Methylation of the mouse hprt gene differs on the active and inactive X chromosomes.

It has been proposed that DNA methylation is involved in the mechanism of X inactivation, the process by which equivalence of levels of X-linked gene products is achieved in female (XX) and male (XY) mammals. In this study, Southern blots of female and male DNA digested with methylation-sensitive restriction endonucleases and hybridized to various portions of the cloned mouse hprt gene were compared, and sites within the mouse hprt gene were identified that are differentially methylated in female and male cells. The extent to which these sites are methylated when carried on the active and inactive X chromosomes was directly determined in a similar analysis of DNA from clonal cell lines established from a female embryo derived from a mating of two species of mouse, Mus musculus and Mus caroli. The results revealed two regions of differential methylation in the mouse hprt gene. One region, in the first intron of the gene, includes four sites that are completely unmethylated when carried on the active X and extensively methylated when carried on the inactive X. These same sites are extensively demethylated in hprt genes reactivated either spontaneously or after 5-azacytidine treatment. The second region includes several sites in the 3' 20kilobases of the gene extending from exon 3 to exon 9 that show the converse pattern; i.e., they are completely methylated when carried on the active X and completely unmethylated when carried on the inactive X. At least one of these sites does not become methylated after reactivation of the gene. The results of this study, together with the results of previous studies by others of the human hprt gene, indicate that these regions of differential methylation on the active and inactive X are conserved between mammalian species. Furthermore, the data described here are consistent with the idea that at least the sites in the 5' region of the gene play a role in the X inactivation phenomenon and regulation of expression of the mouse hprt gene.     

Differential methylation of the ornithine carbamoyl transferase gene on active and inactive mouse X chromosomes.

Ornithine carbamoyl transferase (Oct) is an X-linked gene which exhibits tissue-specific expression. To determine whether methylation of specific CpG sequences plays a role in dosage compensation or tissue-specific expression of the gene, 13 potentially methylatable sites were identified over a 30-kilobase (kb) region spanning from approximately 15 kb upstream to beyond exon II. Fragments of the Mus hortulanus Oct gene were used as probes to establish the degree of methylation at each site. By considering the methylation status in liver (expressing tissue) versus kidney (nonexpressing tissue) from male and female mice, the active and inactive genes could be investigated on active and inactive X-chromosome backgrounds. One MspI site, 12 kb 5' of the Oct-coding region, was cleaved by HpaII in liver DNA from males but not in kidney DNA from males and thus exhibited complete correlation with tissue-specific expression of the gene. Six other sites showed partial methylation, reflecting incomplete correlation with tissue-specific expression.     

Human and mouse amelogenin gene loci are on the sex chromosomes

Enamel is the outermost covering of teeth and is the hardest tissue in the vertebrate body. The enamel matrix is composed of enamelin and amelogenin classes of protein. We have determined the chromosomal locations for the human and mouse amelogenin (AMEL) loci using Southern blot analyses of DNA from human, mouse, or somatic cell hybrids by hybridization to a characterized mouse amelogenin cDNA. We have determined that human AMEL sequences are located on the distal short arm of the X chromosome in the p22.1----p22.3 region and near the centromere on the Y chromosome, possibly at the proximal long arm (Yq11) region. These chromosomal assignments are consistent with the hypothesis that perturbation of the amelogenin gene is involved in X-linked types of amelogenesis imperfecta, as well as with the Y-chromosomal locations for genes that participate in regulating tooth size and shape. Unlike the locus in humans, the mouse AMEL locus appears to be assigned solely to the X chromosome. Finally, together with the data on other X and Y chromosome sequences, these data for AMEL mapping support the notion of a pericentric inversion occurring in the human Y chromosome during primate evolution.     

recA gene product is responsible for inhibition of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis after ultraviolet irradiation.

Deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis after ultraviolet irradiation was studied in wild-type, uvrA, recB, recA recB, and recA Escherichia coli strains. Inhibition of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis, which occurs almost immediately after exposing the cells to ultraviolet radiation, depends on the functional gene recA.     

Nuclease sensitivity of the mouse HPRT gene promoter region: differential sensitivity on the active and inactive X chromosomes.

We investigated the conformation of the X-linked mouse hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase gene (HPRT) promoter region both in chromatin from the active and inactive X chromosomes with DNase I and in naked supercoiled DNA with S1 nuclease. A direct comparison of the chromatin structures of the active and inactive mouse HPRT promoter regions was performed by simultaneous DNase I treatment of the active and inactive X chromosomes in the nucleus of interspecies hybrid cells from Mus musculus and Mus caroli. Using a restriction fragment length polymorphism to distinguish between the active and inactive HPRT promoters, we found a small but very distinct difference in the DNase I sensitivity of active versus inactive chromatin. We also observed a single DNase I-hypersensitive site in the immediate area of the promoter which was present only on the active X chromosome. Analysis of the promoter region by S1 nuclease digestion of supercoiled plasmid DNA showed an S1-sensitive site which maps adjacent to or within the DNase I-hypersensitive site found in chromatin but upstream of the region minimally required for normal HPRT gene expression.     

Chicken erythrocyte polynucleosomes which are soluble at physiological ionic strength and contain linker histones are highly enriched in beta-globin gene sequences.

Mature chicken erythrocyte polynucleosomes which are soluble at physiological ionic strength are enriched in beta-globin DNA sequences. Vitellogenin chromatin, which is not expressed in this tissue, is found in aggregation prone, salt insoluble chromatin. There is a direct correlation between the size of soluble fragments and the degree of globin gene enrichment, with the largest fragments being most highly enriched. The highly globin enriched (about 50 fold) polynucleosomes contain significantly elevated levels of acetylated histones H4, H2A.Z, and H2B, and ubiquitinated (prefix "u") histones H2A and H2B (with a significant relative increase of uH2B over uH2A). These polynucleosomes were complexed with histones H1 and H5 but at a lower level than that found in unfractionated chromatin.     

DNA variability and recombination rates at X-linked loci in humans.

We sequenced 11,365 bp from introns of seven X-linked genes in 10 humans, one chimpanzee, and one orangutan to (i) provide an average estimate of nucleotide diversity (pi) in humans, (ii) investigate whether there is variation in pi among loci, (iii) compare ratios of polymorphism to divergence among loci, and (iv) provide a preliminary test of the hypothesis that heterozygosity is positively correlated with the local rate of recombination. The average value for pi was low 0.063%, SE = 0.036%, about one order of magnitude smaller than for Drosophila melanogaster, the species for which the best data are available. Among loci, pi varied by over one order of magnitude. Statistical tests of neutrality based on ratios of polymorphism to divergence or based on the frequency spectrum of variation within humans failed to reject a neutral, equilibrium model. However, there was a positive correlation between heterozygosity and rate of recombination, suggesting that the joint effects of selection and linkage are important in shaping patterns of nucleotide variation in humans.     

The sequence of a mouse embryonic beta-globin gene. Evolution of the gene and its signal region

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of an embryonic beta-globin gene of the Balb/c mouse. It possesses structural features typical of known expressed beta-globins, including 5'-untranslated region, potential capping site, initiation and terminator codons, poly(A) addition signal, splicing signals, and intervening sequences. There is a striking 15-base homology between the putative RNA polymerase binding site of this gene and the corresponding region of a human embryonic beta-gene which may be important in the control of expression during embryonic development. The sequence of the gene predicts the sequence of the entire y2 protein, which has not previously been available. As expected from evolutionary considerations, it is more homologous to human embryonic beta-globin than to mouse adult beta-globin.     

Somatic segregation and rate of greening after ultraviolet irradiation of Euglena gracilis.

1. During multiplication of irradiated cells, a segregation may take place between bleached cells, whose progeny is unable to green, and green ones. Some of the green cells give progenies exclusively made of green cells; the progeny of others is partly composed of bleached cells. 2. If one assumes that greening results from the activity of functional units endowed with genetic continuity (Plastidial Segregating Units = PSU), segregation of these units seems to occur according to a model involving random sorting out during the three first divisions. During the following divisions, functional units seem to multiply faster than those impaired by irradiation. 3. The greening rate of colonies issued from irradiated cells seems to be conditioned mostly by the number of functional PSU remaining in the mother cell of the colony.     

Mutagenesis of retroviral vectors transducing human beta-globin gene and beta-globin locus control region derivatives results in stable transmission of an active transcriptional structure.

Retrovirus-mediated gene transfer of the human beta-globin gene into hematopoietic stem cells is an attractive approach to the therapy of human beta-globin gene disorders. However, expression of the transduced beta-globin gene linked to its proximal cis-acting sequences (-0.8 to +0.3 kb from the cap site) is considerably below the level required for a significant therapeutic effect. The discovery of the beta-locus control region (beta-LCR), organized in four major DNase I hypersensitive sites far upstream of the human beta-like globin gene cluster, provided a potential means to achieve a high level of expression of a linked human beta-globin gene, but initial attempts to incorporate beta-LCR derivatives in retroviral vectors resulted in the production of low-titer viruses with multiple rearrangements of the transmitted proviral structures. We now describe how extensive mutagenesis of the transduced beta-globin gene, eliminating a 372 bp intronic segment and multiple reverse polyadenylation and splicing signals, increases viral titer significantly and restores stability of proviral transmission upon infection of cell lines and bone marrow-repopulating cells. These optimized vectors have enabled us to analyze the expression properties of various retrovirally transduced beta-LCR derivatives in dimethylsulfoxide-induced murine erythroleukemia cells and to achieve ratios of human beta-globin/murine beta maj-globin mRNA, on a per gene basis, as high as 80%.     

Processing of the mouse beta-globin mRNA precursor: at least two cleavage-ligation reactions are necessary to excise the larger intervening sequence.

The β-globin mRNA precursor contains one copy of mRNA that is divided into three segments by two intervening sequences (IVS) (Smith and Lingrel, 1978; Kinniburgh, Mertz and Ross, 1978; Tilghman et al., 1978a). We have investigated the intracellular processing pathway of the 1800 nucleotide precursor by analyzing the organization of mRNA segments and intervening sequences in two classes of processing intermediates, one containing 1030 and the other 900 nucleotides. These RNAs were purified from pulse-labeled erythroid cells so that each class could be analyzed separately, thereby allowing us to derive a probable processing scheme and to compare the rates of each cleavage step. The 1030 nucleotide intermediate is 700–800 nucleotides shorter than the precursor and contains two intervening sequences. This RNA is thus generated by excision from the precursor of a major portion of the larger IVS. The 900 nucleotide RNA contains two structurally distinct molecules. One of the 900 nucleotide RNAs still contains the two IVS. The other 900 nucleotide RNA contains only one IVS derived from what was initially the larger IVS. The smaller IVS has been completely excised from this RNA to yield a spliced RNA segment derived from the 5′ terminal and middle mRNA fragments. The fully spliced 790 nucleotide β-globin mRNA is generated by excision of the remaining IVS from the 900 nucleotide RNAs. These data are consistent with a stepwise elimination of the larger IVS by at least two cleavage-ligation reactions. This result implies that the new nucleotide sequence arrangement generated by the first cleavage-ligation reaction is crucial to the precise joining of the mRNA coding regions during the final processing step.     

DNA repair after ultraviolet irradiation of ICR 2A frog cells. Pyrimidine dimers are long acting blocks to nascent DNA synthesis.

The ability of ICR 2A frog cells to repair DNA damage induced by ultraviolet irradiation was examined. These cells are capable of photoreactivation but are nearly totally deficient in excision repair. They have the ability to convert the small molecule weight DNA made after irradiation into large molecules but do not show an enhancement in this process when the UV dose is delivered in two separate exposures separated by a 3- or 24-h incubation. Total DNA synthesis is depressed and low molecular weight DNA continues to be synthesized during pulse-labeling as long as 48 h after irradiation. The effects of pyrimidine dimer removal through exposure of UV irradiated cells to photoreactivating light indicate that dimers act as the critical lesions blocking DNA synthesis.     

Structural data suggest that the active and inactive forms of the RecA filament are not simply interconvertible.

We have used electron microscopy to examine the two major conformational states of the helical filament formed by the RecA protein of Escherichia coli. The compressed filament, formed in the absence of a nucleotide cofactor either as a self-polymer or on a single-stranded DNA molecule, is characterized in solution by about 6.1 subunits per turn of a 76 A pitch helix, and appears to be inactive with respect to all RecA activity. The active state of the filament, formed with ATP or an ATP analog on either a single or double-stranded DNA substrate, has about 6.2 subunits per turn of a 94 A pitch helix. Measurements of the contour length of RecA-covered single-stranded DNA circles in ice, formed in the absence of nucleotide cofactor, indicate that each RecA subunit binds five bases, in contrast to the three bases or base-pairs per subunit in the active state. The different stoichiometries of DNA binding suggests that the two polymeric forms are not interconvertible, as has been suggested on biochemical grounds. A three-dimensional reconstruction of the inactive state shows the same general features as the 83 A pitch filament present in the RecA crystal. This structural similarity and the fact that the crystal does not contain ATP or DNA suggests that the crystal structure is more similar to the compressed filament than the active, extended filament.