Possible factors leading to a misjudgement of mutant frequencies in HPRT assay

In vivo mutation analysis using the ΦX174 transgenic mouse and comparisons with other transgenes and endogenous genes

The ΦX174 transgenic mouse was first developed as an in vivo Ames test, detecting base pair substitution (bps) at a single bp in a reversion assay. A forward mutational assay was also developed, which is a gain of function assay that also detects bps exclusively. Later work with both assays focused on establishing that a mutation was fixed in vivo using single-burst analysis: determining the number of mutant progeny virus from an electroporated cell by dividing the culture into aliquots before scoring mutants. We review results obtained from single-burst analysis, including testing the hypothesis that high mutant frequencies (MFs) of G:C to A:T mutation recovered by transgenic targets include significant numbers of unrepaired G:T mismatches. Comparison between the ΦX174 and lacI transgenes in mouse spleen indicates that the spontaneous bps mutation frequency per nucleotide (mf(n)) is not significantly lower for ΦX174 than for lacI; the response to ENU is also comparable. For the lacI transgene, the spontaneous bps mf(n) is highly age-dependent up to 12 weeks of age and the linear trend extrapolates at conception to a frequency close to the human bps mf(n) per generation of 1.7 × 10(-8). Unexpectedly, we found that the lacI somatic (spleen) bps mf(n) per cell division at early ages was estimated to be the same as for the human germ-line. The bps mf(n) in bone marrow for the gpt transgene is comparable to spleen for the lacI and ΦX174 transgenes. We conclude that the G:C to A:T transition is characteristic of spontaneous in vivo mutation and that the MFs measured in these transgenes at early ages reflect the expected accumulation of in vivo mutation typical of endogenous mammalian mutation rates. However, spontaneous and induced mf(n)s per nucleotide for the cII gene in spleen are 5-10 times higher than for these other transgenes.

Frequency and types of spontaneous Hprt lymphocyte mutations in Pms2-deficient mice

Deficiencies in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) result in predisposition to neoplasia in both rodents and humans. Pms2 is one of the several proteins involved in the eukaryotic MMR system. In order to determine the effect of Pms2-deficiency on mutation, we measured mutant frequencies in the endogenous Hprt gene of lymphocytes from male Pms2(-/-), Pms2(+/-), and Pms2(+/+) mice. Spleens were removed from mice of various ages and lymphocytes isolated from spleens were cultured to determine the frequency of 6-thioguanine-resistant mutants. Mean mutant frequencies in Pms2(-/-) mice at 6, 10, 18, and 34 weeks of age [42.6 x 10(-6) (n=6), 38.5 x 10(-6) (n=6), 58.2 x 10(-6) (n=9), and 49.1 x 10(-6) (n=5), respectively] were significantly higher than those of comparably aged Pms2(+/+) and Pms2(+/-) mice (all less than 3 x 10(-6)). Mutant clones from the mice were expanded, RNA extracted, and Hprt cDNA amplified by RT-PCR. DNA sequencing analysis of 221 mutant cDNAs from the three different Pms2 genotypes identified 182 clones with independent mutations, including five clones that contained multiple mutations. When compared to the mutational spectrum observed in Pms2(+/+) and Pms2(+/-) mice, the mutational spectrum for Pms2(-/-) mice was significantly different. The Pms2(-/-) mutational analysis indicated that loss of the Pms2 protein causes increases in the frequencies of strand-slippage-type frameshift mutations and of A:T --> G:C transitions in the Hprt gene. The absolute frequencies of A:T --> G:C transitions in MMR-deficient mice suggest increases in this mutation may be a common feature of MMR-deficient mice, not just of Pms2-deficient mice, and may be related to the cancer predisposition that results from loss of MMR function.

Spontaneous mutation in Big Blue mice from fetus to old age: tissue-specific time courses of mutation frequency but similar mutation types

Transgenic mouse mutation detection systems permit rapid determination of the frequency and type of mutations allowing direct examination of mutational markers for aging, neurodegeneration, and cancer. The Big Blue transgenic mouse mutation detection system was used to determine the frequency and nature of spontaneous mutations versus age in multiple tissue types. Nuclear DNA was extracted from whole fetus at 13.5 days postcoitus (dpc) and from six tissues postbirth (cerebellum, forebrain, thymus, liver, adipose tissue, and male germline) of Big Blue transgenic mice at four ages: 10 days and at 3, 10, and 25 months postbirth. Forty million total plaque-forming units (pfu) were screened. The time course of mutation frequency with age had a significantly different shape in different tissues (P < 10(-6)). By 13.5 dpc, the whole fetus mutation frequency had already started increasing from the theoretical zero at conception to a value that was about one-half the mid-adulthood (3-10 months) average. From 10 days to 3 months, mutation frequency increased significantly in liver (P = 0.007) and showed an increasing trend in cerebellum, forebrain, and thymus. From 3 to 10 months, there was no significant change in mutation frequency in any tissue examined. From 10 to 25 months, the mutation frequency increased significantly in liver (P < 10(-6)) and adipose tissue (P = 0.002), but not in the other tissues examined (cerebellum, forebrain, and male germline). It is of interest that the mutation frequency in the male germline is consistently the lowest, remaining essentially unchanged in old age. The spectrum of mutation types was unaltered with age, tissue type and gender, although, as previously reported, tandem GG-->TT mutations are tissue specific and show significant increases with age and certain hotspots (Buettner VL et al. [1999]: Environ Mol Mutagen 33:320-324; Hill KA et al. [2003]: Mutat Res 534:173-186). The spectrum of mutation types was generally the same for all tissue types, despite the tissue-specific increases in mutation frequency with age. These data provide a useful reference for future studies of endogenous and exogenous mutagenesis.

Unique tissue-specific level of DNA nucleotide excision repair in primary human mammary epithelial cultures

DNA repair is essential for the maintenance of genomic integrity and stability. Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a major pathway responsible for remediation of damage caused by UV light, bulky adducts, and cross-linking agents. We now show that NER capacity is differentially expressed in human tissues. We established primary cultures of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs: N = 33) and foreskin fibroblasts (FF: N = 6), as well as adult breast tissue (N = 22) using a unique culture system, and measured their NER capacity using the unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) functional assay. Relative to FF, primary cultures of breast cells exhibited only 24.6 +/- 2.1% of NER capacity and PBLs only 8.9 +/- 1.2%. Cells from the breast therefore have a unique and distinctive DNA repair capacity. The NER capacities of all three cell types had similar coefficients of variation in the range of 10%-15%, which should be taken into account when running controls for this contextual assay. Unlike previous studies and speculation in the field, we found that NER was not affected by cell morphology, donor age, or proliferation as measured by the S phase index. While the NER capacity of the transformed lymphoblastoid cell line TK6 was within the range of our PBL samples, the breast tumor-derived MDA MB-231 cell line was four-fold higher than normal breast tissue. These studies show that analysis of baseline DNA repair in normal human cell types is critical as a basis for evaluation of the effects of "mutator" genes as etiological factors in the development of cancer.

Flow cytometric determination of HPRT-variants in human peripheral blood lymphocytes

Hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) deficient human peripheral blood lymphocytes are usually enumerated either by the cloning assay or by the autoradiographic short-term assay. The short-term approach presented here is based on flow cytometric (FCM) scoring of 6-thioguanine (6-TG) resistant lymphocytes. HPRT-variants are enumerated on the basis of both DNA synthesis (by use of immunofluorescent detection of incorporated 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine, BrdU) and total DNA content (by propidium iodide (PI) incorporation) of proliferating cells, i.e. the cells must both be labelled with BrdU and reside in late-S or G2 phase in order to be scored as a HPRT-variant. This approach is combined with a stringent discrimination of false-positive events, minimising occurrence of phenocopies or other non-specifically labelled cells that might falsely be scored as true HPRT-variants. The HPRT-variant frequency (V(f)) found by the presented method varied between 0.8 x 10(-5) and 5.8 x 10(-5) for healthy male and female donors aged between 20 and 74 years. There was no significant gender difference in V(f). A strong linear correlation was found between HPRT-variant frequency and age, showing an increase of 0.56 x 10(-6) per year of age (r(2)=0.62, P<0.001). The frequencies of false-positive events found showed a mean of 0.22 x 10(-5) in comparison with a pooled mean V(f) of 2.87 x 10(-5). There was no significant age effect on the frequency of false events (r(2)=0.15, P<0.095). The method presented here may provide a rapid and sensitive alternative to the autoradiographic technique for the short-term enumeration of HPRT-variants.

Study on genotoxic effects of the space environment: a comparison between experienced cosmonauts and unexposed Russian twins

The molecular analysis of T-lymphocytes from experienced cosmonauts and seven pairs of unexposed twins was performed [M. Khaidakov, D. Young, H. Erfle, A. Mortimer, Y. Voronkov, B.W. Glickman, Molecular analysis of mutations in T-lymphocytes from experienced soviet cosmonauts, Environ. Mol. Mutagen, 30 (1997) 21-30; J. Curry, G. Bebb, J. Moffat, D. Young, M. Khaidakov, A. Mortimer, B.W. Glickman, Similar mutant frequencies observed between monozygotic twins, Human Mutation, 9 (1997) 445-451]. Hprt mutant frequencies (MF) in both datasets were considerably higher (38.0+/-14.6x10(-6) in cosmonauts, and 18.5+/-8.9x10(-6) in twins) than in the background Western control (8-12x10(-6)), [A.D. Tates, F.J. van Dam, H. van Mossel, H. Shoemaker, J.C.P. Thijssen, V.M. Woldring, A.H. Zwinderman, A.T. Natarajan, Use of the clonal assay for the measurement of frequencies of HPRT mutants in T-lymphocytes from five control populations, Mutation Res., 253 (1991) 199-213; R.F. Branda, L.M. Sullivan, J.P. O'Neill, M.T. Falta, J.A. Nicklas, B. Hirsch, P.M. Vacek, R.J. Albertini, Measurement of HPRT mutant frequencies in T-lymphocytes from healthy human populations, Mutation Res., 285 (1993) 267-279]. The distribution of mutations by class in the twin dataset was essentially similar to the background Western control, whereas cosmonaut samples demonstrated a significant excess of splice errors and complex mutations. The distribution of base substitutions showed similar trends in both the cosmonaut and twin samples, which are quite distinct compared to those seen in the Western control. The differences observed between cosmonaut and twin samples (a 2-fold higher MF and an excess of complex mutations in cosmonaut mutational spectra) could be an indication of possible effects of the space environment. However, these changes could also be age-related because the twin group was, on average, 17 years younger. Moreover, very similar patterns of base substitution distribution in both datasets suggest the involvement of certain region-specific factors reflected in mutational spectra. In order to discriminate between occupation and region-specific factors contributing to mutagenesis, an additional study involving trainees and cosmonauts with recent long-term flight experience is required.

Spontaneous mutations in the Big Blue transgenic system are primarily mouse derived

The Big Blue transgenic mouse mutation detection system provides a powerful approach for measuring spontaneous and induced mutations in vivo. The observed mutations may contain a fraction of ex vivo or prokaryotic mutational events. Indeed, a modified, selectable form of the Big Blue assay seem to generate artifactual mutants under certain circumstances. Herein we review the evidence that circular mutants (i.e., the plaque circumference is at least 50% blue) collected in the standard Big Blue assay are derived primarily from the mouse. The most direct evidence is the similarity in the types of mutations found in jackpot and nonjackpot mutations. In addition, about half of the spontaneous mutations in the lacI transgene are transitions and transversions at CpG dinucleotides, a mammalian-specific feature. The mutation pattern observed at lacI is consistent with AT mutation pressure operating in a GC rich DNA and approaches that reported for observed germline human factor IX mutations. Furthermore, the spontaneous mutation pattern of circular Big Blue mutants differs significantly from that of an endogenous lacI gene in E. coli. Pinpoint mutants (a dot of blue color peripherally located in a wild type plaque), which a priori were not expected to be mouse-derived, have a mutation pattern consistent with the mutation pattern of an endogenous E. coli lacI gene. Analysis of induced mutagenesis studies reveals mutation frequencies and patterns for the Big Blue circular mutants which are comparable to endogenous genes. In reconstruction experiments, blue plaques derived from a superinfection with wild type and mutant phage produced approximately 50% blue and 50% clear plaques on replating. This phenomenon has not been seen when plaques derived from mouse were replated in the Big Blue assay. Collectively, the evidence strongly supports a murine origin for circular mutants recovered in the standard Big Blue assay. Validation of current assays is an essential step in determining the frequency and pattern of spontaneous murine-specific mutations. Defining this benchmark will be helpful in evaluating the next generation of transgenic mutation detection systems.