Cellular tensegrity: exploring how mechanical changes in the cytoskeleton regulate cell growth, migration, and tissue pattern during morphogenesis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H McNamee.
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Gap junction communication in some cells has been shown to be inhibited by pp60v-src, a protein tyrosine kinase encoded by the viral oncogene v-src. The gap junction protein connexin43 (Cx43) has been shown to be phosphorylated on serine in the absence of pp60v-src and on both serine and tyrosine in cells expressing pp60v-src. However, it is not known if the effect of v-src expression on communication results directly from tyrosine phosphorylation of the Cx43 or indirectly, for example, by activation of other second-messenger systems. In addition, the effect of v-src expression on communication based on other connexins has not been examined. We have used a functional expression system consisting of paired Xenopus oocytes to examine the effect of v-src expression on the regulation of communication by gap junctions comprised of different connexins. Expression of pp60v-src completely blocked the communication induced by Cx43 but had only a modest effect on communication induced by connexin32 (Cx32). Phosphoamino acid analysis showed that pp60v-src induced tyrosine phosphorylation of Cx43, but not Cx32. A mutation replacing tyrosine 265 of Cx43 with phenylalanine abolished both the inhibition of communication and the tyrosine phosphorylation induced by pp60v-src without affecting the ability of this protein to form gap junctions. These data show that the effect of pp60v-src on gap junctional communication is connexin specific and that the inhibition of Cx43-mediated junctional communication by pp60v-src requires tyrosine phosphorylation of Cx43.
Ledakrin [1-nitro-9-(3'-dimethylamino-N-propylamino)acridine], an antitumor drug of the 1-nitro-9-aminoacridine family, was able to induce DNA-protein crosslinks in intact L1210 leukemia cells, as demonstrated by the potassium-dodecyl sulfate precipitation technique. Ledakrin-induced DNA-protein crosslinks were not readily reversible nor were they accompanied by DNA double-strand breaks. Also, ledakrin produced virtually no crosslinks in isolated nuclei. Ledakrin-induced DNA-protein crosslinks seemed not to be mediated by topoisomerase II, unlike well-established effects of a chemically related antitumor drug, 4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide (m-AMSA). Four ledakrin analogs of divergent cytotoxic potencies also induced DNA-protein crosslinks but not DNA double-strand breaks in intact L1210 cells. A significant positive correlation existed between the ability of ledakrin and its 1-nitro analogs to induced DNA-protein crosslinks and the antiproliferative effects of these drugs. The results are consistent with the previously shown ability of 1-nitro-9-aminoacridines to covalently bind to macromolecules after metabolic activation in the cell. In addition to previously demonstrated DNA interstrand crosslinks and monofunctional adducts, DNA-protein crosslinks constitute another type of DNA lesion induced by 1-nitro-9-aminoacridines.