X-linked hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase deficiency: heterozygote has two clonal populations

Clones of skin fibroblasts cultured from the mother of two sons with X-linked hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase deficiency (Lesch-Nyhan syndrome) were assayed for activity of this enzyme by measurement of the incorporation of (3)H-guanine into guanylic acid as counts per minute per microgram of protein and by autoradiography. The demonstration of two populations of clones, wild-type clones with normal enzyme activity and mutant clones unable to incorporate (3)H-guanine, is evidence that the locus for hypoxanthineguanine phosphoribosyl transferase on one of the X chromosomes is inactive.     

Substrate stabilization: genetically controlled reciprocal relationship of two human enzymes

5-Phosphoribosyl-l-pyrophosphate, a substrate shared by adenine phosphoribosyltransferase and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, accumulates in human erythrocytes lacking hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. 5-Phosphoribosyl-l-pyrophosphate added to purified adenine phosphoribosyltransferase stabilizes it against heat inactivation. The increased activity of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase seen in erythrocytes deficient in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase may result from substrate stabilization of this enzyme in vivo.     

Reactivation of an inactive human X chromosome: evidence for X inactivation by DNA methylation

A mouse-human somatic cell hybrid clone, deficient in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and containing a structurally normal inactive human X chromosome, was isolated. The hybrid cells were treated with 5-azacytidine and tested for the reactivation and expression of human X-linked genes. The frequency of HPRT-positives clones after 5-azacytidine treatment was 1000-fold greater than that observed in untreated hybrid cells. Fourteen independent HPRT-positive clones were isolated and analyzed for the expression of human X markers. Isoelectric focusing showed that the HPRT expressed in these clones is human. One of the 14 clones expressed human glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and another expressed human phosphoglycerate kinase. Since 5-azacytidine treatment results in hypomethylation of DNA, DNA methylation may be a mechanism of human X chromosome inactivation.     

Diploid azaguanine-resistant mutants of cultured human fibroblasts

Two azaguanine-resistant clones of cultured, human fibroblasts were isolated from unrelated strains of karyotypically normal, male cells. The most resistant mutant has little hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase activity, is virtually unable to incorporate hypoxanthine (a normal substrate of the enzyme), and resembles fibroblasts cultured from boys with the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. The less resistant mutant has about one-third as much enzyme activity as its parent strain and is less able to utilize hypoxanthine. Both mutants are morphologically and karyotypically normal. These mutations may have occurred at the X-chromosomal, hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase locus and may provide a realistic experimental model for studying mutation in human genetic material.     

Human and mouse hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase: dimers and tetramers

Human and mouse hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase subunits combine to form an active heteropolymer. Dimers form the basic subunit structure of the enzymes, yet the dimers can readily associate to form tetramers. The equilibrium between dimers and tetramers is significantly influenced by the ionic strength of the enzyme solvent.     

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome: evidence for abnormal adrenergic function

Subjects with the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency with self-mutilation) exhibit an apparently unique pattern of adrenergic dysfunction characterized by elevated plasma dopamine beta-hydroxylase activity and an absence of pressor response to acute sympathetic stimulation. Patients with a partial deficiency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase without self-mutilation do not exhibit these abnormalities of adrenergic function.     

Human phosphoglycerate kinase and inactivation of the X chromosome

The fibroblasts derived from the skin of a woman heterozygous for an X-linked deficiency of phosphoglycerate kinase represented a mosaic. Two of 22 clones with normal glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and hypoxanthine(guanine) phosphoribosyltransferase activity had no phosphoglycerate kinase activity detected by electrophoresis. Because the loci for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogeniase and hypoxanthine(guanine)phosphoribosyltransferase are already known to undergo inactivation and to be on the short arm of the X chromosome and the locus for phosphoglycerate kinase is on the long arm, these observations support the conclusion that the entire human X chromosome can be involved in X inactivation.     

Positive control of transformed phenotype in hybrids between SV40-transformed and normal human cells

Somatic cell hybrids have been obtained between SV40-transformed Lesch-Nyhan fibroblasts, which are deficient in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) and display glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase A (G6PD-A) activity, and late-passage HGPRT-positive W138 human embryo fibroblasts, which display G6PD-B activity. The human-human hybrid clones, which display G6PD-A and G6PD-B and heteropolymers of the two enzyme forms, have the same growth characteristic as the SV40-transformed parental cells and behave as continuous cell lines. The SV40 tumor antigen, the gene for which has been assigned to human chromosome 7, is present in all clones examined.     

Purine metabolism in heterozygous carriers of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency

The urate pool and daily turnover of urate, together with the rate of incorporation of glycine into urate, were measured in three asymptomatic mothers who had sons with various degrees of deficiency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase activity. Two of these mothers had abnormally increased values for the urate pool, urate turnover, and 24-hour urinary excretion of uric acid. These two mothers also had reduced hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase activity and increased adenine phosphoribosyltransferase activity in erythrocyte lysates. All three mothers showed an abnormal increase in urate production, as judged by the rate of incorporation of glycinie into urate.     

Mammalian oocytes: X chromosome activity

The glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase contents of oocytes from XO and XX female mice have been measured. The activity of the former in the oocytes of XO mice is half of that in the oocytes of XX mice, whereas the lactate dehydrogenase activities in the two groups of ova are the same. These results indicate that glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from a mouse oocyte is an X-linked enzyme, that its synthesis occurs in the oocyte and is dosage dependent, and that inactivation of the X chromosome does not occur in the mouse oocyte.     

Enzyme defect associated with a sex-linked human neurological disorder and excessive purine synthesis

A sex-linked familial neurological disease consisting of cerebral palsy, mental retardation, choreoathetosis, and compulsive aggressive behavior is associated with a loss of an enzyme that participates in purine metabolism, namely, hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. The production of excessive uric acid in this disorder implies that the enzyme is involved in the normal regulation of purine biosynthesis. This is the first example of a relation between a specific enzyme defect and abnormal compulsive behavior. It is also the first enzyme defect in purine metabolism demonstrated in a neurological disease.     

Assignment of the gene for myelin proteolipid protein to the X chromosome: implications for X-linked myelin disorders

Several inherited disorders in humans and in rodents result in myelin dysgenesis and a deficiency of the molecular constituents of myelin. A complementary DNA to one of the two major myelin proteins, myelin proteolipid protein (also known as lipophilin), has been used with Southern blot analysis of somatic cell hybrid DNA to map the human proteolipid protein gene to the middle of the long arm of the human X chromosome (bands Xq13-Xq22) and to assign the murine proteolipid protein gene to the mouse X chromosome. Comparison of the gene maps of the human and mouse X chromosomes suggests that myelin proteolipid protein may be involved in X-linked mutations at the mouse jimpy locus and has implications for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, a human inherited X-linked myelin disorder.     

Biochemically marked lymphocytoid lines: establishment of Lesch-Nyhan cells

Two lymphocytoid cell lines have been established from a patient with the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. The cells are deficient in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, as demonstrated by their failure to incorporate [H(3)]hypoxanthine and by their inability to grow in medium in which they were nutritionally dependent upon exogenous hypoxanthine. This represents the first establishment of presumptively permanent human lymphocytoid cell lines that are deficient in a specific enzyme.     

Extensive gene traffic on the mammalian X chromosome

Mammalian sex chromosomes have undergone profound changes since evolving from ancestral autosomes. By examining retroposed genes in the human and mouse genomes, we demonstrate that, during evolution, the mammalian X chromosome has generated and recruited a disproportionately high number of functional retroposed genes, whereas the autosomes experienced lower gene turnover. Most autosomal copies originating from X-linked genes exhibited testis-biased expression. Such export is incompatible with mutational bias and is likely driven by natural selection to attain male germline function. However, the excess recruitment is consistent with a combination of both natural selection and mutational bias.     

Stable antibody-producing murine hybridomas

A method is described for obtaining antibody-producing hybridomas that are preferentially retained in cultures of fused mouse spleen and myeloma cells. Hybridomas are produced by fusing mouse myeloma cells that are deficient in adenosine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) with mouse spleen cells containing Robertsonian 8.12 translocation chromosomes. The cell fusion mixtures are exposed to a culture medium that can be utilized only by APRT-positive cells, which results in the elimination of both unfused APRT-deficient myeloma cells and non-antibody-producing APRT-deficient hybridomas that arise by segregation of the 8.12 translocation chromosomes containing the APRT genes and the active heavy chain immunoglobulin gene.     

X-Chromosome inactivation in cloned mouse embryos

To study whether cloning resets the epigenetic differences between the two X chromosomes of a somatic female nucleus, we monitored X inactivation in cloned mouse embryos. Both X chromosomes were active during cleavage of cloned embryos, followed by random X inactivation in the embryo proper. In the trophectoderm (TE), X inactivation was nonrandom with the inactivated X of the somatic donor being chosen for inactivation. When female embryonic stem cells with two active X chromosomes were used as donors, random X inactivation was seen in the TE and embryo. These results demonstrate that epigenetic marks can be removed and reestablished on either X chromosome during cloning. Our results also suggest that the epigenetic marks imposed on the X chromosomes during gametogenesis, responsible for normal imprinted X inactivation in the TE, are functionally equivalent to the marks imposed on the chromosomes during somatic X inactivation.     

Epigenetic aspects of X-chromosome dosage compensation

The X chromosomes of mammals and fruit flies exhibit unusual properties that have evolved to deal with the different dosages of X-linked genes in males (XY) and females (XX). The X chromosome dosage-compensation mechanisms discovered in these species are evolutionarily unrelated, but exhibit surprising parallels in their regulatory strategies. These features include the importance of noncoding RNAs, and epigenetic spreading of chromatin-modifying activities. Sex chromosomes have posed a fascinating puzzle for biologists. The dissimilar organization, gene content, and regulation of the X and Y chromosomes are thought to reflect selective forces acting on original pairs of identical chromosomes (1-3). The result in many organisms is a male-specific Y chromosome that has lost most of its original genetic content, and a difference in dosage of the X chromosome in males (XY) and females (XX).     

小鼠早期胚胎体外培养的实验研究

本试验采用国产化学试药和哈尔滨地区的天然水,制备了 Brinster 化学合成培养液。把160枚通过超数排卵获得的2-细胞期小鼠胚胎放在添加适量牛血清白蛋白或胎牛血清的 Brinster 化学合成培养液内,并在适当湿度、5%CO_2和95%空气的气相环境、37℃温度条件下培养。58小时后,大约67%4小鼠2-细胞期胚胎发育到桑椹胚阶段;大约32%的小鼠桑椹胚发育到囊胚期阶段。试验证明,用国产化学药品和哈尔滨地区水配制的培养液可以对早期小鼠胚胎进行体外培养研究。     

程序化冷冻对小鼠胚胎发育的影响

取小鼠原核(220枚)、2～4细胞胚胎(227枚)、桑椹胚(127枚),将其分为3组,每一时期胚胎分成两半,一半取出后立即冷冻复苏并体外培养至囊胚,另一半体外培养至囊胚后冷冻复苏,子宫冲取囊胚(78枚)冷冻复苏为对照组;各组囊胚均移植至于宫,比较程序化冷冻对小鼠早期胚胎存活率的影响.结果表明:原核、2～4细胞胚胎、桑椹胚体外培养至囊胚后冷冻复苏率分别为56.4%、72.2%、81.6%,移植产仔率分别为38.1%、41.6%、56.8%,原核、2～4细胞组复苏率和产仔率极显著或显著低于对照组,桑椹胚组与对照组差异不显著,显示体外培养对早期胚胎冷冻存活有影响;原核、2～4细胞胚胎、桑椹胚冷冻后体外培养至囊胚,胚胎移植后产仔率分别为25.3%、28.2%、42.1%,与对应胚胎时期体外培养至囊胚冷冻复苏后移植产仔率相比,原核、2～4细胞组均存在显著差异,而桑椹胚组差异不显著,显示原核、2～4细胞的早期胚胎体外培养至囊胚后冷冻可提高冷冻存活率.