Abstract
The Cre protein encoded by the coliphage P1 is a 38-kDa protein that efficiently promotes both intra- and intermolecular synapsis and recombination of DNA both in Escherichia coli and in vitro. Recombination occurs at a specific site, called lox, and does not require any other protein factors. The Cre protein is shown here also to be able to cause synapsis of DNA and site-specific recombination in a mammalian cell line. A stable mouse cell line was established that expresses the Cre protein under the control of the Cd2+-inducible metallothionein I gene promoter. DNA recombination was monitored with DNA substrates containing two directly repeated lox sites. One such substrate is a circular plasmid with two directly repeated lox sites (lox2) flanking a marker gene and was introduced into cells by Ca3(PO4)2 transformation. As a second substrate we used a pseudorabies virus (a herpesvirus) containing a lox2 insertion designed to provide a sensitive detection system for recombination. In both cases, site-specific recombination in vivo is dependent on the presence of the Cre protein and occurs specifically at the 34-base-pair lox sites. These results demonstrate the controlled site-specific synapsis of DNA and recombination by a prokaryotic protein in mammalian cells and suggest that Cre-mediated site-specific recombination may be a useful tool for understanding and modulating genome rearrangements in eukaryotes.
Full text
PDF




Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Abremski K., Hoess R. Bacteriophage P1 site-specific recombination. Purification and properties of the Cre recombinase protein. J Biol Chem. 1984 Feb 10;259(3):1509–1514. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Abremski K., Hoess R. Phage P1 Cre-loxP site-specific recombination. Effects of DNA supercoiling on catenation and knotting of recombinant products. J Mol Biol. 1985 Jul 20;184(2):211–220. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90374-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Abremski K., Hoess R., Sternberg N. Studies on the properties of P1 site-specific recombination: evidence for topologically unlinked products following recombination. Cell. 1983 Apr;32(4):1301–1311. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90311-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Aviv H., Leder P. Purification of biologically active globin messenger RNA by chromatography on oligothymidylic acid-cellulose. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Jun;69(6):1408–1412. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.6.1408. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ben-Porat T., Kaplan A. S. Synthesis of proteins in cells infected with herpesvirus. V. Viral glycoproteins. Virology. 1970 Jun;41(2):265–273. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(70)90078-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chirgwin J. M., Przybyla A. E., MacDonald R. J., Rutter W. J. Isolation of biologically active ribonucleic acid from sources enriched in ribonuclease. Biochemistry. 1979 Nov 27;18(24):5294–5299. doi: 10.1021/bi00591a005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hirt B. Selective extraction of polyoma DNA from infected mouse cell cultures. J Mol Biol. 1967 Jun 14;26(2):365–369. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(67)90307-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hoess R. H., Abremski K. Mechanism of strand cleavage and exchange in the Cre-lox site-specific recombination system. J Mol Biol. 1985 Feb 5;181(3):351–362. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90224-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Holland T. C., Homa F. L., Marlin S. D., Levine M., Glorioso J. Herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein C-negative mutants exhibit multiple phenotypes, including secretion of truncated glycoproteins. J Virol. 1984 Nov;52(2):566–574. doi: 10.1128/jvi.52.2.566-574.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Holland T. C., Sandri-Goldin R. M., Holland L. E., Marlin S. D., Levine M., Glorioso J. C. Physical mapping of the mutation in an antigenic variant of herpes simplex virus type 1 by use of an immunoreactive plaque assay. J Virol. 1983 May;46(2):649–652. doi: 10.1128/jvi.46.2.649-652.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Karin M., Herschman H. R. Induction of metallothionein in HeLa cells by dexamethasone and zinc. Eur J Biochem. 1981 Jan;113(2):267–272. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1981.tb05062.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lin F. L., Sperle K. M., Sternberg N. L. Extrachromosomal recombination in mammalian cells as studied with single- and double-stranded DNA substrates. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Jan;7(1):129–140. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.1.129. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lowy D. R., Dvoretzky I., Shober R., Law M. F., Engel L., Howley P. M. In vitro tumorigenic transformation by a defined sub-genomic fragment of bovine papilloma virus DNA. Nature. 1980 Sep 4;287(5777):72–74. doi: 10.1038/287072a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lowy D. R., Rands E., Scolnick E. M. Helper-independent transformation by unintegrated Harvey sarcoma virus DNA. J Virol. 1978 May;26(2):291–298. doi: 10.1128/jvi.26.2.291-298.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nowell P. C., Croce C. M. Chromosomes, genes, and cancer. Am J Pathol. 1986 Oct;125(1):7–15. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Pavlakis G. N., Hamer D. H. Regulation of a metallothionein-growth hormone hybrid gene in bovine papilloma virus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jan;80(2):397–401. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.2.397. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sarver N., Gruss P., Law M. F., Khoury G., Howley P. M. Bovine papilloma virus deoxyribonucleic acid: a novel eucaryotic cloning vector. Mol Cell Biol. 1981 Jun;1(6):486–496. doi: 10.1128/mcb.1.6.486. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sauer B. Functional expression of the cre-lox site-specific recombination system in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Jun;7(6):2087–2096. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.6.2087. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sauer B., Whealy M., Robbins A., Enquist L. Site-specific insertion of DNA into a pseudorabies virus vector. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Dec;84(24):9108–9112. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.24.9108. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Scott R. W., Vogt T. F., Croke M. E., Tilghman S. M. Tissue-specific activation of a cloned alpha-fetoprotein gene during differentiation of a transfected embryonal carcinoma cell line. Nature. 1984 Aug 16;310(5978):562–567. doi: 10.1038/310562a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sternberg N., Hamilton D. Bacteriophage P1 site-specific recombination. I. Recombination between loxP sites. J Mol Biol. 1981 Aug 25;150(4):467–486. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90375-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]