Analysis of single-stranded DNA stability and damage-induced strand loss in mammalian cells using SV40-based shuttle vectors

The fate and stability of fully or partially single-stranded DNA molecules transfected into mammalian cells have been analysed. For this, we constructed a simian virus 40 (SV40)-based shuttle vector containing the f1 bacteriophage replication origin in the two possible orientations (pi SVF1-A and pi SVF1-B). This vector contains the SV40 origin of replication, the late viral genes and DNA sequences for replication and selection in Escherichia coli. It also carries the lacO sequence, which permits the analysis of plasmid stability. Single-stranded DNA from pi SVF1-A and pi SVF1-B were produced in bacteria and annealed in vitro to form a heteroduplex molecule. We showed that, in monkey kidney COS7 cells, single-stranded vectors replicate to form duplex molecules. After transfection of the three forms of molecules (single-stranded, heteroduplex or double-stranded), replicated DNA was rescued in E. coli. Vector stability was analysed by checking for plasmid rearrangements and screening for lacO mutants. The single-stranded pi SVF1 has a lower rearrangement level, while the spontaneous mutation frequency (on the lacO target) is in the same range as for the double-stranded vector. In contrast, the level of spontaneous mutagenesis is higher for the heteroduplex than for the single- and double-stranded forms. In addition, we found that replication of heteroduplex with one strand containing ultraviolet light-induced lesions yields progeny molecules in which the irradiated strand is mostly lost. This result indicates for the first time the specific loss of the damaged strand in mammalian cells.     

SV40-based shuttle viruses

We summarize in this paper the advantages of the shuttle virus system. These SV40-based vectors exhibit the unique properties of being packaged as SV40 pseudo-virions and of being able to infect host cells. Using these transient vectors, we show that their replication can be regulated in some monkey cell lines, in such a way that either low or very high amounts of plasmid DNA can be obtained. The stability of these infectious shuttle vectors in different conditions is analyzed by rescuing them in E. coli, using various gene mutation targets. Moreover, we describe a new series of vectors which can be produced as single-stranded DNA in bacteria. They allow the transfection of a plasmid genome into mammalian cells, as either single-stranded or double-stranded DNA.     

SV40-based shuttle viruses

We summarize in this paper the advantages of the shuttle virus system. These SV40-based vectors exhibit the unique properties of being packaged as SV40 pseudo-virions and of being able to infect host cells. Using these transient vectors, we show that their replication can be regulated in some monkey cell lines, in such a way that either low or very high amounts of plasmid DNA can be obtained. The stability of these infectious shuttle vectors in different conditions is analyzed by rescuing them in E. coli, using various gene mutation targets. Moreover, we describe a new series of vectors which can be produced as single-stranded DNA in bacteria. They allow the transfection of a plasmid genome into mammalian cells, as either single-stranded or double-stranded DNA.     

UV-reactivation,virus production and mutagenesis of SV40 in UV-irradiated monkey kidney cells

The survival of UV-irradiated simian virus 40 (SV40) is higher in UV-irradiated than in non-irradiated monolayers of BSC-1 monkey cells. A similar reactivation is found when cells are infected with SV40-DNA, suggesting that reactivation acts on viral DNA. The enhanced reactivation of UV-irradiated SV40 and SV40-DNA is optimal when infection is delayed for 2–3 days after irradiation of the cells.UV-pretreated cells infected with SV40-DNA produce more virus than infected control cells; the time curve of this process is similar to that found for enhanced virus reactivation and suggests that facilitated virus production in UV-irradiated cells and enhanced virus reactivation might be manifestations of the same process.If the non-irradiated SV40 thermosensitive mutant BC245 is propagated in UV-irradiated BSC-1 cells the rate of back mutation to phenotypically wild-type is increased compared with that of the control. This suggests that an inducible error-prone system is functional in these cells. When the UV-irradiated tsBC245 is propagated in non-irradiated cells the reversion frequency is greatly enhanced, which suggests that either the introduction of UV-irradiated SV40-DNA is sufficient to induce an error-generating system, or that a constitutive error-prone mechanism is operative on this DNA.     

SV40 vector with early gene replacement efficient in transducing exogenous DNA into mammalian cells.

An early replacement SV40 vector, SV40-Mu beta, was constructed by replacing part of the early genes of the virus with mouse interferon-beta (IFN-beta) cDNA. Upon transfection of COS-7 cells with this DNA, transducing viral particles were produced, which could infect various cells and cause efficient production of mouse IFN-beta. The viral stock contained no detectable wild-type SV40. The IFN production after the virus infection was very high in monkey kidney cells, but less so in human epithelial cells, and low in mouse, pig, hamster cells and in human lymphocytes. The efficiency of introduction of the DNA to monkey kidney cells was compared with that by the calcium phosphate precipitation method, and the viral vector was found to be more efficient by a factor of several tens to hundreds.     

An SV40-transformed xeroderma pigmentosum group D cell line: establishment, ultraviolet sensitivity, transfection efficiency and plasmid mutation induction

Fibroblasts from a patient with xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group D were treated with Simian virus 40 to establish a transformed cell line suitable for studies of DNA-mediated gene transfer. After progressing through 2 crises, a stable line, XP6Be(SV40), was established and cultured for more than 1 year. This line retains the characteristic xeroderma pigmentosum ultraviolet hypersensitivity and is able to complement a SV40-transformed group A line when fused and assayed for ultraviolet radiation inhibition of colony-forming ability. XP6Be(SV40) expressed high levels of transfected chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity (0.1 nmole X mg-1 X min-1) in a transient expression assay, showed stable expression of transfected gpt or neo genes (frequency 1-20 X 10(-5)), and permitted replication of the mutagenesis shuttle vector plasmid, pZ189. Ultraviolet treatment (500 J X m-2) of pZ189 prior to replication in XP6Be(SV40) resulted in a large reduction in plasmid yield (5% survival) and a 60-fold increase in the mutation frequency, reflecting the reduced ability of these cells to repair ultraviolet-damaged transfecting DNA. This cell line provides the opportunity to utilize transfection studies in cells with the xeroderma pigmentosum group D defect in excision repair.     

Fusion-mediated injection of SV40-DNA : Introduction of SV40-DNA into tissue culture cells by the use of DNA-loaded reconstituted Sendai virus envelopes

Sendai virus envelopes can be solubilized by non-ionic detergents such as Triton X-100. Removal of the detergent from a supernatant containing the solubilized viral envelope glycoproteins results in the formation of reconstituted fusogenic viral envelopes. When SV40-DNA is added to the reconstitution system, it is trapped within the viral envelope. Incubation of SV40-DNA-loaded Sendai virus envelopes with permissive cells (CV1 and TC7 cells) resulted in fusion-mediated injection of the trapped DNA, as was demonstrated by the ability of the injected cells to synthesize SV40-T-antigen. Quantitative estimation revealed that up to 20% of the injected cells were able to synthesize T-antigen. Loaded viral envelopes were able to inject SV40-DNA and to promote synthesis of T-antigen also in cells which are resistant to infection by intact SV40 viruses, such as F1' 1-4 cells. In addition, it is shown that reconstituted envelopes of Sendai virus are able to transfer membrane fragments from SV40 receptor-positive into SV40 receptor-negative cells, such as F1' 1-4 cells. After implantation of SV40 receptors, the F1' 1-4 cells became susceptible to infection by intact SV40 viruses.     

Survival and mutagenesis of ultraviolet irradiated simian virus 40 in foetal human fibroblasts

Survival and mutagenesis of UV-irradiated, temperature-sensitive simian virus 40 mutants (SV40) have been studied after infection of human fibroblasts. Survival of the viral progeny obtained after 6,8 or 10 days at permissive temperature decrease as a function of the UV-dose delivered to the virus. In cels which have been pretreated with 10 Jm-2 of UV 24 hours before infection, progeny survival was increased as compared to survival in control cells. The reactivation factor varies from one to ten, depending on the number of lytic cycles carried out at permissive temperature. The level of mutation frequency, as measured by the reversion from a temperature sensitive growth phenotype towards a wild type phenotype, increases with the dose of UV-irradiation given to the virus. Moreover, the mutation frequency is increased in the viral progeny produced in UV-irradiated human cells. Similar experiments carried out with SV40-transformed human fibroblasts, which constitutively express SV40 T antigen, gave comparable results. These experiments show that, as in monkey cells, a new error-prone recovery pathway can be induced by pretreating human cells with UV-light before infection.     

Studies on direct and indirect effects of DNA damage on mutagenesis in monkey cells using an SV40-based shuttle vector

We are using an SV40-based shuttle vector, pZ189, to study mechanisms of mutagenesis in mammalian cells. The vector can be treated with mutagens in vitro and replicated in animal cells; resulting mutants can be selected and amplified in bacteria for DNA sequencing. This versatile vector system has allowed us to explore several different questions relating to the mutagenic process. We have studied the direct effects of template damage caused by UV or benzo[a]pyrene diolepoxide by treating vector DNA with these agents and then replicating the damaged DNA in monkey cells. Mutational mechanisms were deduced from the spectrum of mutations induced in the supF target gene of the vector DNA. To study the role of indirect effects of DNA damage on mutagenesis in mammalian cells, we have treated the cells and the vector DNA separately with DNA-damaging agents. We find that pretreatment of cells with DNA-damaging agents, or with conditioned medium from damaged cells, causes an enhancement of mutagenesis of a UV-damaged vector. Thus, DNA damage can act indirectly to enhance the mutagenic process. We also have preliminary evidence that pZ189 can be used in an in vitro DNA replication system to study the process of mutation fixation on the biochemical level. We believe that the pZ189 vector will prove to be as useful for in vitro studies of mutational mechanisms as it has been for in vivo studies.     

pZ402, an improved SV40-based shuttle vector containing a T-antigen mutant unable to interact with wild-type p53

Shuttle vectors are useful tools for studying DNA replication and mutagenesis. SV40-based shuttle vectors are popular because of their ease of use and quick results. However, one complication with the use of SV40-based shuttle vectors is the interaction of cellular p53 protein with the T-antigen of SV40. Wild-type, but not mutant, p53 has been shown to be involved in DNA replication and DNA repair. To address this concern, we have modified an SV40-based shuttle vector, pZ189, by exchanging the wt T-antigen for a mutant SV40 T-antigen, which is unable to bind with p53. This shuttle vector, pZ402, provides us with a tool to study DNA replication and genomic instability in cells with varying genetic backgrounds without interference from the interaction of T-antigen with p53.     

Analysis of mutations occurring during replication of a SV40 shuttle vector in mammalian cells

To analyse mutations that arise in mammalian cells we have used a SV40::plasmid shuttle vector containing a portion of the E. coli lacZ gene. We have found that following transfection into monkey Cos-7 cell mutations are not detected in the recovered plasmids at 24 h post transfection, but are found at 48 h post transfection, after the onset of DNA replication. Analysis of the mutant plasmids shows that in almost all cases the mutant phenotype is caused by a deletion or rearrangement of the lacZ gene in the shuttle vector.     

Efficient transformation of human fibroblasts by adenovirus-simian virus 40 recombinants.

The origin-defective simian virus 40 (SV40) mutant 6-1 has been useful in transforming human cells (Small et al., Nature [London] 296:671-672, 1982; Nagata et al., Nature [London] 306:597-599, 1983). However, the low efficiency of transformation achieved by DNA transfection is a major drawback of the system. To increase the efficiency of SV40-induced transformation of human fibroblasts, we used recombinant adenovirus-SV40 virions which contain a complete SV40 early region including either a wild-type or defective (6-1) origin of replication. The SV40 DNA was cloned into the adenovirus vector in place of early region 1. Cell lines transformed by viruses containing a functional origin of replication produced free SV40 DNA. These cell lines were subcloned, and some of the subclones lost the ability to produce free viral DNA. Subclones that failed to produce free viral DNA were found to possess a mutated T antigen. Cell lines transformed by viruses containing origin-defective SV40 mutants did not produce any free DNA. Because of the high efficiency of transformation, we suggest that the origin-defective chimeric virus is a convenient system for establishing SV40-transformed cell lines from any human cell type that is susceptible to infection by adenovirus type 5.     

The synergistic effects of SV40 and BUdR on induction of gene mutations and chromosomal aberrations in chinese hamster cells

The induction of chromosomal abberations and gene mutations was studied in Chinese hamster cells after separate and combined treatment with BUdR and SV40. Separate treatment of cells with BUdR or virus infection increased the yield of chromosomal aberrations and reversions from glutamine requirement, expressed at 40°C (a ts mutant), to prototrophy. The combined effect of the incorporation of BUdR into one DNA strand, and a subsequent infection by SV40 was additive as regards the percentage of aberrant metaphases. The integration of the analogue into both DNA strands followed by SV40 treatment resulted in a statistically significant increase in the frequency of aberration-carrying metaphases, as compared with the frequency expected if the two agents had acted additively. The same phenomenon was detected when the frequency of reversions to glutamine independence was studied. Hence, the effect of the joint treatment by BUdR incorporated into both DNA strands and SV40 was synergistic. This is known to characterize the effect of BUdR on virus-induced transformation. Therefore, obviously the agent that enhances the malignant transformation of cells by the virus similarly modifies its mutagenic activity.

The results obtained are presumed to confirm the previously advanced hypothesis that the same events following infection might control both the integration of viral DNA into the host-cell chromosome (and hence cell transformation) and virus-induced mutagenesis. The role of repair processes in the synergistic effect of BUdR and SV40 in the yield of reversions to glutamine independence is discussed.     

Enhanced mutagenesis of UV-irradiated simian virus 40 occurs in mitomycin C-treated host cells only at a low multiplicity of infection.

Treatment of monkey kidney cells with mitomycin C (MMC) 24 h prior to infection with UV-irradiated simian virus 40 (SV40) enhanced both virus survival and virus mutagenesis. The use of SV40 as a biological probe has been taken as an easy method to analyse SOS response of mammalian cells to the stress caused by DNA damage or inhibition of DNA replication. The mutation assay we used was based on the reversion from a temperature-sensitive phenotype (tsA58 mutant) to a wild-type phenotype. The optimal conditions for producing enhanced survival and mutagenesis in the virus progeny were determined with regard to the multiplicity of infection (MOI). Results showed that the level of enhanced mutagenesis observed for UV-irradiated virus grown in MMC-treated cells was an inverse function of the MOI, while enhanced survival was observed at nearly the same level regardless of the MOI. For the unirradiated virus, almost no increase in the mutation of virus progeny issued from MMC-treated cells was observed, while a small amount of enhanced virus survival was obtained. These results show that enhanced virus mutagenesis and enhanced virus survival can be dissociated under some experimental conditions. Enhanced virus mutagenesis, analogous to the error-prone replication of phages in SOS-induced bacteria, was observed, at least for SV40, only when DNA of both virus and host cells was damaged and when infection occurred with a small number of viral particles. We therefore hypothesize that an error-prone replication mode of UV-damaged templates is observed in induced monkey kidney cells.     

An immortalized xeroderma pigmentosum, group C, cell line which replicates SV40 shuttle vectors

We have established and characterized an immortalized xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), group C, cell line. Transformation of the human fibroblasts was carried out with a recombinant plasmid, pLAS-wt, containing SV40 DNA encompassing the entire early region with a defective origin of DNA replication. The transformed XP cell line, XP4PA-SVwt, and the normal transformed fibroblasts AS3-SVwt, both express SV40 T antigen together with enhanced levels of the transformation-associated cellular protein, p53. XP4PA-SVwt retains the XP UV-repair defective phenotype as demonstrated by low levels of unscheduled DNA synthesis and by the reduced survival of irradiated SV40 virus. Analysis of cellular DNA shows a single major, stable, integration site of pLAS-wt in the XP4PA-SVwt cells. The T antigen in these cells supports efficiently the replication of SV40 based shuttle vectors and should prove suitable for the introduction, expression and selection of genes related to DNA repair and to the study of mutagenesis using defined molecular probes.     

Isolation and characterization of defective simian virus 40 genomes which complement for infectivity.

A new variant of simian virus 40 (EL SV40), containing the complete viral DNA separated into two molecules, was isolated. One DNA species contains nearly all of the early (E) SV40 sequences, and the other DNA contains nearly all of the late (L) viral sequences. Each genome was encircled by reiterated viral origins and termini and migrated in agarose gels as covalently closed supercoiled circles. EL SV40 or its progenitor appears to have been generated in human A172 glioblastoma cells, as defective interfering genomes during acute lytic infections, but was selected during the establishment of persistently infected (PI) green monkey cells (TC-7). PI TC-7/SV40 cells contained EL SV40 as the predominant SV40 species. EL SV40 propagated efficiently and rapidly in BSC-1, another line of green monkey cells, where it also formed plaques. EL SV40 stocks generated in BSC-1 cells were shown to be free of wild-type SV40 by a number of criteria. E and L SV40 genomes were also cloned in the bacterial plasmid pBR322. When transfected into BSC-1 cell monolayers, only the combination of E and L genomes produced a lytic infection, followed by the synthesis of EL SV40. However, transfection with E SV40 DNA alone did produce T-antigen, although at reduced frequency.