Relationship of Friend murine leukemia virus production to growth and hemoglobin synthesis in cultured erythroleukemia cells.

The factors that control oncornavirus formation were analyzed in Friend leukemia cells that undergo hematopoiesis when treated with dimethyl sulfoxide. Suspension cultures of Ostertag FSD-1 cell line were found to enter a G or resting state at the end of their proliferative phase and to simultaneously cease producing helper and dependent components of Friend virus. Whereas the decline in virus production is at least 100-fold, rates of cellular RNA and protein synthesis are only slightly lower in resting than in growing cells. Both resting and growing cells contain similarly large concentrations of the viral proteins P(30) and P(12). Dimethyl sulfoxide induces hemoglobin synthesis in growing cells, but its effects on virus production appear to be indirect results of its action to inhibit cell growth and thus to delay entry of cells into the G resting state. Furthermore, variant cell lines were obtained with differing abilities to synthesize virus or hemoglobin. Some lines no longer produce infectious virus, although they all harbor murine leukemia virus genes which are expressed to varying extents. The major internal protein of these oncornaviruses, P(30), is synthesized in large amounts by all of the cell lines. These results suggest that Friend virus production is not coinduced with erythroid differentiation, as had been proposed, but rather is controlled by a cellular growth cycle.     

Changes in tRNA levels during the induction of hemoglobin synthesis in Friend leukemia cells

There is a three- to four-fold decrease in the content/cell of tRNAs for ten different amino acids four days after the induction of erythroid differentiation in Friend leukemia cells, consistent with the decrease in cell volume that occurs. Surprisingly, there is an approximately two-fold increase in the cellular content of each of these tRNAs between day 4 and day 6 after induction, indicating the net synthesis of tRNA late in induction. The tRNA changes affect all species and do not result in tRNA specialization for hemoglobin synthesis, as occurs in normal erythroid development. The tRNA content of imidazole-treated cells, which do not synthesize hemoglobin although they undergo other changes of erythroid differentiation, decreases initially as described above, but shows no increase from day 4 to day 6.     

Effects of interferon on hemoglobin synthesis and leukemia virus production in Friend cells

Establishment of the antiviral state by interferon does not impair differentiation of Friend cells. Interferon actually produces an increase in dimethylsulfoxide-induced hemoglobin synthesis. However, both the constitutive production and the induction of leukemia virus in these cells are inhibited by interferon.     

Ornithine decarboxylase induction and nucleolar RNA synthesis in Friend leukemia cells

The induction of ornithine decarboxylase and the stimulation of nucleolar RNA synthesis following dilution of stationary phase Friend Leukemia Cells into fresh medium were studied. Ornithine decarboxylase activity and the rate of nucleolar RNA synthesis reached maximum values within 4 hours after dilution, with ornithine decarboxylase levels increasing 10–20 fold and nucleolar RNA synthesis increasing by about 60% during this period. 0.5 mM putrescine effectively inhibited the rise in ornithine decarboxylase following cell transfer, but did not prevent increases in the rate of nucleolar RNA synthesis.     

Virus production and hemoglobin synthesis in variant lines of dimethyl sulfoxide-treated Friend erythroleukemia cells.

Variant Friend erythroleukemia cell clones were compared in regard to their response to dimethyl sulfoxide and in their abilities to synthesize virus and hemoglobin. Clear evidence was obtained that cellular growth is required for virus production. The effects of dimethyl sulfoxide on virus production were not observed in cell lines that were resistant to growth perturbation by the compound. Studies of cell variants that were defective in either hemoglobin or virus synthesis indicate that these activities are independently regulated.     

Amino acid control of stable RNA synthesis in Friend leukemia cells in relation to intracellular purine nucleoside triphosphate levels.

Histidinol is known to cause deacylation of histidyl-tRNA in cultured mammalian cells, thereby producing a functional deprivation of histidine. Such deprivation of an essential amino acid is known to produce various effects, including inhibition of tRNA synthesis and of nucleolar RNA synthesis and processing. It has been proposed [Grummt, F. & Grummt, I. (1976) Eur. J. Biochem. 64, 307-312] that this response to amino acid deprivation is mediated by decreases in GTP and ATP pool sizes caused by a deacylated-tRNA-dependent hydrolysis of GTP. In contrast, we find that Friend leukemia cells treated with histidinol show no significant changes in GTP or ATP pool sizes, although this treatment does produce the expected inhibition of rRNA and tRNA synthesis.     

5-Aminolevulinic acid stimulation of porphyrin and hemoglobin synthesis by uninduced Friend erythroleukemic cells.

Porphyrin synthesis and iron accumulation was stimulated by exogenous 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in uninduced Friend erythroleukemic cells (FELC). Uroporphyrin and protoporphyrin were the major intermediated precursors produced. All porphyrin types were conjugated to protein insoluble cellular components and could be extracted only by methanol sulfuric acid esterification. Heme content of the uninduced FELC was increased 6-fold in the presence of 5 x 10(-4) M ALA. As a consequence, the synthesis of the minor murine hemoglobin component was preferentially induced, an effect similar to that expressed by exogenous hemin. Addition of exogenous ALA to 0.5% DMSO-induced cells increased total hemoglobin synthesis with a higher efficiency of the minor hemoglobin. The endogenous synthesis of porphyrin from exogenous ALA was markedly reduced by hemin. Uroporphyrin, coproporphyrin, protoporphyrin and heme were equally repressed, indicating an inhibitory effect of hemin on ALA dehydrase and urosynthetase activities. In addition, hemin repressed [3H]leucine incorporation into protein by uninduced cells. Incubation of uninduced cells in culture medium without serum in the presence of hemin blocked their protein synthesis activity, whereas addition of serum exerted a protective effect on living FELC.     

Terminal differentiation in cultured Friend erythroleukemia cells.

Two populations of differentiated, hemoglobin-containing cells have been identified in cultures of Friend murine erythroleukemia cells (Friend cells): terminally differentiated benzidine-positive (B+) cells that are no longer capable of proliferation and are arrested in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, and their precursors, traversing B+ cells which undergo two or three cell divisions before reaching their terminally differentiated state. Thus Friend cells in suspension culture retain a limited capacity to synthesize DNA and divide after commitment to erythroid differentiation. We identified terminally differentiated cells using autoradiography after benzidine staining. We also developed a quantitative flow microfluorometric assay to distinguish cells that are terminally differentiated from those cells committed to differentiation but still capable of proliferation.We developed a purification procedure to isolate terminally differentiated Friend cells. Their DNA content was the same as that of the undifferentiated cells in G1 by both the diphenylamine reaction and a fluorescence assay. No loss of DNA was detected during the differentiation of Friend cells. As many as 72% of the total cells in a culture induced with DMSO (88% B+) were differentiated cells arrested in G1. As a control, a DMSO-resistant line derived from 745A neither differentiated nor arrested in G1 after growth in the presence of DMSO. The results of these studies were obtained using several compounds that induce differentiation and three independently isolated clones of 745A. We also observed arrest of differentiated cells in G1 with the two other well characterized, independently derived erythroleukemia cell lines, F4-1 and T3-C1-2.     

Granulocyte differentiation by Friend leukemia cells.

Friend leukemia cells growing in suspension culture are thought to represent a population of primitive erythroid cells which have undergone malignant transformation. We have found that when growing in vivo or in plasma clots in vitro, these suspension culture cells can exhibit morphologic and enzymatic properties which are characteristic of primitive granulocytic cells. The microenvironment in which the tumor cells grow plays a major role in determining the direction of differentiation of these leukemia cells. Hence it appears likely that the Friend cell is in fact a neoplastic pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell.     

Brefeldin A inhibits protein synthesis in cultured cells.

The fungal metabolite brefeldin A (BFA) is known to disrupt the Golgi apparatus resulting in redistribution of Golgi proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum and inhibition of protein secretion. BFA was found to inhibit protein synthesis in rat glioma C6 cells by up to 70% between 0.1 and 1 microgram/ml. Inhibition was both time-dependent and reversible. BFA inhibited protein synthesis to varying degrees in a number of other cell lines but not in BFA-resistant marsupial kidney cells. The same concentrations of BFA which inhibited protein synthesis, also blocked the inhibitory effects of Pseudomonas exotoxin and ricin on BFA-sensitive cells. BFA, however, was unable to block the inhibition of protein synthesis by the toxins in the resistant marsupial kidney cells.     

Stimulation of protein synthesis by hemin in extracts of Friend erythroleukemia cells.

Extracts prepared from Friend erythroleukemia cells were highly active in translating endogenous mRNA and a consistent 2-fold stimulation by hemin was observed. When extracts were treated with micrococcal nuclease and incorporation was dependent on exogenous globin mRNA, there was more significant stimulation by 37.5 micron hemin and greater than 10-fold stimulation by 75 or 150 micron hemin. The effects of hemin were not strikingly different in extracts of dimethyl-sulfoxide-induced or uninduced cells. The results could reflect an effect on initiation of protein synthesis analogous to that in rabbit reticulocytes.     

Changes in cyclic nucleotide levels during erythroid differentiation in Friend leukemia cells

Changes in cyclic nucleotide levels were observed in Friend leukemia cells exposed to the inducers of erythroid differentiation dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), sodium butyrate and hypoxanthine. The most extensive changes in cAMP levels occurred during the initial 24 h growth period. In uninduced cultures, cAMP concentration increased 35-fold compared with a 7-fold increase in the presence of inducer. During the same period. cGMP levels rose about 3-fold in uninduced cells compared with a 20-fold increase in induced cells.     

Induction by ouabain of hemoglobin synthesis in cultured friend erythroleukemic cells

Induction of erythroid differentiation in ouabain-resistant murine erythroleukemia cells by ouabain is reported. Ouabain induction results in the appearance of hemoglobin-containing cells 12–24 hr earlier than induction of the same clone by dimethyl sulfoxide. The levels of globin mRNA after ouabain induction are similar in amount to the globin mRNA levels observed after induction by dimethyl sulfoxide. The concentration of ouabain required to induce hemoglobin synthesis depends upon the K⁺ ion levels in the culture medium. Lowering the extracellular K⁺ ion concentration 2–4 fold reduced by 10–40 fold the ouabain concentration necessary for the induction of hemoglobin synthesis. In low K⁺ medium (1.8 mM), ouabain is an effective inducer of hemoglobin synthesis at a concentration of 0.02 mM. This K⁺ effect is specific for ouabain induction, since induction by other inducers, such as dimethyl sulfoxide and dimethyl acetamide, does not exhibit this marked sensitivity to the levels of K⁺ ions in the culture medium. These results suggest that the binding of ouabain to the plasma membrane enzyme, $\text{Na}\text{K}$ ATPase, is required for the induction of erythroid differentiation by ouabain. A small but significant proportion of wild-type, ouabain-sensitive cells also can be induced by ouabain, below ouabain concentrations that are toxic to these cells. The observation that the binding of ouabain to the $\text{Na}\text{K}$ ATPase induces hemoglobin synthesis suggests that changes in the intracellular concentration of K⁺ ions may be involved in the control of erythroid differentiation in Friend erythroleukemic cells.     

The synthesis and accumulation of membrane protein 4.1 in Friend erythroleukemia cells

The effect of extensive differentiation on the synthesis and accumulation of protein 4.1 were studied on Friend erythroleukemia cells grown in suspension and on fibronectin coated dishes. Whole membranes of Friend erythroleukemia cells (FELC) contained a protein 4.1a and 4.1b doublet of Mr 76 and 74 kDa and two minor bands of Mr 105 and 43 kDa that cross-reacted with anti-human protein 4.1 IgG. These proteins were present even in uninduced cells. The synthesis of protein 4.1 was maximal after 4 days of induction in both suspension culture and in fibronectin-coated dishes whereas the protein 4.1 continued to accumulate until the seventh day. More protein 4.1 accumulated in cells grown on fibronectin-coated dishes, at each stage of differentiation, than in cells grown in suspension. The protein 4.1a/4.1b ratio changed during differentiation. The amounts of protein 4.1b increased progressively after induction until the protein 4.1a/4.1b ratio was similar to that of mouse mature erythrocyte. The protein 4.1a/4.1b ratio appears to be an internal marker of erythroid differentiation.     

Comparative inhibition of nuclear RNA synthesis in cultured mouse leukemia L1210 cells by adriamycin and 4'-epi-adriamycin

Adriamycin and 4'-epi-adriamycin were compared as to their effect on nRNA synthesis. 4'-Epi-adriamycin was a more effective inhibitor than the parent compound of RNA synthesis as measured by incorporation of [3H]-uridine. Adriamycin inhibited all three species of nRNA (ribosomal, non-poly(A)hnRNA, poly(A)hnRNA) to approximately the same extent. 4'-Epi-adriamycin on the other hand inhibited the nRNA species in the following order: non-poly(A)hnRNA greater than ribosomal RNA greater than poly(A)hnRNA. The inhibitory effects of both drugs on incorporation of uridine into RNA were reversible at low concentrations (5 microgram/ml).     

Nuclear protein synthesis and phosphorylation in Friend erythroleukemia cells stimulated with DMSO

Patterns of nuclear protein synthesis and phosphorylation have been investigated in Friend erythroleukemia cells. The rate of incorporation of [³H]leucine and [³²P]phosphate remains relatively constant during the first 48 h of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) stimulation, when more than 90% of the cells commit to erythroid differentiation, but falls to 20% by 120 h. Histone H2A phosphorylation is greatly increased during DMSO treatment, but no significant changes were found in the non-histone phosphoprotein patterns as determined by gel electrophoresis. There is also a small, but reproducible, change in the relative amounts of the two sub-fractions of histone H2A. There are no striking changes in the electrophoretic patterns of [¹⁴C]leucine-labelled nuclear proteins during the first 48 h, but the amount and the synthesis of two proteins of 46 000 and 280 000 D are increased somewhat during this period. Another protein, of molecular weight 65 000, appears to be induced in low amounts.     

Effect of X rays on protein synthesis and RNA synthesis in adenovirus-infected cells.

Ionizing radiation exerts a deteriorating effect on the rate of protein and RNA synthesis in HeLa cells. This effect is higher in cells infected with adenovirus, thus pointing to a higher radiosensitivity of viral syntheses compared with the cellular ones.     

Viral protein synthesis in Friend erythroleukemia cell lines.

Viral protein synthesis was studied in two Friend virus-induced erythroleukemia cell lines (Ostertag cell lines FSD1-F4 and B8) by the technique of immuno-precipitation with monospecific antisera to the major envelope glycoprotein gp70 and major core protein p30. One of the cell lines (F4) releases active Friend virus complex to the growth medium, where release of virus from the other cell line (B8) is barely or nondetectable. It was found that in the nonproducer cell line B8, a large-molecular-weight protein of about 65,000 containing p30 antigenic determinants is synthesized, yet no p30 is produced upon prolonged incubation and chase, suggesting that this might be the actual lesion that prevents mature virus production by these cells. In both cell lines, the predominant protein species that is immunoprecipitated with monospecific anti-gp70 serum is a protein of 55,000 to 60,000 daltons that is labeled with glucosamine to a much lesser extent that gp70 and appears to become heterogeneous with time. Large amounts of gp70 can be detected in the cell-free medium, but none of the unstable species of 55,00 to 60,000 molecular weight.     

RNA turnover and protein synthesis in fish cells

Protein synthesis in fish has been previously correlated with RNA content. The present study investigates whether protein and RNA synthesis rates are similarly related. Protein and RNA synthesis rates were determined from ³H-phenylalanine and ³H-uridine incorporation, respectively, and expressed as % · day⁻¹ and half-lives, respectively. Three fibroblast cell lines were used: BF-2, RTP, CHSE 214, which are derived from the bluegill, rainbow trout and Chinook salmon, respectively. These cells contained similar RNA concentrations (∼175 μg RNA · mg⁻¹ cell protein). Therefore differences in protein synthesis rates, BF-2 (31.3 ± 1.8)>RTP (25.1 ± 1.7)>CHSE 214 (17.6 ± 1.1), were attributable to RNA translational efficiency. The most translationally efficient RNA (BF-2 cells), 1.8 mg protein synthesised · μg⁻¹ RNA · day⁻¹, corresponded to the lowest RNA half-life, 75.4 ± 6.4 h. Translationally efficient RNA was also energetically efficient with BF-2 cells exploiting the least costly route of nucleotide supply (i.e. exogenous salvage) 3.5–6.0 times more than the least translationally efficient RNA (CHSE 214 cells). These data suggest that differential nucleotide supply, between intracellular synthesis and exogenous salvage, constitutes the area of pre-translational flexibility exploited to maintain RNA synthesis as a fixed energetic cost component of protein synthesis. Accepted: 12 November 1999