Alterations in lipid-linked oligosaccharide metabolism in human melanoma cells concomitant with induction of stress proteins

Challenge of human A375 melanoma cells with sodium arsenite induced the synthesis of stress proteins and stimulated [3H]mannose incorporation into a novel component migrating on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with an apparent molecular mass of 14 kDa (designated M14). Enhanced M14 expression was elicited by heavy metals (zinc, copper, cadmium, and nickel), thiol-reactive agents (iodoacetamide and auranofin), and hyperthermia. The kinetics of M14 induction and recovery from stress were similar to those of the stress proteins, but M14 half-life was only 15 min. Incorporation of [3H]mannose into M14 was inhibited by tunicamycin but not by cycloheximide or actinomycin D. M14 was metabolically labeled with [32P]orthophosphate but not by [35S] methionine or [3H]asparagine. Further studies revealed that M14 was selectively soluble in chloroform/methanol/water (10:10:3) and sensitive to both endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H digestion and mild acid hydrolysis. The latter released a water-soluble mannose-labeled moiety which eluted from Bio-Gel P-6 in a manner similar to Glc3Man9GlcNAc2. Together, these data suggest that M14 is a lipid-oligosaccharide intermediate of N-linked protein glycosylation and that enhanced expression of this class of molecule in response to chemical insults and hyperthermia is a newly described cellular reaction to stress.     

Stimulation of anchorage independent proliferation of human adrenocortical carcinoma cells by inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis

Proliferation of SW13 human adrenocortical carcinoma cells under anchorage independent conditions was stimulated in a dose-dependent manner by treatment with the cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitor mevinolin. Induction of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase activity was observed in mevinolin treated cultures. The growth stimulatory effect of mevinolin, but not that of epithelial transforming growth factor, a polypeptide growth factor for SW13 cells, was reversed by exogenous mevalonic acid. However, neither dolichol nor low density lipoprotein supplementation affected the response of SW13 cells to mevinolin. The results suggest that mevalonic acid metabolites may participate in the regulation of anchorage independent growth of SW13 cells.     

Detection of an unbalanced translocation (4;14) in a mildly retarded father and son by flow cytometry

Summary A child with impaired intelligence, minor dysmorphisms, obesity and genital hypoplasia was found to have an apparently balanced translocation, 46,XY,t(4;14)(q12;q13), following cytogenetic analysis. The same rearrangement was also detected in the child's father, who had similar phenotypic abnormalities to his son. Detailed study of flow karyotypes produced from lymphoblastoid cell lines established that in both patients the translocation was in fact unbalanced with approximately 11 million base pairs of DNA (corresponding to about 6.0% of chromosome 4 or 11.0% of chromosome 14) being lost.     

Anonymous nuclear DNA markers in the American oyster and their implications for the heterozygote deficiency phenomenon in marine bivalves

A puzzling population-genetic phenomenon widely reported in allozyme surveys of marine bivalves is the occurrence of heterozygote deficits relative to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Possible explanations for this pattern are categorized with respect to whether the effects should be confined to protein-level assays or are genomically pervasive and expected to be registered in both protein- and DNA-level assays. Anonymous nuclear DNA markers from the American oyster were employed to reexamine the phenomenon. In assays based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), two DNA-level processes were encountered that can lead to artifactual genotypic scorings: (a) differential amplification of alleles at a target locus and (b) amplification from multiple paralogous loci. We describe symptoms of these complications and prescribe methods that should generally help to ameliorate them. When artifactual scorings at two anonymous DNA loci in the American oyster were corrected, Hardy-Weinberg deviations registered in preliminary population assays decreased to nonsignificant values. Implications of these findings for the heterozygote-deficit phenomenon in marine bivalves, and for the general development and use of PCR-based assays, are discussed.      

Basolateral plasma membrane localization of ouabain-sensitive sodium transport sites in the secretory epithelium of the avian salt gland

The distribution of Na+ pump sites (Na+-K+-ATPase) in the secretory epithelium of the avian salt gland was demonstrated by freeze-dry autoradiographic analysis of [(3)H] ouabain binding sites. Kinetic studies indicated that near saturation of tissue binding sites occurred when slices of salt glands from salt-stressed ducks were exposed to 2.2 μM ouabain (containing 5 μCi/ml [(3)H]ouabain) for 90 min. Washing with label-free Ringer's solution for 90 min extracted only 10% of the inhibitor, an amount which corresponded to ouabain present in the tissue spaces labeled by [(14)C]insulin. Increasing the KCl concentration of the incubation medium reduced the rate of ouabain binding but not the maximal amount bound. In contrast to the low level of ouabain binding to salt glands of ducks maintained on a freshwater regimen, exposure to a salt water diet led to a more than threefold increase in binding within 9-11 days. This increase paralleled the similar increment in Na+-K+-ATPase activity described previously. [(3)H]ouabain binding sites were localized autoradiographically to the folded basolateral plasma membrane of the principal secretory cells. The luminal surfaces of these cells were unlabeled. Mitotically active peripheral cells were also unlabeled. The cell-specific pattern of [(3)H]ouabain binding to principal secretory cells and the membrane-specific localization of binding sites to the nonluminal surfaces of these cells were identical to the distribution of Na+-K+-ATPase as reflected by the cytochemical localization of ouabain-sensitive and K+-dependent nitrophenyl phosphatase activity. The relationship between the nonluminal localization of Na+-K+-ATPase and the possible role of the enzyme n NaCl secretion is considered in the light of physiological data on electrolyte transport in salt glands and other secretory epithelia.     

The electrophoretic properties and aggregation of mouse lymphoma cells, chinese-hamster fibroblasts and a somatic-cell hybrid.

1. The electrophoretic mobilities of a mouse lymphoma cell, a Chinese-hamster fibroblast and a somatic-cell hybrid (also fibroblastic), produced by fusion of the hamster cell and a mouse lymphoma cell, were measured at 25 degrees C over a range of pH, concentration of Ca2+ ions and concentration of La3+ ions. 2. All the cells have pI at pH3.5. 3. Ca2+ ions decrease the mobilities and zeta potentials of the cells to zero in the range 1-100mM. 4. La3+ ions lower the mobilities and zeta potentials in the range 10 muM-1 mM, and the cells become positively charged above 1 mM. 5. The data are consistent with specific adsorption of La3+ ions on approx. 2 X 10(14) sites/m2 of cell surface with a free energy of approx. -37kJ/mol. 6. The effects of Ca2+, La3+ and ionic strength on the extent of aggregation of the cells and of neuraminidase-treated cells were studied. 7. Ca2+ ions do not markedly increase aggregation, whereas La3+ ions gave rise to extensive aggregation in the range 10 muM-1 mM, corresponding to the region of La3+ adsorption. 8. Both fibroblastic cell lines are aggregated at high ionic strength. 9. The fibroblastic cells have larger amounts of trypsin-sensitive carbohydrate than does the lymphoma cell; the possible role of this material in cellular aggregation is discussed.