Temperature-sensitive RNA polymerase II mutations in Chinese hamster ovary cells

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Mutant Chinese hamster ovary cell lines temperature-sensitive (TS) for growth and containing TS mutations in RNA polymerase II (nucleosidetriphosphate:RNA nucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.6) have been isolated. Wild-type cells were treated with the mutagen N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and a population of cells possessing mutations in RNA polymerase II was initially selected by isolating α-amanitin-resistant clones at 34°. Of 168 such α-amanitin-resistant isolates screened for temperature sensitivity, nine were TS for growth at 39.5°. By examining the behavior of the α-amanitin resistance of these TS cell lines in somatic cell hybrids, the TS mutation in a number of them was shown to be in RNA polymerase II. Hybrid cells obtained by the fusion of the TS and α-amanitin-resistant cells with cells possessing α-amanitin-sensitive polymerase II grew at both 34° and 39.5°; the TS mutations were recessive. At 34° all the hybrids were α-amanitin-resistant and possessed a mixture of α-amanitin-resistant and sensitive polymerase II. At 39.5° the α-amanitin-resistant polymerase II activities in hybrids of four of the TS cell lines were lost; these four lines were α-amanitin-sensitive and possessed only α-amanitin-sensitive polymerase II. Temperature-insensitive revertants of two of these mutants were isolated. Reversion of the TS phenotype for mutants TsAmaR-1 and TsAmaR-8 was accompanied by an alteration in the level of α-amanitin resistance of the RNA polymerase II activities in the revertant cells. Together these data provide convincing evidence that TS mutations in RNA polymerase II can be coselected with α-amanitin resistance.

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