Induction of micronuclei by HTLV-I Tax: a cellular assay for function.
Cellular chromosomal damage is ubiquitously seen in HTLV-I-transformed lymphocytes. It is also characteristic of cells that have been exposed to mutagens. A sensitive measurement for mutagen-induced DNA damage is the formation of micronuclei in treated cells. Because current evidence suggests that HTLV-I Tax is etiologically linked to transformation, we tested for its activity in inducing micronuclei. We show here that transfection into cells of a Tax-producing plasmid rapidly induced the formation of micronuclei. This effect cooperated with that of a mutagen (mitomycin C) and was correlated with the inherent trans-activation capacity of Tax. These findings suggest that a commonly used mutagen assay could be a quick biological test for putatively oncogenic proteins.
Majone
F
F
Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Semmes
O J
OJ
Jeang
K T
KT
D002460:Cell Line; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral / Q000502:physiology; D003588:Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000502:physiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000502:physiology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D048629:Micronuclei, Chromosome-Defective / Q000382:microbiology*
D016356:Gene Products, tax