Skip to main content
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1984 Jun 11;12(11):4715–4730. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.11.4715

Transcription of methylated eukaryotic viral genes in a soluble in vitro system.

R Jove, D E Sperber, J L Manley
PMCID: PMC318870  PMID: 6330681

Abstract

SV40 and adenovirus-2 (Ad2) recombinant plasmids containing long segments of poly(dC-dG) cloned adjacent to transcription control regions were methylated in vitro with Hbal methylase and transcribed in a soluble in vitro system. The addition of up to 40 or more base pairs of poly(m5dC-dG) immediately upstream or downstream of promoter regions was shown to have no effect on the accuracy or efficiency of specific transcription from these promoters in vitro. Methylation at various naturally occurring C-G sequences within or near these promoters also had no effect on transcription in vitro. The significance of these results with respect to possible mechanisms whereby DNA methylation might regulate eukaryotic gene expression is discussed.

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.

  1. Behe M., Felsenfeld G. Effects of methylation on a synthetic polynucleotide: the B--Z transition in poly(dG-m5dC).poly(dG-m5dC). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Mar;78(3):1619–1623. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.3.1619. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brady J., Radonovich M., Vodkin M., Natarajan V., Thoren M., Das G., Janik J., Salzman N. P. Site-specific base substitution and deletion mutations that enhance or suppress transcription of the SV40 major late RNA. Cell. 1982 Dec;31(3 Pt 2):625–633. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90318-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Busslinger M., Hurst J., Flavell R. A. DNA methylation and the regulation of globin gene expression. Cell. 1983 Aug;34(1):197–206. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90150-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cohen J. C. Methylation of milk-borne and genetically transmitted mouse mammary tumor virus proviral DNA. Cell. 1980 Mar;19(3):653–662. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(80)80042-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Desrosiers R. C., Mulder C., Fleckenstein B. Methylation of Herpesvirus saimiri DNA in lymphoid tumor cell lines. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Aug;76(8):3839–3843. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.8.3839. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Doerfler W. DNA methylation and gene activity. Annu Rev Biochem. 1983;52:93–124. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.52.070183.000521. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fowlkes D. M., Shenk T. Transcriptional control regions of the adenovirus VAI RNA gene. Cell. 1980 Nov;22(2 Pt 2):405–413. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90351-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fradin A., Manley J. L., Prives C. L. Methylation of simian virus 40 Hpa II site affects late, but not early, viral gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Sep;79(17):5142–5146. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.17.5142. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Graessmann M., Graessmann A., Wagner H., Werner E., Simon D. Complete DNA methylation does not prevent polyoma and simian virus 40 virus early gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Nov;80(21):6470–6474. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.21.6470. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Groudine M., Eisenman R., Weintraub H. Chromatin structure of endogenous retroviral genes and activation by an inhibitor of DNA methylation. Nature. 1981 Jul 23;292(5821):311–317. doi: 10.1038/292311a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hamada H., Petrino M. G., Kakunaga T. A novel repeated element with Z-DNA-forming potential is widely found in evolutionarily diverse eukaryotic genomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Nov;79(21):6465–6469. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.21.6465. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Handa H., Kaufman R. J., Manley J., Gefter M., Sharp P. A. Transcription of Simian virus 40 DNA in a HeLa whole cell extract. J Biol Chem. 1981 Jan 10;256(1):478–482. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hough P. V., Mastrangelo I. A., Wall J. S., Hainfeld J. F., Simon M. N., Manley J. L. DNA-protein complexes spread on N2-discharged carbon film and characterized by molecular weight and its projected distribution. J Mol Biol. 1982 Sep 15;160(2):375–386. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(82)90183-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hu S. L., Manley J. L. DNA sequence required for initiation of transcription in vitro from the major late promoter of adenovirus 2. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Feb;78(2):820–824. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.2.820. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kruczek I., Doerfler W. Expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene in mammalian cells under the control of adenovirus type 12 promoters: effect of promoter methylation on gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Dec;80(24):7586–7590. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.24.7586. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kłysik J., Stirdivant S. M., Larson J. E., Hart P. A., Wells R. D. Left-handed DNA in restriction fragments and a recombinant plasmid. Nature. 1981 Apr 23;290(5808):672–677. doi: 10.1038/290672a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Laskey R. A., Honda B. M., Mills A. D., Morris N. R., Wyllie A. H., Mertz J. E., De Roberts E. M., Gurdon J. B. Chromatin assembly and transcription in eggs and oocytes of Xenopus laevis. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1978;42(Pt 1):171–178. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1978.042.01.019. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Macleod D., Bird A. Transcription in oocytes of highly methylated rDNA from Xenopus laevis sperm. Nature. 1983 Nov 10;306(5939):200–203. doi: 10.1038/306200a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Mandel J. L., Chambon P. DNA methylation: organ specific variations in the methylation pattern within and around ovalbumin and other chicken genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1979 Dec 20;7(8):2081–2103. doi: 10.1093/nar/7.8.2081. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Manley J. L., Fire A., Cano A., Sharp P. A., Gefter M. L. DNA-dependent transcription of adenovirus genes in a soluble whole-cell extract. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jul;77(7):3855–3859. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.7.3855. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Manley J. L., Fire A., Samuels M., Sharp P. A. In vitro transcription: whole-cell extract. Methods Enzymol. 1983;101:568–582. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)01038-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Mann M. B., Smith H. O. Specificity of Hpa II and Hae III DNA methylases. Nucleic Acids Res. 1977 Dec;4(12):4211–4221. doi: 10.1093/nar/4.12.4211. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. McGhee J. D., Ginder G. D. Specific DNA methylation sites in the vicinity of the chicken beta-globin genes. Nature. 1979 Aug 2;280(5721):419–420. doi: 10.1038/280419a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Morgenegg G., Celio M. R., Malfoy B., Leng M., Kuenzle C. C. Z-DNA immunoreactivity in rat tissues. Nature. 1983 Jun 9;303(5917):540–543. doi: 10.1038/303540a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Nordheim A., Lafer E. M., Peck L. J., Wang J. C., Stollar B. D., Rich A. Negatively supercoiled plasmids contain left-handed Z-DNA segments as detected by specific antibody binding. Cell. 1982 Dec;31(2 Pt 1):309–318. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90124-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Nordheim A., Pardue M. L., Lafer E. M., Möller A., Stollar B. D., Rich A. Antibodies to left-handed Z-DNA bind to interband regions of Drosophila polytene chromosomes. Nature. 1981 Dec 3;294(5840):417–422. doi: 10.1038/294417a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Nordheim A., Rich A. Negatively supercoiled simian virus 40 DNA contains Z-DNA segments within transcriptional enhancer sequences. Nature. 1983 Jun 23;303(5919):674–679. doi: 10.1038/303674a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Ott M. O., Sperling L., Cassio D., Levilliers J., Sala-Trepat J., Weiss M. C. Undermethylation at the 5' end of the albumin gene is necessary but not sufficient for albumin production by rat hepatoma cells in culture. Cell. 1982 Oct;30(3):825–833. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90287-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Peck L. J., Nordheim A., Rich A., Wang J. C. Flipping of cloned d(pCpG)n.d(pCpG)n DNA sequences from right- to left-handed helical structure by salt, Co(III), or negative supercoiling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Aug;79(15):4560–4564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.15.4560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Razin A., Riggs A. D. DNA methylation and gene function. Science. 1980 Nov 7;210(4470):604–610. doi: 10.1126/science.6254144. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Roberts R. J., Myers P. A., Morrison A., Murray K. A specific endonuclease from Haemophilus haemolyticus. J Mol Biol. 1976 May 5;103(1):199–208. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(76)90060-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Stein R., Razin A., Cedar H. In vitro methylation of the hamster adenine phosphoribosyltransferase gene inhibits its expression in mouse L cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Jun;79(11):3418–3422. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.11.3418. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Sutter D., Doerfler W. Methylation of integrated adenovirus type 12 DNA sequences in transformed cells is inversely correlated with viral gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jan;77(1):253–256. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.1.253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Tanaka K., Appella E., Jay G. Developmental activation of the H-2K gene is correlated with an increase in DNA methylation. Cell. 1983 Dec;35(2 Pt 1):457–465. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90179-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Taylor S. M., Jones P. A. Multiple new phenotypes induced in 10T1/2 and 3T3 cells treated with 5-azacytidine. Cell. 1979 Aug;17(4):771–779. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90317-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Vardimon L., Kressmann A., Cedar H., Maechler M., Doerfler W. Expression of a cloned adenovirus gene is inhibited by in vitro methylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Feb;79(4):1073–1077. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.4.1073. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Wang A. H., Quigley G. J., Kolpak F. J., Crawford J. L., van Boom J. H., van der Marel G., Rich A. Molecular structure of a left-handed double helical DNA fragment at atomic resolution. Nature. 1979 Dec 13;282(5740):680–686. doi: 10.1038/282680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Wigler M., Levy D., Perucho M. The somatic replication of DNA methylation. Cell. 1981 Apr;24(1):33–40. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90498-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. van der Ploeg L. H., Flavell R. A. DNA methylation in the human gamma delta beta-globin locus in erythroid and nonerythroid tissues. Cell. 1980 Apr;19(4):947–958. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90086-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES