Three copper-resistant variants of cultured Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were isolated and each was shown to accumulate less intracellular copper than the parental cells when grown in copper-supplemented media. The reduced copper accumulation was related to enhanced copper efflux. As cultured cells from patients with Menkes disease (mutations in MNK; ATP7A gene) accumulate copper, probably due to defective copper efflux, we investigated the possible role of the MNK gene in the molecular basis of copper resistance. We found increased MNK mRNA and MNK protein in all three resistant variants. The MNK protein, which has not been previously demonstrated experimentally in mammalian cells, was observed to have an apparent molecular weight of 178 kDa on SDS gels. The degree of increase in MNK mRNA and protein correlated well with the level of copper resistance and extent of copper efflux. By Southern blot and FISH analysis we determined that the molecular basis for overexpression of MNK was genomic amplification of the MNK gene. These data, combined with the clinical and cellular phenotype in Menkes disease, provide strong evidence that the MNK protein is involved in transmembrane copper efflux, and demonstrate a new system of gene amplification in mammalian cells.
Human chromosome band 3p14 contains two tightly linked cytogenetic markers of broad interest, FRA3B and the t(3;8) breakpoint associated with hereditary renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The common fragile site at 3p14.2 (FRA3B) is the most sensitive site on normal human chromosomes to breakage when DNA replication is perturbed by aphidicolin or folate stress. The t(3;8)(p14.2;q24.1) translocation segregates with RCC in a large family and could mark the location of a tumor suppressor gene involved in renal cancers. In studies aimed at positional cloning of FRA3B and the t(3;8) breakpoint, we have used multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis (FISH) on metaphase spreads and interphase nuclei to order 14 yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) in 3p14. The YACs used in this study were identified by a group of unordered lambda clones that had been previously localized to the 3p14 region and mapped proximal or distal to the t(3;8) breakpoint. FISH analysis was used to order the YACs and to map them in relation both to the t(3;8) translocation breakpoint and to FRA3B induced on normal chromosomes by treatment with aphidicolin. YACs that closely flanked both the t(3;8) translocation breakpoint and the fragile site were identified. A YAC walk from the closest distal YAC allowed the identification of a 1.3-Mb YAC derived from the CEPH large insert YAC library that spans both the FRA3B and the t(3;8) breakpoint. The order of the YACs and cytogenetic landmarks in 3p14 is cen-(126E1/230B9)-181H6-B15-D20F4-258B7-++ +280D2-70E12-168A8- 403B2-143C5-413C6-468B10-[850A6/t(3;8)/ FRA3B]-74B2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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