Olivier Bensaude

Firefly luciferase luminescence assays using scintillation counters for quantitation in transfected mammalian cells

The firefly enzyme luciferase catalyzes the luminescent reaction of luciferin with ATP and oxygen. The luciferase gene has recently been cloned and proposed as a reporter gene in procaryotic and eucaryotic cells. We present here a luciferase activity assay which relies on luminescence detection using a standard scintillation counter. This technique is simple, fast, inexpensive, and still very sensitive: as little as 0.02 pg (250,000 molecules) of enzyme is readily detected. The technique is optimized for the luciferase assay in mammalian cell lysates. Thus, the luciferase gene may become a very useful tool for gene regulation studies.

Altered expression of heat shock proteins in embryonal carcinoma and mouse early embryonic cells.

In a previous paper, we have shown that in the absence of stress, mouse embryonal carcinoma cells, like mouse early embryo multipotent cells, synthesize high levels of 89- and 70-kilodalton heat shock proteins (HSP)(O. Bensaude and M. Morange, EMBO J. 2:173-177, 1983). We report here the pattern of proteins synthesized after a short period of hyperthermia in various mouse embryonal carcinoma cell lines and early mouse embryo cells. Among the various cell lines tested, two of them, PCC4-Aza R1 and PCC7-S-1009, showed an unusual response in that stimulation of HSP synthesis was not observed in these cells after hyperthermia. However, inducibility of 68- and 105-kilodalton HSP can be restored in PCC7-S-1009 cells after in vitro differentiation triggered by retinoic acid. Similarly, in the early mouse embryo, hyperthermia does not induce the synthesis of nonconstitutive HSP at the eight-cell stage, but induction of the 68-kilodalton HSP does occur at the blastocyst stage. Such a transition in the expression of HSP has already been described for Drosophila melanogaster and sea urchin embryos and recently for mouse embryos. It may be a general property of early embryonic cells.

Mouse 89 kD heat shock protein: Two polypeptides with distinct developmental regulation☆

Unstressed early mouse embryos have been previously shown [1] to synthesize at very high rates 70 and 89 kD proteins belonging to the heat shock protein (HSP) family. But it was not clear whether expression of heat shock-inducible or non-inducible (cognate) genes accounted for this spontaneous synthesis. In this report we show that the 89 kD mouse HSP can be separated into two proteins by high resolution PAGE. These two components show distinct but related peptide pattern after limited proteolysis. They are synthesized from distinct mRNAs. One of these proteins--HSP89f--is synthesized at a high rate by unstressed cells and its synthesis is rather insensitive to stress, whereas synthesis of the other protein--HSP89s--is strongly stimulated by heat shock in fibroblasts. Both HSP89f and HSP89s are major proteins synthesized in unstressed mouse preimplantation embryos and embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells. After in vitro differentiation of the EC cells the spontaneous synthesis of HSP89s decreases. Thus spontaneous expression of a mammalian inducible HSP is developmentally regulated.

Unusual levels of heat shock element-binding activity in embryonal carcinoma cells.

In contrast to differentiated somatic cells, mouse embryonal carcinoma (EC) cell lines spontaneously express high levels of major members of the heat shock protein (HSP) family. In addition, some EC cell lines (noninducible) are not able to induce HSP gene transcription and HSP synthesis after a stress. However, after in vitro differentiation, constitutive HSP expression decreases and the differentiated derivatives become able to induce HSP gene transcription after a stress. These cells were tested by gel shift assays for the presence of an activity able to bind the heat shock element (HSE) before and after a stress. Control fibroblasts grown at 37 degrees C did not contain significant levels of HSE-binding activity, but heat shock dramatically increased the level of HSE-binding activity. In contrast to control fibroblasts, all EC cells contained significant levels of HSE-binding activity at 37 degrees C. In the inducible EC cell line F9, as in fibroblasts, heat shock strongly increased the level of HSE-binding activity. In the noninducible EC cells, however, HSE-binding activity markedly decreased upon heat shock. During in vitro differentiation of the noninducible cell line PCC7-S-1009, the constitutive HSE-binding activity found at 37 degrees C disappeared and heat induction of the HSE-binding activity appeared. Therefore, a good correlation exists between the high spontaneous expression of some members of the HSP family and the constitutive level of HSE-binding activity in EC cells at 37 degrees C. Heat induction of HSP gene transcription correlates with a strong increase in HSE-binding activity, whereas a deficiency in heat induction of HSP gene transcription is associated with a loss of HSE-binding activity upon heat shock.

Deficient activation of heat shock gene transcription in embryonal carcinoma cells

Heat shock protein (HSP) synthesis cannot be induced by stress in the cleavage stage embryos of many different species. For instance, no HSP synthesis can be induced in the mouse embryo before the formation of the blastocyst. Similarly, HSP synthesis is not stress inducible in some embryonal carcinoma (EC) cell lines such as PCC4 and PCC7 S-1009 (1009). We show that RNAs coding for the major stress inducible murine heat shock protein, HSP68, do not accumulate in PCC4 or 1009 EC cells in response to a stress. Using an in vitro nuclear transcription assay, we demonstrate that the transcription of the corresponding genes is not activated after a stress. A specific gene switch-off due to DNA methylation or chromatin conformation is unlikely to account for this result. Indeed, stress does not promote the activation of the heterologous Drosophila HSP70 heat shock promoter in transfection assays of these cells. In contrast, the same promoter, like endogenous HSP synthesis, becomes stress inducible in 1009 cells after in vitro differentiation. This suggests that, in contrast to differentiated cells, these EC cells, and maybe the very early mouse embryonic cells, could lack a transacting activating transcription factor or contain a repressor.

Phosphorylation of the 90 kDa heat shock protein in heat shocked HeLa cell lysates

The 90 kDa heat shock protein (hsp 90) is a major phosphorylated protein under normal growth conditions. However, it does not incorporate detectable levels of phosphate by incubation of control HeLa cell lysates with [γ‐32P]ATP in vitro. In this paper we show that strong phosphorylation of hsp 90 occurs in lysates prepared from heat shocked HeLa cells. Possible involvement of the eukaryotic initiation factor 2 kinase of the heme‐controlled repressor of translation is discussed.

Binding activity of glucocorticoid receptors after heat shock

The response of glucocorticoid receptors (GR) to heat was measured by the change in ligand binding activity both in control cells and in cells made tolerant to heat by a prior mild heat exposure. The study was prompted by earlier data showing that one of the heat shock proteins (HSP90) is an essential component of the GR complex and that treatment of mammalian cells with hydrocortisone induces resistance to heat damage. The GR rapidly loses binding activity after commencement of heating. There is a 50% loss of activity after 4 min at 45 degrees C, 8 min at 44 degrees C, or 17 min at 43 degrees C. The reduction in binding is due mainly to a reduction in affinity of binding to the ligand. The ability to bind glucocorticoid recovers quickly after heat treatment. Activity returns to levels 60-80% of normal by 2 h after a heat treatment that initially reduces binding to less than 20% of normal. However, complete restoration of binding activity takes approximately 3 days. The recovery of binding activity does not require protein synthesis. Pretreatment of cells with hydrocortisone, using conditions that induce heat resistance, reduces the activity to 10-20% of control, but residual receptors display a heat sensitivity similar to that of control cells. There was evidence for a limited degree of protection of GR from heat damage in thermotolerant cells.

Early Effects of Heat Shock on Enzymes: Heat Denaturation of Reporter Proteins and Activation of a Protein Kinase which Phosphorylates the C-terminal Domain of RNA Polymerase II

It is a common statement that heat-shock impairs cellular functions because some essential proteins are heat-denaturated. This statement relies mostly on indirect arguments developped by several workers (Hightower, 1980). The fate of such denatured proteins is matter for discussion: are they degraded or renatured? A priming non-lethal heat-shock stimulates transiently the synthesis of the heat-shock proteins (HSP) and increases transiently the cell resistance against a second challenging stress (Subjeck and Sciandra, 1982). Is this thermotolerant state due to a protective effect against thermal denaturation or to a better repair of the damaged proteins? What is the behaviour of the heat-shock proteins?