Pleiotropic phenotype of colchicine-resistant CHO cells: cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity.

Colchicine resistant (CHR) mutants of CHO cells with reduced permeability to colchicine display extensive cross-resistance to a number of apparently unrelated compounds including puromycin, daunomycin, emetine, ethidium bromide and gramicidin D. A positive correlation was observed between the level of cross-resistance and the relative hydrophobicity of these compounds. The mutants also showed increased (collateral) sensitivity to local anaesthetics (procaine, tetracaine, xylocaine and propanolol), steroid hormones (1-dehydrotestosterone, corticosterone and 5beta-pregnan-3,20-dione) and some Triton X compounds. In general, the degree of the pleiotropic response (cross-resistance or collateral sensitivity) correlated with the degree of colchicine resistance in mutant lines. These results are consistent with the pleiotropic phenotype being the result of the same mutation(s) which confer colchicine resistance and support a model for resistance in which the reduced permeability is assumed to be the result of an alteration in the modulation of the fluidity of the surface membrane.     

Taxol resistant mutants of Chinese hamster ovary cells: genetic biochemical, and cross-resistance studies

The effects of the microtubule inhibitor taxol on the growth and viability of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have been examined. Stable mutants which are between seven to 11-fold more resistant to taxol have been selected in a single step from ethyl methanesulfonate-mutagenized CHO cells. The two taxol-resistant mutants (Tax^R-1 and Tax^R-2) which have been studied in detail exhibit novel and strikingly different cross-resistance/collateral sensitivity patterns to various microtubule inhibitors. For example, the Tax^R-1 mutant exhibits increased resistance to vinblastine, but in comparison to the parental cells, it shows enhanced sensitivity toward colchicine, colcemid, stegnacine, and griseofulvin. However, the sensitivity of this mutant toward other unrelated compounds, e.g., puromycin, daunomycin, etc., remained largely unaltered. The specific pattern of cross-resistance/collateral-sensitivity of this mutant toward various microtubule inhibitors suggests that the genetic lesion in this mutant may be affecting a microtubule-related component. The Tax^R-2 mutant, in contrast, is highly resistant to various microtubule inhibitors including colchicine, colcemid, stegnacine, maytan-sine, vinblastine, and podophyllotoxin. This mutant also exhibits greatly increased cross-resistance to daunomycin, puromycin, ethidium bromide, and VM-26 (compounds which do not inhibit microtubule assembly), and shows reduced cellular uptake of ³H-daunomycin indicating that the genetic lesion in this mutant nonspecifically affects the membrane permeability of various drugs. The cell hybrids formed between Tax^R-1 (or Tax^R-2 mutant(s)) and a taxol-sensitive cell line exhibit intermediate levels of resistance to the drug, indicating that the Tax^R phenotypes of both these mutants behave codominantly under these conditions.     

Isolation and characterization of tunicamycin resistant mutants from Chinese hamster ovary cells

Stable clones selected for resistance to tunicamycin (TM) have been isolated from Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. The TMR phenotype is stable for more than nine months in the absence of the drug. The morphology of TMR mutant varies from epitheloid to abnormally elongate. The mutants do not display cross-resistance for ConA but are slightly cross-resistant to PHA. Biochemically labeled membrane proteins and glycoprotein of Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) grown in the TMR mutants revealed that the incorporation of radioactive glucosamine was markedly reduced in the mutants. The results indicate that TMR cells are a novel type of membrane mutant.     

Expression of phenotypic traits following modulation of colchicine resistance in J774.2 cells

Development of resistance to colchicine in the mouse macrophage-like cell line J774.2 coincides with the expression of a variety of phenotypic traits. A cloned subline (J7/CLC-20), maintained in 20 microM colchicine, exhibits reduced steady-state association with drug, increased presence of a 140,000-145,000 dalton (140-145 kD) phosphoglycoprotein associated with the plasma membrane, double minute chromosomes and cross-resistance to other drugs. While similar phenotypic traits are observed in J774.2 cells resistant to taxol and vinblastine, differences in the electrophoretic mobilities of the resistance-specific glycoproteins in each of the three sublines suggest that multi-drug resistant sublines exhibit specificity for individual drugs. In an attempt to elucidate the relationships between the phenotypic traits associated with colchicine resistance, the degree of colchicine resistance in J7/CLC-20 cells was modulated and the levels of expression of the phenotypic traits were quantitated. In the absence of colchicine in the growth medium, J7/CLC-20 cells reverted to drug sensitivity within 35 days. A decrease in the level of resistance coincided with coordinate changes in both the quantity of the resistance-specific glycoprotein and the average number of double minute chromosomes. We propose that the emergence and disappearance of the resistance-specific glycoprotein and double minute chromosomes may be closely linked. However, J7/CLC-20 cells which had regained their drug sensitivity after growth in drug-free medium maintained a reduced level of steady-state drug association. The persistence of reduced drug association in cells that have reverted to a drug-sensitive state suggests that this phenomenon, although related to colchicine resistance, need not be the primary or only mechanism of drug resistance.     

Dominance of colchicine resistance in hybrid CHO cells

Intraspecific hybrids of colchicine-sensitive with colchicine-resistant (CHR) Chinese hamster ovary cells were constructed, using six different colchicine-resistant clones from two independent series. In each instance, colchicine resistance was expressed in an incompletely dominant manner. Some hybrid clones were examined further for the expression of the pleiotropic CHR phenotype and for the cell surface P glycoprotein. These features of the colchicine-resistant phenotype were also expressed coordinately.     

Reduced permeability in CHO cells as a mechanism of resistance to colchicine

Colchicine resistant (CH^R) lines of stable phenotype have been isolated from cultured Chinese hamster (CHO) cells. Successive single-step selections for increasing resistance were performed by isolating resistant colonies at each step. Two complementary assays involving [³H] colchicine uptake by whole cells and binding of [³H] colchicine by cytoplasmic extracts were developed to test for altered permeability and altered intracellular target protein, respectively. All clones isolated appeared to have decreased permeability to the drug while their colchicine-binding ability was not reduced. The amount of reduction in colchicine uptake correlated strongly with cellular resistance. The CH^R lines were also cross resistant to other drugs such as actinomycin D, vinblastine and Colcemid; furthermore, the degree of cross resistance was positively correlated with the degree of colchicine resistance. The non-ionic detergent Tween 80 potentiated the cytotoxic action of colchicine on mutant cells as well as its rate of uptake into whole cells.     

Icreased drug permeability in Chinese hamster ovary cells in the presence of cyanide

In this report we investigated whether the modulation of drug permeability in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells was an energy-dependent process. We observed that (1) in the absence of glucose, metabolic inhibitors such as cyanide, azide, and dinitrophenol stimulated the uptake of [³H]colchicine and other drug; (2) cyanide-induced stimulation of drug uptake could be prevented by the presence of metabolizable sugars such as glucose and ribose; (3) cyanide-treated cells were fully viable; (4) on the addition of cyanide and glucose the kinetics of drug permeability changes were very rapid. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that an energy-dependent membrane barrier against the uptake of a variety of drugs was operative in CHO cells.The nature of this energy-dependent membrane barrier was examined in colchicine-resistant mutants (CH^RC4 and CH^RC5 cells) previously characterized as membrane mutants with greatly reduced drug permeability (Ling and Thompson, (1974) J. Cell Physiol. 83, 103–116). The mutants were more refractile to the cyanide-induced stimulation of drug permeability but more sensitive to the glucose prevention cyanide-induction. In the presence of cyadine, the uptake rate of [³H] colchicine by CH^RC4 cells increased by about 100-fold and approached a rate similar to that of wild-type cells. These results suggest that the colchicine-resistant mutants may be altered in their energy-dependent modulation of drug permeability.     

Elimination of permeability mutants from selections for drug resistance in mammalian cells

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells exhibit increased sensitivity to a wide variety of microtubule inhibitory drugs when verapamil is present in the growth medium. The extent of this increased sensitivity is drug specific: some drugs such as taxol and vinblastine respond greatly to the presence of verapamil, whereas other drugs such as griseofulvin respond very poorly. For the majority of drugs examined, however, a 2- to 10-fold increase in drug sensitivity is observed in the presence of verapamil at 5 micrograms/ml. The effects of verapamil are even more dramatic when drug-resistant mutant cells with a presumed alteration in membrane permeability are examined. In the presence of appropriate levels of verapamil, these mutants demonstrate a level of drug sensitivity comparable to that of the wild-type parental cells. Drug-resistant cells from similar selections but with well-defined alterations in alpha- or beta-tubulin and no evidence of alterations in membrane permeability, however, continue to exhibit increased resistance to the selecting drug even in the presence of verapamil. These studies support the conclusion that verapamil affects the membrane permeability to or transport of a wide variety of hydrophobic drugs. In addition, we have used this information to devise selections that virtually eliminate the isolation of drug-resistant permeability mutants. This methodology should be generally applicable to genetic studies of drug action that are complicated by the isolation of large numbers of mutants with permeability alterations.     

A membrane-altered mutant cold-sensitive for growth

A colchicine-resistant clone, CH^RE5, has been isolated in a single step from a mutagenized culture of Chinese hamster ovary cells. Its resistance correlates with reduced colchicine permeability. At the same time, CH^RE5 cells display a pattern of cross-resistance to unrelated drugs similar to other membrane-altered drug-resistant mutants previously described (Ling and Thompson, 1974). However, CH^RE5 cells also express a cold-sensitivity for growth in that at 34° they do not double in number while at 38.5° they grow with a doubling time of about 22 hours. Employing synchronous cultures, the cold sensitive block in CH^RE5 cells has been determined to be located prior to S in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Mutant cells at 33.5° are not able to initiate DNA synthesis, however, cells already synthesizing DNA are able to complete the whole course of S. This cold sensitive block is reversed by shifting cells back to the higher temperature. Additonal clones with the CH^RE5 phenotype have been isolated from non-mutagenized cultures of wild-type cells. Moreover, partial revertants of CH^RE5 with increased ability to grow at 34° have been isolated and found to display increased colchicine sensitivity. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the two phenotypes observed in CH^RE5, namely, an altered plasma membrane (reduced drug permeability) and an altered ability to initiate DNA synthesis are the result of the same mutation.     

Biochemical and cross-resistance studies with HeLa cell mutants resistant to cardiac glycoside SC4453. Regulation of the resistant form of Na+/K+-ATPase in the mutant cells

In HeLa cells, stable mutants which are between 25-to about 200-fold resistant to the cardiac glycoside derivative SC4453 (a digoxin analog which contains a pyridazine ring in place of a lactone ring in the C-17 position) have been isolated after a single step selection in the presence of the drug. Based on their cross-resistance pattern towards various cardiac glycosides, the mutants resistant to SC4453 (SCR mutants) appear to be of two different kinds and they differ from the two classes of ouabain-resistant mutants described previously (Gupta, R. S., and Chopra, A. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 6843-6850). One type of SCR mutants (designated as group C) exhibit a high degree of cross-resistance to all cardiac glycosides and their genins (viz. ouabain, digitoxin, digoxin, digoxigenin, convallatoxin, gitoxin, strophanthidin, and bufalin). In contrast, the second type of SCR mutant (group D) exhibit considerable resistance to only SC4453, digoxin, and digoxigenin, but showed very little or no cross-resistance to the other cardiac glycosides examined. The cross-resistance of the mutants towards cardiac glycosides was highly specific as they exhibited no cross-resistance towards a large number of other structurally and functionally related compounds (viz. ethacrynic acid, sanguinarine nitrate, penicillic acid, methyl quinolizinum bromide, 5,5'-diphenylhydantoin, deoxycorticosterone, vanadium pentoxide, and adriamycin). The cellular uptake of 86Rb in the mutant cells was found to be resistant to specific cardiac glycosides. Studies on the sensitivity of plasma membrane Na+/K+-ATPase to cardiac glycosides show that about 10-15% of the enzymic activity in the mutant cells was highly resistant to inhibition by the specific drugs to which the mutants exhibit increased resistance. Very interestingly, when the mutant cells are grown in cardiac glycoside-containing medium, the resistant form of the enzyme accounts for about 50-60% of the total enzyme. These results show that both classes of SCR mutants are affected in Na+/K+-ATPase and that the amount of the resistant enzyme in the mutant cells is regulated in response to cardiac glycosides.     

CHO mutants resistant to colchicine,colcemid or griseofulvin have an altered β-tubulin

Single-step mutants of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have been isolated which are resistant to killing by the anti-mitotic drugs colchicine, colcemid or griseofulvin. Two-dimensional gel analysis showed that two mutants resistant to griseofulvin, one resistant to colcemid and one resistant to colchicine carry an alteration in the β-tubulin subunit. Most of the remaining isolates are believed to be permeability mutants on the basis of their cross resistance to drugs which do not interfere with microtubular polymerization or function (Ling and Thompson, 1974; Bech-Hansen, Till and Ling, 1976). A reduced amount of the wild-type β-tubulin protein remained in each of the β-tubulin mutants, but a β-tubulin protein with a more basic isoelectric point also appeared. Messenger RNAs coding for both wild-type and variant β-tubulins were found in at least one mutant as assayed by in vitro translation in a reticulocyte lysate. This indicates that the altered tubulin does not arise as the result of a post-translational modification.     

Colchicine resistant friend cells: Application to the study of actinomycin D induced erythroid differentiation

Colchicine resistant (Cch^R) mutants have been isolated from Friend erythroeleukemic cells by successive single-step selections. Measurements of the rate of uptake of [³H]-colchicine into whole cells, and the binding of [³H]-colchicine to cytoplasmic extracts, suggest that these mutants are colchicine-resistant due to a reduced membrane permeability to colchicine, rather than an altered intracellular colchicine-binding target. Consistent with this conclusion is the observation that non-toxic concentrations of Tween–80, a non-ionic detergent, potentiated colchicine uptake into mutant cells. In addition, these Friend cell mutants, like Cch^R mutants of other cell types, are cross-resistant to a variety of unrelated drugs, including daunomycin, puromycin, emetine, and actinomycin D. A comparison of the dose-response curves for the induction of Friend cell differentiation by actinomycin D of both wild-type and two Cch^R cells suggests that actinomycin D permeation is required for its effects on Friend cell differentiation. Potentiation of actinomycin D uptake by Tween–80 significantly lowered the concentration of drug required to induce hemoglobin synthesis in the Cch^R cells, but had no significant effect on either actinomycin D induction of Cch^S cells or DMSO induction of both Cch^S and Cch^R cells. In common with other chemical inducers of Friend cell differentiation, the addition of actinomycin D results in an early decrease in ⁸⁶ RbCl uptake, although this effect on transport occurred 14 hours later than that observed with DMSO.     

The colR4 and colR15 beta-tubulin mutations in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii confer altered sensitivities to microtubule inhibitors and herbicides by enhancing microtubule stability.

The colR4 and colR15 beta 2-tubulin missense mutations for lysine-350 in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Lee and Huang, 1990) were originally isolated by selection for resistance to the growth inhibitory effects of colchicine. The colR4 and colR15 mutants have been found to be cross resistant to vinblastine and several classes of antimitotic herbicides, including the dinitroanilines (oryzalin, trifluralin, profluralin, and ethafluralin); the phosphoric amide amiprophos methyl; and the dimethyl propynl benzamide pronamide. Like colchicine and vinblastine, the antimitotic effects of these plant-specific herbicides have been associated with the depolymerization of microtubules. In contrast to their resistance to microtubule-depolymerizing drugs, the mutants have an increased sensitivity to taxol, a drug which enhances the polymerization and stability of microtubules. This pattern of altered sensitivity to different microtubule inhibitors was found to cosegregate and corevert with the beta-tubulin mutations providing the first genetic evidence that the in vivo herbicidal effects of the dinitroanilines, amiprophos methyl, and pronamide are related to microtubule function. Although wild-type like in their growth characteristics, the colR4 and colR15 mutants were found to have an altered pattern of microtubules containing acetylated alpha-tubulin, a posttranslational modification that has been associated with stable subsets of microtubules found in a variety of cells. Microtubules in the interphase cytoplasm and those of the intranuclear spindle of mitotic cells, which in wild-type Chlamydomonas cells do not contain acetylated alpha-tubulin, were found to be acetylated in the mutants. These data taken together suggest that the colR4 and colR15 missense mutations increase the stability of the microtubules into which the mutant beta-tubulins are incorporated and that the altered drug sensitivities of the mutants are a consequence of this enhanced microtubule stability.     

The COG and COPI complexes interact to control the abundance of GEARs, a subset of Golgi integral membrane proteins

The conserved oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex is a soluble hetero-octamer associated with the cytoplasmic surface of the Golgi. Mammalian somatic cell mutants lacking the Cog1 (ldlB) or Cog2 (ldlC) subunits exhibit pleiotropic defects in Golgi-associated glycoprotein and glycolipid processing that suggest COG is involved in the localization, transport, and/or function of multiple Golgi processing proteins. We have identified a set of COG-sensitive, integral membrane Golgi proteins called GEARs (mannosidase II, GOS-28, GS15, GPP130, CASP, giantin, and golgin-84) whose abundances were reduced in the mutant cells and, in some cases, increased in COG-overexpressing cells. In the mutants, some GEARs were abnormally localized in the endoplasmic reticulum and were degraded by proteasomes. The distributions of the GEARs were altered by small interfering RNA depletion of epsilon-COP in wild-type cells under conditions in which COG-insensitive proteins were unaffected. Furthermore, synthetic phenotypes arose in mutants deficient in both epsilon-COP and either Cog1 or Cog2. COG and COPI may work in concert to ensure the proper retention or retrieval of a subset of proteins in the Golgi, and COG helps prevent the endoplasmic reticulum accumulation and degradation of some GEARs.     

Genetic and biochemical distinction among Chinese hamster cell emtA, emtB, and emtC mutants.

Genetic and biochemical experiments have enabled us to more clearly distinguish three genetic loci, emtA, emtB, and emtC, all of which can be altered to give rise to resistance to the protein synthesis inhibitor, emetine, in cultured Chinese hamster cells. Genetic experiments have demonstrated that, unlike the emtB locus, neither the emtA locus nor the emtC locus is linked to chromosome 2 in Chinese hamster cells, clearly distinguishing the latter two genes from emtB. emtA mutants can also be distinguished, biochemically, from emtB and emtC mutants based upon different degrees of cross-resistance to another inhibitor of protein synthesis, cryptopleurine. Two-dimensional gel electrophoretic analysis of ribosomal proteins failed to detect any electrophoretic alterations in ribosomal proteins from emtA or emtC mutants that could be correlated with emetine resistance. However, a distinct electrophoretic alteration in ribosomal protein S14 was observed in an emtB mutant. In addition, the parental Chinese hamster peritoneal cell line of an emtC mutant, and the emtC mutant itself, are apparently heterozygous for an electrophoretic alteration in ribosomal protein L9.     

Mutant KB cells with decreased EGF receptor expression: biochemical characterization

Mutants of the human KB carcinoma cell line resistant to a cytotoxic conjugate of epidermal growth factor and Pseudomonas exotoxin (EGF-PE) express a pleiotropic phenotype, which includes reduced levels of 125I-EGF binding, without altered affinity for EGF (Lyall et al., 1987). Here, the EGF-toxin (ET) resistant mutants were further characterized with respect to the amount and size of the EGF receptor and the level of EGF receptor RNA. These data indicate that decreased binding of 125I-EGF in the mutants is due to reduced amounts of EGF receptor, which is associated with decreased mRNA levels. Changes in other proteins in the ET mutants were also examined. Five of the six ET mutants had a decrease in a 78,000 Mr- membrane glycoprotein. In addition, an increase in a protein with a Mr- of 40,000 and a pl = 8.0 was found in all the mutants, and an increase in a series of proteins with a Mr- of 36,000 and a pl of 6.3-6.5 was found in some of the mutants. These results confirm the pleiotropic nature of the EGF-PE resistant mutants and show that reduced EGF binding is due to altered expression of the EGF receptor gene in the mutants.     

Co-amplification of double minute chromosomes, multiple drug resistance, and cell surface P-glycoprotein in DNA-mediated transformants of mouse cells.

A genetic system comprised of mammalian cell mutants which demonstrate concomitant resistance to a number of unrelated drugs has been described previously. The resistance is due to reduced cell membrane permeability and is correlated with the presence of large amounts of a plasma membrane glycoprotein termed P-glycoprotein. This system could represent a model for multiple drug resistance which develops in cancer patients treated with chemotherapeutic drugs. We demonstrate here that the multiple drug resistance phenotype can be transferred to mouse cells with DNA from a drug-resistant mutant and then amplified quantitatively by culture in media containing increasing concentrations of drug. The amount of P-glycoprotein was correlated directly with the degree of drug resistance in the transformants and amplified transformants. In addition, the drug resistance and expression of P-glycoprotein of the transformants were unstable and associated quantitatively with the number of double minute chromosomes. We suggest that the gene for multiple drug resistance and P-glycoprotein is contained in these extrachromosomal particles and is amplified by increases in double minute chromosome number. The potential use of this system for manipulation of mammalian genes in general is discussed.     

Characteristics of concanavalin A-resistant Chinese hamster ovary cells and certain revertants.

Clones of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were isolated by single-step selection for resistance to killing Concanavalin A (ConA) and certain cellular and membrane properties were examined. The ConA-resistant isolates were only about 2-fold more resistant than wild type cells to the selecting lectin, but exhibited pleiotropic temperature-sensitivity for growth, markedly altered morphology and adherence, and significant difference in susceptibility to other agents such as colchicine. Two revertants to full temperature-resistance were isolated from different ConA-resistant mutants. One revertant clone had reacquired wild type sensitivity to ConA while the other revertant remained ConA-resistant. The two series of wild typed, ConA-resistant, and temperature revertant clones were analyzed for altered mobility of cell surface glycoproteins using lactoperoxidase/125I and galactose oxidase/(3H) borohydride labelling procedures. The ConA-resistant clones showed increased mobility on polyacrylamide gels of three classes of labelled proteins, in the molecular weight ranges 225,000, 200,000, and 130,000 daltons. These changes persisted in the temperature-revertant that remained ConA-resistant, while two of the altered protein closses were restored to wild type mobility in the revertant that regained ConA-sensitivity. Cell hybridization experiments indicated that the temperature-sensitivity phenotypes of different ConA-resistant isolates are recessive and noncomplementing, implying that the same gene is affected in each case. The reversions to temperature resistance appear to be recessive suppressor mutation in different genes.     

DNA-mediated transfer of multiple drug resistance and plasma membrane glycoprotein expression.

Colchicine-resistant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell mutants whose resistance results from reduced drug permeability have been isolated previously in our laboratories. This reduced permeability affects a wide range of unrelated drugs, resulting in the mutants displaying a multiple drug resistance phenotype. A 170,000-dalton cell surface glycoprotein (P-glycoprotein) was identified, and its expression appears to correlate with the degree of resistance. In this study we were able to confer the multiple drug resistance phenotype on sensitive mouse L cells by DNA-mediated gene transfer of DNA obtained from the colchicine-resistant mutants. P-glycoprotein was detected in plasma membranes of these DNA transformants by staining with an antiserum raised against membranes of mutant CHO cells. These results are consistent with a causal relationship between P-glycoprotein expression and the multiple drug resistance phenotype.     

Characterization of a cytochalasin D-resistant mutant of Entamoeba histolytica

Characterization of a cytochalasin D-resistant mutant of the human parasite Entamoeba histolytica capable of growing at 10 microM cytochalasin is described. The mutant cells also show resistance to 5 mM colchicine and 100 microM cytochalasin B, drugs proved deleterious for wild type trophozoites. The mutants show increased osmotic fragility and electric mobility but reduced phagocytic activity, and agglutination by Concanavalin A. On the other hand pinocytic activity remains unaltered when compared with the wild type cells. Polymerized actin, seen by staining with phalloidin, often appears polarized to one end of the trophozoites and forms few of the endocytic invaginations found in wild type amebas. An altered distribution of part of the actin could explain the differences in surface properties and motility observed in the mutant amebas.