Peroxisomes in the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha do not necessarily derive from pre-existing organelles.

We have identified two temperature-sensitive peroxisome-deficient mutants of Hansenula polymorpha (ts6 and ts44) within a collection of ts mutants which are impaired for growth on methanol at 43 degrees C but grow well at 35 degrees C. In both strains peroxisomes were completely absent in cells grown at 43 degrees C; the major peroxisomal matrix enzymes alcohol oxidase, dihydroxyacetone synthase and catalase were synthesized normally but assembled into the active enzyme protein in the cytosol. As in wild-type cells, these enzymes were present in peroxisomes under permissive growth conditions (< or = 37 degrees C). However, at intermediate temperatures (38-42 degrees C) they were partly peroxisome-bound and partly resided in the cytosol. Genetic analysis revealed that both mutant phenotypes were due to monogenic recessive mutations mapped in the same gene, designated PER13. After a shift of per13-6ts cells from restrictive to permissive temperature, new peroxisomes were formed within 1 h. Initially one--or infrequently a few--small organelles developed which subsequently increased in size and multiplied by fission during prolonged permissive growth. Neither mature peroxisomal matrix nor membrane proteins, which were present in the cytosol prior to the temperature shift, were incorporated into the newly formed organelles. Instead, these proteins remained unaffected (and active) in the cytosol concomitant with further peroxisome development. Thus in H.polymorpha alternative mechanisms of peroxisome biogenesis may be possible in addition to multiplication by fission upon induction of the organelles by certain growth substrates.     

Study of a temperature-sensitive mutant of the ras-related YPT1 gene product in yeast suggests a role in the regulation of intracellular calcium

Intragenic mutations were isolated that suppressed the dominant-lethal phenotype of the YPT1ile121 mutant gene in a temperature-dependent fashion. Among different amino acid substitutions resulting from single point mutations, two, Ala161----Val (A161V) and Met165----Ile (M165I), restored the function of the YPT1ile121 mutant protein. Mutants expressing the YPT1ile121/val161 allele (ypt1ts) only, grew normally at temperatures up to 30 degrees C but were arrested at 37 degrees C. At the restrictive temperature, ypt1ts mutants accumulated ER membranes, small vesicles, and unprocessed invertase, and they exhibited cytoskeletal defects and an enhanced 45Ca2+ uptake. Similar alterations were seen in YPT1-depleted cells. The ypt1ts mutant cells could be rescued from growth arrest by increasing extracellular Ca2+, and, even at the permissive temperature, they displayed increased trifluoperazine sensitivity.     

Essential and distinct roles of phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases,Pik1p and Stt4p,in yeast autophagy

Autophagy is a degradative cellular pathway that protects eukaryotic cells from starvation/stress. Phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases, Pik1p and Stt4p, are indispensable for autophagy in budding yeast, but participation of PtdIns-4 kinases and their product, phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate [PtdIns(4)P], is not understood. Nanoscale membrane lipid distribution analysis showed PtdIns(4)P is more abundant in yeast autophagosomes in the luminal leaflet than the cytoplasmic leaflet. PtdIns(4)P is confined to the cytoplasmic leaflet of autophagosomal inner and outer membranes in mammalian cells. Using temperature-conditional single PIK1 or STT4 PtdIns 4-kinase mutants, autophagic bodies in the vacuole of PIK1 and STT4 mutant cells dramatically decreased at restrictive temperatures, and the number of autophagosomes in the cytosol of PIK1 mutants cells was also decreased, whereas autophagosome levels of STT4 mutant cells were comparable to that of wild-type and STT4 mutant cells at permissive temperatures. Localization of PtdIns(4)P in the luminal leaflet in the biological membrane is a novel finding, and differences in PtdIns(4)P distribution suggest substantial differences between yeast and mammals. We also demonstrate in this study that Pik1p and Stt4p play essential roles in autophagosome formation and autophagosome–vacuole fusion in yeast cells, respectively.     

Role of simian virus 40 gene A function in maintenance of transformation.

Mouse, hamster, and human cells were transformed at the permissive temperature by mutants from simian virus 40 (SV40) complementation group A in order to ascertain the role of the gene A function in transformation. The following parameters of transformation were monitored with the transformed cells under permissive and nonpermissive conditions: morphology; saturation density; colony formation on plastic, on cell monolayers, and in soft agar; uptake of hexose; and the expression of SV40 tumor (T) and surface (S) antigens. Cells transformed by the temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants exhibited the phenotype of transformed cells at the nonrestrictive temperature for all of the parameters studied. However, when grown at the restrictive temperature, they were phenotypically similar to normal, untransformed cells. Growth curves showed that the (ts) A mutant-transformed cells exhibited the growth characteristics of wild-type virus-transformed cells at the permissive temperature and resembled normal cells when placed under restrictive conditions. There were 3-to 51-fold reductions in the levels of saturation density, colony formation, and uptake of hexose when the mutant-transformed cells were the elevated temperature as compared to when they were grown at the permissive temperature. Mutant-transformed cells from the nonpermissive temperature were able to produce transformed foci when shifted down to permissive conditions, indicating that the phenotypically reverted cells were still viable and that the reversion was a reversible event. SV40 T antigen was present in the cells at both temperatures, but S antigen was not detected in cells maintained at the nonpremissive temperature. All of the wild-type virus-transformed cells exhbited a transformed cells exhibited a transformed phenotype when grown under either restrictive or nonrestrictive conditions. Thers results indicate that the SV40 group A mutant-transformed cells are temperature sensitive for the maintenance of growth properties characteristics of transformation. Virus rescued from the mutant-transformed cells by the transfection method was ts, suggesting that the SV40 gene A function, rather than a cellular one, is responsible for the ts behavior of the cells.     

Impaired processing of precursor polypeptides of temperature-sensitive mutants of Rauscher murine leukemia virus.

The synthesis and processing of virus-specific precursor polypeptides in NIH/3T3 cells infected at the permissive temperature (31 degrees C) with temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of Rauscher murine leukemia virus was studied in pulse-chase experiments at the permissive and nonpermissive (39 degrees C) temperatures. The newly synthesized virus-specific polypeptides were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis after immunoprecipitation with polyvalent and monospecific antisera against Rauscher murine leukemia virus proteins. In cells infected with ts mutants defective in early replication steps (the early mutants ts17 and ts29), and ts mutants defective in postintegration steps (the late mutants ts25 and ts26), the processing of the primary gag gene product was impaired at the nonpermissive temperature. gag-pr75 of all four mutants was converted into gag-pr65; however, gag-pr65 accumulated at the nonpermissive temperature, and the main internal virion polypeptide p30 was not formed. Therefore, the proteolytic cleavage is blocked beyond gag-pr65. Concomitantly, the formation of the env gene-related polypeptide p12(E) of all four mutants was blocked at the restrictive temperature. In contrast, cells infected with the late mutant ts28, which produced noninfectious virions at 39 degrees C, showed a normal turnover of the gag and env precursor polypeptides.     

Biochemical transformation by temperature-sensitive mutants of herpes simplex virus type 1.

Biochemical transformation assays of herpes simplex virus type 1 temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants distinguished three groups of mutants with regard to their thymidine kinase (TK) transforming ability: those incapable of transferring the TK gene at either the permissive or restrictive temperatures (group I); those resembling the wild-type virus, and therefore able to transform at both the permissive and nonpermissive temperatures (group II); and those that failed to transform or exhibited very low transformation frequencies at the permissive temperature but were able to transform at the nonpermissive temperature (group III). Two mutants in group II exhibited greatly enhanced transformation efficiency at the permissive temperature. The ts lesions in the majority of the mutants tested map between 0.30 and 0.60 units on the viral genome. Mutants with TK-positive (TK+), but DNA-negative, phenotypes at the nonpermissive temperature produced no TK+ transformants at the permissive temperature and only unstable transformants at the nonpermissive temperature. This suggests that a function which is required for viral DNA synthesis is also required to obtain stable expression or to transfer the TK+ gene or both when transfer is mediated by the entire viral genome.     

Temperature-sensitive translation of MS2 bacteriophage RNA

A comparison was made of bacteriophage MS2 RNA translation in infected Escherichia coli cells and in a defined cell-free system. A number of temperature-sensitive mutants were used as hosts for viral RNA translation at permissive and restrictive temperatures. The amount of viral coat protein synthesis was determined after gel electrophoresis of proteins from the cell lysates. These results were compared to those obtained with cell-free translation assays conducted with ribosomes isolated from the same mutants. Compared with control cells, a reduced activity in vivo and in vitro was found for each mutant examined at elevated temperatures. A good correlation between the two types of translational assays was observed. These findings are discussed in terms of the translational defects known to be a characteristic of some of these mutant strains.     

Genetic characterization of Escherichia coli type 1 pilus adhesin mutants and identification of a novel binding phenotype

Five Escherichia coli type 1 pilus mutants that had point mutations in fimH, the gene encoding the type 1 pilus adhesin FimH, were characterized. FimH is a minor component of type 1 pili that is required for the pili to bind and agglutinate guinea pig erythrocytes in a mannose-inhibitable manner. Point mutations were located by DNA sequencing and deletion mapping. All mutations mapped within the signal sequence or in the first 28% of the predicted mature protein. All mutations were missense mutations except for one, a frameshift lesion that was predicted to cause the loss of approximately 60% of the mature FimH protein. Bacterial agglutination tests with polyclonal antiserum raised to a LacZ-FimH fusion protein failed to confirm that parental amounts of FimH cross-reacting material were expressed in four of the five mutants. The remaining mutant, a temperature-sensitive (ts) fimH mutant that agglutinated guinea pig erythrocytes after growth at 31 degrees C but not at 42 degrees C, reacted with antiserum at both temperatures in a manner similar to the parent. Consequently, this mutant was chosen for further study. Temperature shift experiments revealed that new FimH biosynthesis was required for the phenotypic change. Guinea pig erythrocyte and mouse macrophage binding experiments using the ts mutant grown at the restrictive and permissive temperatures revealed that whereas erythrocyte binding was reduced to a level comparable to that of a fimH insertion mutant at the restrictive temperature, mouse peritoneal macrophages were bound with parental efficiency at both the permissive and restrictive temperatures. Also, macrophage binding by the ts mutant was insensitive to mannose inhibition after growth at 42 degrees C but sensitive after growth at 31 degrees C. The ts mutant thus binds macrophages with one receptor specificity at 31 degrees C and another at 42 degrees C.     

Simian virus 40 mutants carrying two temperature-sensitive mutations.

Five temperature-sensitive mutants of simian virus 40 containing two temperature-sensitive mutations were isolated. The double mutant of the A and D complementation groups, like the D mutants, failed to complement by conventional complementation analysis and did not induce host DNA synthesis at 40 degrees C. However, under conditions that suppressed the D defect, the A:D double mutant expressed only the A defect. Thus, viral DNA replication dropped rapidly after this mutant was shifted from permissive to restrictive temperatures. The A:D double mutant failed to transfrom at the restrictive temperature when subconfluent Chinese hamster lung monolayers were used. Double mutants of A:B, A:C, and A:BC complementation groups, like their A parent, were defective in viral DNA replication, in the induction of host DNA synthesis and in the transformation of secondary Chinese hamster lung cells at the nonpermissive temperature.     

Defective Particles in BHK Cells Infected with Temperature-Sensitive Mutants of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

Defective particles were the major product after undiluted passage of certain temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of the Indiana C strain of vesicular stomatitis virus in BHK-21 cells at the permissive temperature (31 C). Essentially homogeneous preparations of defective particles were obtained with the wild-type and individual ts mutants. The defective particles associated with some of the ts mutants, however, were morphologically and physically distinguishable from wild type and from each other. All varieties of defective particle interfered with the multiplication of mutant and wild-type virus at the permissive temperature at early times of infection but failed to complement virions of different complementation groups at the restrictive temperature (39 C) at any time during infection.     

A Chinese hamster cell cycle mutant arrested at G2 phase has a temperature-sensitive ubiquitin-activating enzyme, E1

The effect of restrictive temperature on ubiquitin conjugation activity has been studied in cells of ts20, a temperature-sensitive cell cycle mutant of the Chinese hamster cell line E36. Ts20 is arrested in early G2 phase at nonpermissive temperature. Immunoblotting with antibodies to ubiquitin conjugates shows that conjugates disappear rapidly at restrictive temperatures in ts20 mutant but not in wild type E36 cells. The incorporation of 125I-ubiquitin into permeabilized ts20 cells is temperature-sensitive. Addition of extracts of another G2 phase mutant, FM3A ts85, with a temperature-sensitive ubiquitin activation enzyme (E1), to permeabilized ts20 cells at restrictive temperatures fails to complement their ubiquitin ligation activity. This indicates that the lesions in the two mutants are similar. Purified E1 from reticulocytes restores the conjugation activity of heat-inactivated permeabilized ts20 cells. Ubiquitin conjugation activity of cell-free extracts of ts20 cells was temperature-sensitive and could be restored by adding purified reticulocyte E1. Purified reticulocyte E2 or E3, on the other hand, did not restore the ubiquitin conjugation activity of heat-treated ts20 extracts. These results are consistent with the conclusion that ts20 has temperature-sensitive ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1). The fact that two E1 mutants (ts20 and ts85) derived from different cell lines are arrested at the S/G2 boundary at restrictive temperatures strongly indicates that ubiquitin ligation is necessary for passage through this part of the cell cycle. The temperature thresholds of heat shock protein synthesis of ts20 and wild type E36 cells were identical. The implications of these findings with respect to a suggested role of ubiquitin in coupling between protein denaturation and the heat shock response are discussed.     

Genetic Analysis of Simian Virus 40 IV. Inhibited Transformation of Balb/3T3 Cells by a Temperature-Sensitive Early Mutant

The temperature-sensitive early mutant, ts(*)101, was characterized during productive infection in monkey cells, and the results are presented in an accompanying paper. This paper demonstrates that although 101 mutant virions adsorb normally to confluent Balb/3T3 mouse cells at both permissive (33 C) and restrictive (38.5 C) temperatures, T antigen synthesis and transformation, abortive and stable, are inhibited at both temperatures (host-range inhibition). T antigen synthesis is temperature sensitive, whereas abortive and stable transformation are not. Clones of 101-transformed Balb/3T3 cells were isolated, and virus was rescued from all clones at both permissive and restrictive temperatures. The rescued virus was as temperature sensitive as the original transforming 101 virions.     

Use of specific single stranded DNA probes cloned in M13 to study the RNA synthesis of four temperature-sensitive mutants of HK/68 influenza virus.

Specific single stranded DNA probes have been obtained for both influenza virion RNA (vRNA) and complementary RNA (cRNA) by cloning a hemagglutinin gene fragment in the single stranded DNA phase M13. These probes were used for hybridization with the total labeled RNA from cytoplasmic extracts of infected cells. MDCK cells were infected with temperature-sensitive mutants of influenza HK/68 and the production of the virus specific RNA species was analysed at both permissive and restrictive temperatures. Results show that two NP mutants which undergo intracistronic complementation exhibit two different phenotypes at the non permissive temperature: ts2C is poly A cRNA and vRNA negative whereas ts463 is RNA positive. Two mutants of P genes were also analysed and we discuss the relationship existing between the synthesis of the three RNA species especially between poly A and non poly A cRNA.     

Recombination Between Endogenous and Exogenous Simian Virus 40 Genes. I. Rescue of a Simian Virus 40 Temperature-Sensitive Mutant by Passage in Permissive Transformed Monkey Lines

Passage of the simian virus 40 (SV40) temperature-sensitive (ts) mutant tsD202 at the permissive temperature in each of three permissive lines of SV40-transformed monkey CV1 cells resulted in the emergence of temperature-insensitive virus, which plated like wild-type SV40 at the restrictive temperature on normal CV1 cells. In independent experiments, the amount of temperature-insensitive virus that appeared after passage on transformed cells was from 10(3)- to 10(6)-fold greater than the amount of ts-revertant virus that appeared after an equal number of passages in nontransformed CV1 cells. The virus rescued by passage on transformed cells bred true upon sequential plaque purification, plated on normal CV1 cells with single-hit kinetics at the restrictive temperature, and displayed no selective growth advantage on transformed cells compared to non-transformed cells. Hence, the reversion of the ts phenotype is neither due to complementation effects nor to the selection of preexisting revertants, which grow better on transformed cells. In the accompanying article (T. Vogel et al., J. Virol. 24:541-550, 1977), we present biochemical evidence that the rescue of tsD202 mediated by passage on transformed cells is due to recombination with the resident SV40 genome. Parallel experiments in which tsA, tsB, and tsC SV40 mutants were passaged in each of the three permissive lines of SV40-transformed monkey cells resulted in either only borderline levels of rescue (tsA mutants) or no detectable rescue (tsB and tsC mutants). Evidence is presented that the resident SV40 genome of the transformed monkey lines is itself a late ts mutant, and we suggest that this accounts for the lack of detectable rescue of the tsB and tsC mutants. We furthermore suggest that the borderline level of rescue observed with two tsA mutants is related to a previous finding (Y. Gluzman et al., J. Virol. 22:256-266, 1977) which indicated that the resident SV40 genome of the permissive transformed monkey cells is defective in the function required for initiation of viral DNA synthesis.     

Modulation of expression of the stress-inducible p118 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by cAMP. II. A study of p118 expression in mutants of the cAMP cascade

In the preceding paper, we have identified a protein of Mr = 118,000 which is induced by stress conditions that lead to cessation of DNA synthesis and cell division (Verma, R., Iida, H., and Pardee, A.B. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 8569-8575). In the current study, we have investigated the possible role this protein may play in cellular proliferation by studying p118 expression in mutants of the cAMP metabolic pathway. The cyr 1-2 mutant gene encodes a thermolabile adenylate cyclase whose activity is only 7% of wild type even at permissive temperatures (23 degrees C). We have found that at 23 degrees C, the G1 period was 5-fold longer in cyr 1-2 than in CYR1+ cells and that p118 was constitutively expressed in these slow cycling mutants. Addition of 8-bromo-cAMP to cyr 1-2 mutants restored growth at both the restrictive and permissive temperatures and resulted in a shut-off in the synthesis of p118. The effect of the analog on p118 expression was rapid, preceding the increase in cell number and percentage-budded cells. In contrast to wild type cells, p118 synthesis was not induced by sulfur starvation in RAS2val19 mutants possessing high levels of adenylate cyclase activity and bcy1 mutants defective in the regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. A large body of evidence exists supporting a role of cAMP in positive control of cell proliferation. It is therefore possible that conditions which decrease cAMP arrest growth through a chain of events that include p118 induction.     

Timing of ultraviolet light induced mutagenesis in simian virus 40 relative to viral DNA replication in monkey cells

Summary Simian virus 40 (SV40) was used to probe ultraviolet light (UV) — induced mutation in mammalian cells. Viral mutations were scored as reversions of early and late temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants to the wild-type (WT) phenotype. When virus was exposed to moderate or high UV doses, WT revertants were obtained at a frequency related to the square of the dose from two early (tsA) and one late (tsBC) mutant grown at the restrictive temperature. The reversions generated in the progeny of UV-irradiated early mutants presumably arose before the onset of viral DNA replication because, at the non-permissive temperature, tsA mutants are unable to express the functions responsible for the initiation of viral DNA synthesis. Moreover, the early mutant tsA209 underwent similar levels of induced reversion at the permissive and restrictive temperatures, suggesting that the pre-replicative mutational pathway might predominate for moderately and heavily irradiated virus, even under conditions where DNA synthesis can be initiated. The analysis of bursts from revertant plaques produced at the restrictive temperature was consistent with this interpretation. Although the mechanism of pre-replicative mutagenesis is not known, it is likely to be mediated by cellular activities owing to the low genetic complexity of the virus.     

Isolation by a replica-plating technique of chinese hamster temperature-sensitive cell cycle mutants

Isolation of a wide variety of temperature-sensitive (ts) cell cycle mutants in mammalian cells has previously proved to be a very difficult task. The various procedures used for the isolation of such mutants included a mutant enrichment step based on exposure of the cells to the restrictive temperatures in order to kill the growing wild-type cells with agents that kill DNA-synthesizing cells. Hence, these methods favored the isolation of ts mutants that do not lose viability rapidly at the restrictive temperatures, We have treated cells of the Chinese hamster established cell line E36 with the mutagen ethyl-methane-sulfonate (EMS) and used a replicaplating technique that we developed to screen the ts mutants for growth. This technique enabled us to recover all ts mutants for growth including the ts cell cycle mutants. Screening of the ts cell cycle mutants among the ts mutants for growth was performed by the flow microfluorimetry technique and the premature chromosome condensation technique. Our results show that 1.3% of the survivors of the mutagenic treatment are ts mutants for growth. Six of 84 ts mutants analyzed were found to be ts cell cycle mutants. They include ts mutants arrested in phases G1, S, and G2. Many of the ts mutants for growth including the ts cell cycle mutants arrested in S and G2 lose viability very fast when incubated at the restrictive temperature. As a consequence they could not have been isolated by any method that includes a mutant enrichment step based on the exposure of the cells to the restrictive temperature.     

Murine temperature-sensitive DNA polymerase α mutant displays a diminished capacity to stimulate DNA synthesis in senescent human fibroblast nuclei in heterokaryons at the nonpermissive condition

We have investigated the capacity of a murine cell line with a temperature-sensitive (ts) mutation in the DNA polymerase α (Pola) locus and a series of ts non-Pola mutant cell lines from separate complementation groups to stimulate DNA synthesis, in senescent fibroblast nuclei in heterokaryons. In the Pola mutant × senescent heterodikaryons, both human and murine nuclei display significantly diminished levels of DNA synthesis at the restrictive temperature (39.5°C) as determined by [³H]thymidine labeling in autoradiographs. In contrast, all of the non-Pola mutants, as well as the parental (wild-type) murine cells, induced similar levels of DNA synthesis in both parental nuclei at the nonpermissive and permissive temperatures. Similarly, young human fibroblasts are also able to initiate DNA synthesis in heterokaryons with the ts Pola mutant at the two temperatures. In order to determine if complementation of the non-Pola mutants requires induction of serum responsive factors in the senescent cells, fusion studies of similar design were conducted with young and old human fibroblasts incubated in low serum (0.2%) for 48 hr prior to and after cell fusion. Again, a diminished level of DNA synthesis was observed at 39.5°C in the Pola mutant x senescent cell heterokaryons. In these low-serum studies, both parental nuclei in the Pola x young cell heterokaryons and the human nuclei in heterokaryons with one of the non-Pola mutants (FT107) also displayed diminished levels of DNA synthetic activity. All of the other mutants are able to support similar levels of synthetic activity at both temperatures in the presence of reduced serum. The nature of the mutation in three of the non-Pola lines has not been determined but, like the Pola mutant cells, are inhibited in the G₁ phase of the cell cycle when incubated at the nonpermissive temperature (39.5°C). The fourth non-Pola mutant line is known to have at least one ts mutation in the cdc2 gene and is inhibited in the G₂ phase when exposed to 39.5°C. These results suggest that there may be a functional deficiency of pol α in senescent human fibroblasts, and this replication factor may be one of the rate-limiting factors involved in loss of the capacity to initiate DNA synthesis in senescent cells. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.