title: A mammalian mutant cell lacking detectable lanosterol 14 alpha-methyl demethylase activity.
abstract: A Chinese hamster ovary cell mutant, AR45, was selected for amphotericin B resistance after treatment with the mutagen ethyl methanesulfonate. The mutant is a cholesterol auxotroph with a deficiency in cholesterol biosynthesis. Whole cell experiments demonstrate that the mutant accumulates the C30 sterols, lanosterol and dihydrolanosterol, under culture conditions which promote active sterol biosynthesis. Metabolic studies show that the C29 sterol demethylation product of lanosterol, but not lanosterol itself, is actively converted to end product cholesterol by whole cells as well as by microsomal preparations derived from the mutant. Detectable amounts of several cytochromes can be observed spectrally in the AR45 demonstrating that it is not a general heme-deficient mutant. Collectively, these results characterize the AR45 mutant cells as being lanosterol 14 alpha-methyl demethylase-deficient. The cell line should prove useful in studying regulation of the demethylase enzyme and the putative endogenous regulatory oxysterol. It should also be a useful tool in the molecular cloning and elucidation of genetic properties of the demethylase.
authors.affiliation: Medical Products Department, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Delaware 19898.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Trzaskos
mesh_terms: D000666:Amphotericin B / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000032:analysis; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D006224:Cricetinae; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate / Q000494:pharmacology; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006903:Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000032:analysis; D058886:Sterol 14-Demethylase
chemical_list: D010743:Phospholipids; D000666:Amphotericin B; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; D002784:Cholesterol; D005020:Ethyl Methanesulfonate; D010088:Oxidoreductases; D006903:Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases; D058886:Sterol 14-Demethylase