthetase levels in response to glutamine by a biosynthetic mechanism, as suggested by previous authors [L. Lacoste, K.D. Chaudhary, and J. Lapointe (1982) J. Neurochem. 39, 78-85].

Cloning and characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes that confer L-methionine sulfoximine and tabtoxin resistance

Pseudomonas tabaci produces a toxin, tabtoxin, that causes wildfire disease in tobacco. The primary target of tabtoxin is presumed to be glutamine synthetase. Some effects of tabtoxin in tobacco can be mimicked by methionine sulfoximine (MSO), a compound that is known to inactivate glutamine synthetase. To understand how organisms can be made resistant to tabtoxin and MSO, we used Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We demonstrate that yeast strains carrying the glutamine synthetase gene, GLN1, on a multicopy plasmid overproduced glutamine synthetase and showed increased drug resistance. These and other data indicate that glutamine synthetase is the primary target of tabtoxin and MSO in S. cerevisiae. We also isolated three S. cerevisiae DNA inserts of 2.1, 2.3, and 2.8 kilobases that conferred tabtoxin and MSO resistance when the inserts were present on a multicopy plasmid. These plasmids conferred resistance to MSO by blocking intracellular transport of the drug. Transport appeared to occur by one or more methionine permeases. Resistance to tabtoxin could also occur by blockage of intracellular transport, but the drug was transported by some permease other than a methionine permease. These drug resistance plasmids did not block transport of citrulline, indicating that they did not affect the general amino acid permease.

Amplification and expression of genes associated with multidrug resistance in mammalian cells

In multidrug resistance, which is observed clinically and in tissue culture, cells that are challenged with certain cytotoxic drugs develop resistance not only to the selective agent but also to other, seemingly unrelated, agents. The multidrug-resistant phenotype is associated with DNA sequence amplification and with the overproduction of a number of cytosolic and membrane glycoproteins. The differential amplification and altered expression of at least two related genes, termed multidrug-resistant associated genes has been shown in multidrug-resistant Chinese hamster cells. In multidrug-resistant mouse and human cells, genes homologous to those in Chinese hamster cells are also amplified. The level of expression of these genes varied and did not correlate with their copy number. Furthermore, in Chinese hamster cells, the development of resistance to a single drug and multidrug resistance were closely related, but uncoupled, events. The overexpression of the multidrug-resistant genes was better correlated with the degree of resistance to the selective agent than it was with the extent of multidrug resistance.

Selection of a rat glutamine synthetase cDNA clone

We have selected a glutamine synthetase clone (pGSRK-1) from a rat kidney cDNA library. A partial restriction map has been constructed for the 1.65 kilobase pair (kbp) glutamine synthetase cDNA. Northern hybridization analysis indicates that 1) GS-specific RNA increases many-fold during adipocyte differentiation and 2) dexamethasone increases and insulin decreases GS-specific RNA in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Detoxification of N-(phosphonoacetyl)-L-aspartate by carrot cells in suspension culture

In bacterial and mammalian cells, N-(phosphonoacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA) suppresses growth by strongly inhibiting aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase; EC 2.1.3.2), a key enzyme of the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway. At a concentration that would suppress growth in mammalian or bacterial cells, and that is nearly a million-fold greater than the inhibition constant (K i ) for ATCase in carrot (Daucus carota) seedling extracts, PALA does not suppress growth of carrot cells in suspension culture. To study this anomaly an assay based on the inhibition of wheat (Triticum vulgare) ATCase (K i =2 nM) was developed. Using this assay it was found that PALA is detoxified relatively rapidly by low inocula of carrot cells. The detoxification product accumulates in the extracellular fluid although the enzyme(s) responsible is intracellular or in the cell wall. The PALA-detoxifying activity can be detected at all stages of the growth cycle in culture, but reaches a maximum early in the exponential phase of growth. Cells that were repeatedly subcultured into media initially containing 1 mM PALA had the same low level of ATCase activity as control cells; there was no evidence of the amplification of the gene for this enzyme, such as occurs in mammalian cells upon repeated exposure to the drug.