Mutant

About: Mutant is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 74520 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3477079 citations.

Effect of intron A from human cytomegalovirus (Towne) immediate-early gene on heterologous expression in mammalian cells

Abstract: A 2.4 kb fragment of hCMV (Towne strain), containing the 5' end of the major immediate-early gene, has been cloned, sequenced, and used to construct a series of mammalian cell expression plasmids. The effects of regulatory regions present on this fragment were assessed using human glycoproteins as reporter molecules. We compared secreted levels of Factor VIII, t-PA, and HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins in cells transfected with plasmids in which intron A of the immediate-early gene was present or absent. Secretion of several glycoproteins was significantly higher when cells were transfected with intron A-containing plasmids. Mutation of three basepairs in the strong nuclear factor 1 (NF1) binding site in intron A led to reduced transient expression levels, but not to the level observed in the absence of intron A. Reduced expression from NF1 mutant plasmids was roughly correlated with reduced binding in vitro of NF1 proteins to a synthetic oligonucleotide containing the mutation. The evidence indicates that sequences in intron A positively regulate expression from the hCMV immediate-early enhancer/promoter in transformed monkey kidney cells.

In vivo mutagenesis by O6-methylguanine built into a unique site in a viral genome

Abstract: The mutagenicity of O6-methylguanine (O6MeGua), a chemical carcinogen-DNA adduct, has been studied in vivo by using a single-stranded M13mp8 genome in which a single O6MeGua residue was positioned in the unique recognition site for the restriction endonuclease Pst I. Transformation of Escherichia coli MM294A cells with this vector gave progeny phage, of which 0.4% were mutated in their Pst I site. In a separate experiment, cellular levels of O6MeGua-DNA methyltransferase (an O6MeGua-repair protein) were depleted by treatment with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) prior to viral DNA uptake. In these cells, the mutation frequency due to O6MeGua increased with increasing MNNG dose (the highest mutation frequency observed was 20%). DNA sequence analysis of 60 mutant genomes revealed that O6MeGua induced exclusively G-to-A transitions.

Isolation of type I and II DNA topoisomerase mutants from fission yeast: single and double mutants show different phenotypes in cell growth and chromatin organization.

Abstract: We have isolated mutants defective in DNA topoisomerases and an endonuclease from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe by screening individual extracts of mutagenized cells. Two type I topoisomerase mutants (top1) and three endonuclease mutants (end1) were all viable. The double mutant top1 end1 was also viable and, in its extract, Mg2+- and ATP- dependent type II activity could be detected. Three temperature-sensitive (ts-) mutants having heat-sensitive (hs-) type II enzymes were isolated, and the ts- marker cosegregated with the hs- type II activity. All the ts- mutations fell in one gene (top2) tightly linked to leul in chromosome II. The nuclear division of single top2 mutants was blocked at the restrictive temperature, but the formation of a septum was not inhibited so that the nucleus was cut across with the cell plate. In contrast, the double top1 top2 mutants were rapidly arrested at various stages of the cell cycle, showing a strikingly altered nuclear chromatin region. The type II topoisomerase may have an essential role in the compaction and/or segregation of chromosomes during the nuclear division but also complement the defect of the type I enzyme whose major function is the maintenance of chromatin organization throughout the cell cycle.

Oxidative stress and ageing in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Abstract: Mutations in the age-1 gene double both the mean and maximum life span of Caenorhabditis elegans. They also result in an age-specific increase of catalase and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase activity levels. The higher superoxide dismutase activity levels in age-1 mutants confer hyperresistance to the superoxide-anion-generating drug paraquat. The rate of superoxide anion production by microsome fractions declines linearly with age in age-1(+) worms, but, after an initial decline, is stabilized at a higher level in senescent age-1 mutant nematodes. These results clearly show that oxidative stress resistance and potential life span are correlated in this organism, and they suggest that the natural product of age-1 either directly or indirectly downregulates the activities of several other genes as a function of age.

S. cerevisiae 26S protease mutants arrest cell division in G2/metaphase

Abstract: We isolated two mutants from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, cim3-1 and cim5-1, that arrest cell division in G2/metaphase at 37 degrees C. CIM3 (identical to SUG1; ref. 1) and CIM5 are similar to each other and are members of a family of putative ATPases that have been proposed to be 26S protease subunits. We show here that CIM5 is the functional yeast homologue of the human MSS1 protein and that homologues of CIM3 and CIM5 are present in a highly purified preparation of the Drosophila 26S protease. The short-lived ubiquitin-proline-beta-galactosidase fusion protein is stabilized in cim mutants, but Leu-beta-galactosidase is not. The CLB2 and CLB3 cyclins also accumulate in the cim mutants. Thus the 26S protease is required in vivo for the degradation of ubiquitinated substrates and for anaphase chromosome separation.