Induction of distamycin A-inducible rare fragile sites and increased sister chromatid exchanges at the fragile site

Summary Expression of distamycin A-inducible rare fragile sites by AT-specific DNA-ligands was examined in lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from heterozygous carriers for the fra(8)(q24), fra(16)(pl2), and fra(16)(q22) sites. The sensitivity of fragile site expression to the inducers was different at these fragile sites. The expression of fra(8)(q24) was induced markedly by Hoechst 33258, but not by distamycin A or berenil. An increased expression of fra(16)(p12) was found following treatment with Hoechst 33258 or berenil, but not with distamycin A. At fra(16)(q22), distamycin A markedly induced the fragile site, but Hoechst 33258 and berenil did not. Since their response to the different inducers was similar to that found in cultured lymphocytes, lymphoblastoid cell lines appear to retain their inherent properties. Although BrdUrd alone did nto induce any fragile sites, concomitant treatment with BrdUrd plus the inducer was synergistically effective in inducing all the fragile sites. An increased frequency of sister chromatid exchanges was observed at fra(16)(p12) following simultaneous treatment with BrdUrd and berenil, mainly when the site was expressed as an isochromatid gap. Thus, the induced fra (16)(pl2) site is a hot spot for the formation of sister chromatid exchanges, as found in other reported fragile sites.     

A new rare distamycin a-inducible fragile site,fra(11)(p15.1), found in two acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) patients with t(7;11)(p15-p13;p15)

Summary Fragile sites were analyzed in normal peripheral lymphocytes from two acute nonlymphocytic leukemia patients with t(7;11)(p15-p13;p15) leukemic cells. To induce expression of fragile sites, cultures were exposed to folate deprivation (M-F10), BrdU, distamycin A, or Hoechst 33258. Fragility at 11p15.1 was induced by distamycin A and Hoechst 33258 but was not seen in M-F10, BrdU, and control cultures. Fra(11)(p15.1) was found neither in healthy Japanese subjects (0 in 845) nor in patients with leukemia or other hematologic disorders without the t(7;11) (0 in 126). From these results, fra(11)(p15.1) can now be calssified as a rare distamycin A-inducible fragile site. Furthermore, this fra(11)(p15.1) coincided with one of the breakpoints of the t(7;11)(p15-p13;p15).     

Segregation analysis of rare autosomal fragile sites

Summary Segregation analyses were performed on pedigrees with rare autosomal fragile sites. The results of the analysis of pedigrees with folate sensitive fragile sites, including 2q1, 6p23, 7p11, 8q22, 9q32, 10q23, 11q13, 11q23, 12q13, 16p12, and 20p11, suggested that expression of the gene depended on the carrier parent: it was only 50% penetrant when transmitted by a carrier father, but fully penetrant when transmitted by a carrier mother. Pedigrees with the bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) fragile site, fra(10)(q25), showed the same trend but the results were not statistically significant. In addition, 38 of the 44 probands with folate sensitive or BrdU-sensitive fragile sites received the gene from their carrier mother and only six received it from their father. In contrast, the analysis of pedigrees with the distamycin A-inducible site, fra(16)(q22), gave the results expected for a simple codominant trait with complete penetrance. Probands with this fragile site received the gene equally from mothers or fathers. The genetic implications of these results are discussed.     

Heritable fragile sites on human chromosomes. XI. Factors affecting expression of fragile sites at 10q25, 16q22, and 17p12.

The fragile sites at 10q25, 16q22, and 17p12 can all be induced in lymphocyte culture by BrdU or BrdC added 6-12 hrs prior to harvest. Without induction, fra(10)(q25) is rarely expressed spontaneously, whereas fra(16)(q22) is frequently expressed spontaneously. Fra(17)(p12) is frequently expressed spontaneously but is probably expressed only after induction in some individuals. Distamycin A, netropsin, and Hoechst 33258 induced high levels of expression of fra(16)(q22) and fra(17)(p12) but did not enhance expression of fra(10)(q25). The mechanisms of induction of fra(16)(q22) by BrdU and distamycin A appear to be different, since the time of induction by BrdU reaches a maximum about 12 hrs prior to harvest whereas induction by distamycin A requires much longer exposure. The fragile sites at 10q25 and 16q22 were both induced in fibroblast culture by BrdU. Fra(17)(p12) is accepted as a fragile site because preliminary studies show that it behaves similarly in lymphocyte culture to fra(16)(q22); however, there is only limited evidence for fragility at 17p12.     

The fragile site (17)(p12): induction by AT-specific DNA-ligands and population cytogenetics

Summary The rare fragile site at 17p12 can be induced in lymphocyte cultures with the AT-specific DNA-ligands distamycin A, DAPI, Hoechst 33258 and berenil. The optimum culture conditions for the experimental induction of fra(17)(p12) were studied. There are indications that fra(17)(p12) is a latereplicating chromosome region in which AT-rich DNA is located. The fragile site also occurs spontaneously in cell cultures of most fra(17)(p12) carriers. A population screening of 250 unselected individuals showed that the frequency of carriers heterozygous for fra(17)(p12) is 2%. The results are compatible with a population being in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with respect to fra(17)(p12) and its non-fragile allelomorph. Neither the heterozygous nor the homozygous condition of fra(17)(p12) have any deleterious effects.     

Three infants having null acute lymphoblastic leukemia with chromosome rearrangements at 11q23: no involvement of a heritable fragile site in this band

Three families are presented in which an infant with null acute lymphoblastic leukemia had a karyotype rearrangement involving a break at 11q23. Peripheral blood was obtained, where possible, from both parents and from the child during periods of remission. The blood was stimulated with phytohemagglutinin and cultured under conditions that enhance expression of heritable folate-sensitive fragile sites. In all individuals studied very low levels of fra(11)(q23.3) were observed. These levels were far below those recorded for expression of the heritable folate-sensitive site fra(11)(q23.3) but are comparable with expression of the common fragile site fra(11)(q23.3) under these conditions.     

Population cytogenetics of folate-sensitive fragile sites

Summary The frequencies of folate-sensitive autosomal rare fragile sites (ARFS) were compared in populations of mentally retarded, mentally subnormal, and mentally normal children and of patients referred for diagnostic chromosome study. The frequencies did not differ significantly. Altogether, an autosomal rare fragile site was found in 16 of 1445 individuals (1 in 90). Of six different folate-sensitive ARFS detected, the most common one was FRA9A, with a frequency of 1 in 241 individuals. In addition, FRA17A, classified as a distamycin A-inducible fragile site, was found with a frequency of 1 in 206. It was regarded as a spontaneously expressive fragile site. In 19 families in which transmission of an autosomal rare fragile site was studied, the mother was the carrier in 16 families and the father, in one family. The mean percentage (±SD) of cells expressing ARFS in 55 individuals was 19% (±11.4). The age did not affect the rate of expression. When the rate of expression was calculated separately in a group of mentally retarded (mean=23.4%) and in a group of mentally normal individuals (mean=16.0%), the difference was statistically significant.     

The fragile site (16) (q22)

Summary The rare fragile site at 16q22 was experimentally induced in lymphocyte cultures with various AT-specific, non-intercalating DNA-ligands. The optimum conditions for the induction of fra (16)(q22) were determined. The best expression of fra (16)(q22) was found with the aromatic diamidine berenil which is recommended for further studies on this fragile site. The results indicate that fra (16)(q22) is a region with AT-rich, late replicating DNA. The simultaneous treatment of lymphocytes with berenil and aphidicolin (inhibitor of DNA polymerase ) induces both the rare fra (16) (q22) and the common fra (16) (q23) within the same chromosome. A population study on 350 unselected individuals showed that fra (16)(q22) is the most common of all rare autosomal fragile sites in man. The frequency of individuals heterozygous for fra (16)(q22) is 5.1% no homozygosity for fra (16) (q22) was detected. Statistical analysis indicates that the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with respect to the fragile and non-fragile chromosomes 16.     

Induction of a BrdU-enhanceable fragile site-like lesion and sister chromatid exchanges at 11q23.1 in EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines.

We examined the expression of a fragile site-like lesion and induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) at 11q23.1 in EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from carriers of distamycin A-inducible fragile sites and ataxia telangiectasia patients. The fragile site-like lesion at 11q23.1 was found to be BrdU-enhanceable in all cell lines examined, and the expression frequencies increased linearly with the rates of BrdU substitution in replicated DNA. In addition, an increased frequency of SCEs was observed at 11q23.1 on the expressed chromosome. Thus, the BrdU-enhanceable fragile site-like lesion at 11q23.1 is a "hot spot" for the formation of SCEs, as has been reported for other rare and common fragile sites.     

Autosomal fragile sites

It is possible to distribute the 17 autosomic fragile sites presently known in three categories according to their sensitivity: BrdU-sensitive sites (10q25, 16q22, 17p12), distamycin A-sensitive sites (16q22, 17p12) and folate- and thymidilate-sensitive sites (2q11-q14, 3p14, 6p23, 7p11, 8q22, 9p21, 9q32, 10q23, 11q13, 11q23, 12q13, 16p12, 16q23, 17p12, 20p11). Four fundamental problems are discussed, first the relation between the presence of a fragile site and the phenotype, secondly the incidence of autosomic sites, third the origin of fragility (particularity of DNA structure, defect of the DNA/proteins binding and abnormal arrangement of chromatin, abnormality of the metaphasic scaffold) and fourth the localization of fragile sites.     

Localization of the human haptoglobin genes distal to the fragile site at 16q22 using in situ hybridization

The distamycin A-sensitive fragile site fra(16)(q22) is a precisely localized chromosomal marker. When expressed at metaphase, it visibly separates the chromosome material on either side of the fragile site. Using a cDNA probe encoding both the alpha and beta haptoglobin chains, the haptoglobin loci were found by in situ hybridization to be distal to fra(16)(q22).     

Fragile site (16) (q22)

Summary The rare autosomal fragile site, fra (16)(q22), is the most common of all rare autosomal fragile sites and has a heterozygote frequency of about 5%. Evidence for it was found following the segregation expected from a simple codominant trait with complete penetrance; this is in contrast to a variety of other rare autosomal fragile sites. Based on the analysis of 12 families in which fra (16)(q22) is segregating, we found that, whereas complete penetrance could be confirmed, the transmitting parent was significantly more likely to be of the female sex. On the other hand, there was no evidence for preferential transmission to offspring of either sex.     

Exact localization of several fragile sites remains uncertain. The example of fra(10) sensitive to folate

The localization of the folate-sensitive fragile site first proposed to be at 10q24.2 was further assigned to 10q23. The study of one case using several banding techniques, and of 12 other unpublished cases studied with R-banding confirm the original localization, at the junction between 10q24.1 and 10q24.2. Because many reports propose that fragile sites induce further anomalies, we suggest that a re-study of the exact location of these sites with accurate methods is in order if misinterpretations are to be avoided.     

Expression of folate-sensitive fragile sites in lymphocyte chromosomes

Summary The expression of folate-sensitive fragile sites (FS) was analyzed using MTX as a fragility inducer in seven normal subjects [four unrelated persons and three members of one family (father, mother, and son)]; a woman heterozygous for fra Xq27.3 with a 47,XXX karyotype; and her son, affected by the fra-X syndrome. The mean expression of chromosome lesions (CL) other than Xq27.3 was 70.1% (686CL in 978 metaphases), and the coincidence between CL and FS was 68.9%. We propose six new c-fra sites: bands 4q33 and 11q22 because they were found in two members of the same family; band 13q32 because it had a frequency of expression of 3% of metaphases; and bands 3p13, 8q21, and Xq21 because they were observed in four of the nine individuals studied.     

A novel minisatellite repeat expansion identified at FRA16B in a Japanese carrier

Previously, the allelic expansion of a 33-bp AT-rich minisatellite repeat has been reported to cause FRA16B, a distamycin A-inducible fragile site. Here, we identified a novel 35-bp minisatellite repeat at FRA16B in a Japanese carrier. The nucleotide sequence of the 35-bp minisatellite was highly AT-rich and nearly identical to the 33-bp one but with insertion of two nucleotides, thymine and adenine. The copy number of the AT-rich minisatellite was 21 in total in the carrier, while only a few copies of the 33-bp minisatellite were present in a non-carrier Japanese subject. These results suggest that the molecular mechanism involved in the allelic expansion of the minisatellite repeat in FRA16B recognizes both minisatellites, the 33-bp one and the 35-bp one, as an amplicon. These observations were different from the ones at folate-sensitive fragile sites, where the CCG triplet repeat was commonly involved in the allelic expansion. Although a slight reduction in AT content (95% > 90%) in the region of minisatellite expansion in the carrier subject was observed, both AT-content and length of the highly AT-rich region seem to play important roles in the cytogenetic expression of the distamycin A-inducible fragile site. In another normal subject, without fragile site expression, allelic expansion involving the 33-bp minisatellite was observed, and the length of the AT-rich DNA region was increased up to approximately 1000 bp. Since the length of the AT-rich minisatellite region was increased up to approximately 1,100-bp in the carrier subject, the threshold length for the cytogenetic expression of the AT-rich DNA region may be between about 1,000-bp and 1,100-bp.     

Human fragile site FRA16B DNA excludes nucleosomes in the presence of distamycin

Human fragile sites are weak staining gaps in chromosomes generated by specific culture conditions. The short CGG repeating DNA derived from folate-sensitive fragile sites has been shown to exclude single nucleosomes. To test whether this nucleosome exclusion model provides a general molecular mechanism for the formation of fragile sites, a different class of fragile site, the 33-base pair AT-rich repeating DNAs derived from the rare distamycin-inducible site, FRA16B, was examined for its ability to assemble single nucleosomes and nucleosome arrays using in vitro nucleosome reconstitution methods. The FRA16B DNA fragments strongly exclude nucleosome assembly only in the presence of distamycin, and increasing the number of 33-bp repeats increases the effect of distamycin in the destabilization of the nucleosome formation, suggesting a common mechanism for the formation of fragile sites.     

fra(1) (p11), fra(1) (q22) and r(1) (p11q22) in a retarded girl.

A mentally retarded girl with a 46,XX/47, XX+r(1) (p11q22q22p11)/47, XX+r(1) (p11q22) fra(1) (p31) fra(1) (p11) fra(1) (q22) karyotype who inherited the fragile sites from the normal mother was studied. The conicidence of fra(1) (p11) and fra(1) (q22) with the ring chromosome breakpoints strongly suggests a cause-effect relationship. This finding agrees with other reported associations between fragile sites and structural chromosome abnormalities and constitutes the fourth reported of a de novo structurally abnormal chromosome as a consequence of presumed in vivo fragile sites instability. Although risk figures for chromosome anomalies and cancer associated with fragile sites are lacking, carriers of fra (1) (p11) may have a higher risk for abnormalities of chromosome 1 in somatic and gonadal cells than the general population.     

Rare fragile sites

Rare folate-sensitive fragile sites are the archetypal trinucleotide repeats. Although the CAG repeat in the androgen receptor, associated with spinobulbar muscular atrophy, was the first to be published in 1991, it was the publication in the same year of the molecular basis of fragile X that focused much attention on trinucleotide repeat expansion as a mutational mechanism. A number of rare fragile sites have had their repeat elements characterised since that time. The so-called "folate-sensitive" fragile sites are likely to be all CCG repeat expansions similar to the fragile X. The folate insensitive fragile sites have more complex longer repeat elements. Only two rare fragile sites (FRAXA and FRAXE) are of unequivocal clinical significance in that they are associated with intellectual disability.     

Expression of the autosomal folate-sensitive fragile sites in ten kindreds with Martin-Bell syndrome

The authors analyse the expression of all the folate-sensitive fra sites in a sample of 24 male patients with Martin-Bell syndrome (MBS) and their 12 mothers distributed in 10 kindreds. The cytogenetic results are compared with that of a control group, constituted by 8 unrelated normal subjects. Except for the fra Xq27, there was no autosomal folate-sensitive fra site significantly more expressed in patients with MBS than in the control group. On the basis of the present cytogenetic sample of about 6 500 R-banded mitoses, a list of all the in vitro folate-sensitive fra sites and their relative frequencies is given.     

Pseudodeficiency of arylsulfatase A: a common genetic polymorphism with possible disease implications

Summary The distribution and frequency of aphidicolin-induced common fragile sites were studied in chromosomes of cultured skin fibroblasts and PHA-stimulated lymphocytes from five normal individuals; 0.2 M aphidicolin was added for the last 26 h of culture. Skin fibroblasts from five fra(X)-positive patients were also studied in the same manner. Fragile sites most frequently found in fibroblasts from normal individuals were 3q26.2, 7q11.23, 16q23, 1p31, 10q11.2, 12q23 and 7q31, whereas those in lymphocytes from the same individuals were 3p14, 16q23, Xp22, 7q32 and 14q24. The distribution of fragile sites in fibroblasts from fra(X)-positive patients was essentially identical with that in normal individuals. The average number of gaps and breaks in 100 metaphases was 36.8 in fibroblasts from normal individuals, 113.8 in those from fra(X)-positive patients, and 279 in lymphocytes from normal individuals. Their rates of chromosome-type breaks and gaps were 7.9%, 29.7% and 54.5%, respectively. Thus, the distribution and frequency of aphidicolin-induced fragile sites were different between skin fibroblasts and lymphocytes, possibly reflecting differences in their DNA replication sequence or gene activity.