Skip to main content
PMC home page
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1986 Jul;6(7):2520–2526. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.7.2520

Intramolecular recombination between transfected repeated sequences in mammalian cells is nonconservative.

S Chakrabarti, M M Seidman
PMCID: PMC367806  PMID: 3023937

Abstract

When plasmids carrying a fragmented gene with segments present as direct repeats are introduced into mammalian cells, recombination or gene conversion between the repeated sequences can reconstruct the gene. Intramolecular recombination leads to the deletion of the intervening sequences and the loss of one copy of the repeat. This process is known to be stimulated by double-strand breaks. Two current models for recombination in eucaryotic cells propose that the reaction is initiated by double-strand breaks, but differ in their predictions as to the fate of the intervening sequences. One model suggests that these sequences are always lost, while the other indicates that the reaction will be conservative as a function of the position of the double-strand break. We have constructed a plasmid in which two overlapping portions of the simian virus 40 early region, which contains the origin and T-antigen gene, are present as direct repeats separated by sequences containing a plasmid with a simian virus 40 origin of replication. Recombination across the repeated segments could produce a plasmid with an origin of replication and/or a plasmid with a gene for a functional T-antigen which would drive the replication of both. Introduction of this construction into African green monkey kidney cells, without coinfection, establishes a condition in which the products of the recombination or gene conversion can be interpreted unambiguously. We find that the majority of the reconstruction reactions are nonconservative.

Full text

PDF
2520

Images in this article

2522Image
on p.2522
2522Image
on p.2522
2523Image
on p.2523
2523Image
on p.2523
2523Image
on p.2523

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Calos M. P., Lebkowski J. S., Botchan M. R. High mutation frequency in DNA transfected into mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 May;80(10):3015–3019. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.10.3015. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Doherty M. J., Morrison P. T., Kolodner R. Genetic recombination of bacterial plasmid DNA. Physical and genetic analysis of the products of plasmid recombination in Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1983 Jul 5;167(3):539–560. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80097-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Folger K. R., Thomas K., Capecchi M. R. Efficient correction of mismatched bases in plasmid heteroduplexes injected into cultured mammalian cell nuclei. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Jan;5(1):70–74. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.1.70. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Folger K. R., Thomas K., Capecchi M. R. Nonreciprocal exchanges of information between DNA duplexes coinjected into mammalian cell nuclei. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Jan;5(1):59–69. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.1.59. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Folger K. R., Wong E. A., Wahl G., Capecchi M. R. Patterns of integration of DNA microinjected into cultured mammalian cells: evidence for homologous recombination between injected plasmid DNA molecules. Mol Cell Biol. 1982 Nov;2(11):1372–1387. doi: 10.1128/mcb.2.11.1372. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gluzman Y. SV40-transformed simian cells support the replication of early SV40 mutants. Cell. 1981 Jan;23(1):175–182. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90282-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. 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]
  8. Kucherlapati R. S., Eves E. M., Song K. Y., Morse B. S., Smithies O. Homologous recombination between plasmids in mammalian cells can be enhanced by treatment of input DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 May;81(10):3153–3157. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.10.3153. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lin F. L., Sperle K., Sternberg N. Model for homologous recombination during transfer of DNA into mouse L cells: role for DNA ends in the recombination process. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Jun;4(6):1020–1034. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.6.1020. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lusky M., Botchan M. Inhibition of SV40 replication in simian cells by specific pBR322 DNA sequences. Nature. 1981 Sep 3;293(5827):79–81. doi: 10.1038/293079a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McCutchan J. H., Pagano J. S. Enchancement of the infectivity of simian virus 40 deoxyribonucleic acid with diethylaminoethyl-dextran. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1968 Aug;41(2):351–357. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Meselson M. S., Radding C. M. A general model for genetic recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Jan;72(1):358–361. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.1.358. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Peden K. W., Pipas J. M., Pearson-White S., Nathans D. Isolation of mutants of an animal virus in bacteria. Science. 1980 Sep 19;209(4463):1392–1396. doi: 10.1126/science.6251547. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Pomerantz B. J., Naujokas M., Hassell J. A. Homologous recombination between transfected DNAs. Mol Cell Biol. 1983 Sep;3(9):1680–1685. doi: 10.1128/mcb.3.9.1680. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Potter H., Dressler D. On the mechanism of genetic recombination: the maturation of recombination intermediates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Oct;74(10):4168–4172. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.10.4168. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Razzaque A., Mizusawa H., Seidman M. M. Rearrangement and mutagenesis of a shuttle vector plasmid after passage in mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 May;80(10):3010–3014. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.10.3010. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Shapira G., Stachelek J. L., Letsou A., Soodak L. K., Liskay R. M. Novel use of synthetic oligonucleotide insertion mutants for the study of homologous recombination in mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Aug;80(15):4827–4831. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.15.4827. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Small J., Scangos G. Recombination during gene transfer into mouse cells can restore the function of deleted genes. Science. 1983 Jan 14;219(4581):174–176. doi: 10.1126/science.6294829. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Subramani S., Berg P. Homologous and nonhomologous recombination in monkey cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1983 Jun;3(6):1040–1052. doi: 10.1128/mcb.3.6.1040. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Szostak J. W., Orr-Weaver T. L., Rothstein R. J., Stahl F. W. The double-strand-break repair model for recombination. Cell. 1983 May;33(1):25–35. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90331-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Upcroft P., Carter B., Kidson C. Mammalian cell function mediating recombination of genetic elements. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Dec 11;8(23):5835–5844. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.23.5835. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wake C. T., Gudewicz T., Porter T., White A., Wilson J. H. How damaged is the biologically active subpopulation of transfected DNA? Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Mar;4(3):387–398. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.3.387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wake C. T., Vernaleone F., Wilson J. H. Topological requirements for homologous recombination among DNA molecules transfected into mammalian cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Aug;5(8):2080–2089. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.8.2080. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wake C. T., Wilson J. H. Defined oligomeric SV40 DNA: a sensitive probe of general recombination in somatic cells. Cell. 1980 Aug;21(1):141–148. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90121-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. de Saint Vincent B. R., Wahl G. M. Homologous recombination in mammalian cells mediates formation of a functional gene from two overlapping gene fragments. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Apr;80(7):2002–2006. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.7.2002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES