Gene Trapping in Differentiating Cell Lines: Regulation of the Lysosomal Protease Cathepsin B in Skeletal Myoblast Growth and Fusion Joseph A
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Gene Trapping in Differentiating Cell Lines: Regulation of the Lysosomal Protease Cathepsin B in Skeletal Myoblast Growth and Fusion Joseph A. Gogos,* Rachel Thompson,* William Lowry,* Bonnie F. Sloane, ~ Harold Weintraub,** and Marshall Horwitz ~ *Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98109;*Department of Pharmacology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201; and ~Markey Molecular Medicine Center, Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 Abstract. To identify genes regulated during skeletal and some show specific patterns of subcellular localiza- muscle differentiation, we have infected mouse C2C12 tion. The first gene we have identified with this strategy myoblasts with retroviral gene trap vectors, containing is the lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin B. Expres- a promoterless marker gene with a 5' splice acceptor sion from the trapped allele is upregulated during early signal. Integration of the vector adjacent to an actively myoblast fusion and downregulated in myotubes. A di- transcribed gene places the marker under the transcrip- rect role for cathepsin B in myoblast growth and fusion tional control of the endogenous gene, while the adja- is suggested by the observation that the trapped cells cent vector sequences facilitate cloning. The vector in- deficient in cathepsin B activity have an unusual mor- sertionally mutates the trapped locus and may also phology and reduced survival in low-serum media and form fusion proteins with the endogenous gene prod- undergo differentiation with impaired cellular fusion. uct. We have screened several hundred clones, each The phenotype is reproduced by antisense cathepsin B containing a trapping vector integrated into a different expression in parental C2C12 myoblasts. The cellular endogenous gene. In agreement with previous esti- phenotype is similar to that observed in cultured myo- mates based on hybridization kinetics, we find that a blasts from patients with I cell disease, in which there is large proportion of all genes expressed in myoblasts are diminished accumulation of lysosomal enzymes. This regulated during differentiation. Many of these genes suggests that a specific deficiency of cathepsin B could undergo unique temporal patterns of activation or re- contribute to the myopathic component of this illness. pression during cell growth and myotube formation, HE expression of a myogenic basic helix-100p-helix netics (Leibovitch et al., 1979). It was estimated that (bHLH) 1 transcription factor of the MyoD family is ~30,0OO genes are expressed in skeletal myoblasts, and T sufficient to convert a variety of cultured cells into about two-thirds of those are regulated during the course skeletal muscle (for review see Mtinsterberg and Lassar, of differentiation to myotubes. 1994), This initial switch is followed by an irreversible cas- Gene trap vectors provide an alternative way to study cade of gene activation and repression events underlying both global and gene-specific changes in transcription and the morphological differentiation. Earlier studies have an- mRNA accumulation (Wurst et al., 1995; Skarnes et al., alyzed global changes in sequence complexity and fre- 1995; DeGregori et al., 1994; Friedrich and Soriano, 1993). quency distribution of messenger RNAs during muscle The vector that we used contains a promoterless marker differentiation in vitro using DNA-RNA hybridization ki- gene with a 5' splice acceptor signal. Integration of the vector adjacent to an actively transcribed gene places the *Dr. Harold Weintraub died on 28 March 1995. marker under the control of the endogenous transcription Address all correspondence to J.A. Gogos at his present address: Cen- unit and facilitates its cloning. There are advantages com- ter for Neurobiology and Behaviour, College of Physicians and Surgeons, pared to other approaches used to study gene induction or Columbia University, 701 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032. repression, such as subtractive hybridization or differential E-mail: [email protected]; or to M. Horowitz, Markey Mo- lecular Medicine Center, Division of Medical Genetics, Department of display. First, the trapping event is, in principle, indepen- Medicine, Box 357720, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. dent of the abundance of the message, potentially allowing Tel.: (206) 616-4566. Fax: (206) 616-7288. E-mail: [email protected] the identification of mRNA that exist in low numbers. ton.edu Even differential display, the most sensitive of the hybrid- 1. Abbreviations used in this paper: bHLH, basic helix-100p-helix. ization methods, shows a strong bias towards high copy © The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/96/08/837/11 $2.00 The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 134, Number 4, August 1996 837-847 837 number transcripts (Bertioli et al., 1995). Second, the gene observed preferential amplification of the 5' product, the protocol was trap vectors may generate fusion products between the re- modified as follows: 3 l~g of genomic DNA were digested to completion with 20 U of HhaI in 1X PCR buffer (50 mM KCI, 10 mM Tris, pH 8.5, 2 porter gene and part of the endogenous gene, which could mM MgCI2, 0.01% gelatin) in the presence of 0.01 Ixg RNase A in a final include a subcellular localization signal, thereby providing volume of 100 Ixl. After heat inactivation of the enzyme, one third of the information on the localization of the host encoded pro- restriction digest was used for a subsequent self-ligation step, in a total tein. Third, although integration of the gene trap is most volume of 100 ixl adjusted with 1X PCR buffer, 1 Ixl of 10 mM ATP, and 1 Ixl likely to result in a recessive loss of function mutation, of T4 DNA ligase (5 Weiss U//.tl). Ligation was performed for 15 rain at 37°C followed by an overnight incubation at room temperature. Ligase some genes may be vulnerable to haploinsufficiency, and was inactivated for 10 rain at 68°C, and 50 Ixl were digested with 20 U of some established cell lines are hypodiploid (Siminovitch, XbaI for 60 min at 37°C. About one fifth of the restriction digest was used 1976). Integrations into such genes could result in a mu- for a first round of PCR using two external primers, A (TCCATGCCT- tant phenotype and provide additional information on the TGCAAAATGGC) and B (GCGGCGGCCGCATGACCCTGTGCCT- TATT). First round of amplification was done in a 50-pA total volume con- function of the gene. taining 5 Ixl of 10× PCR buffer, 1 mM dNTPs, a 1-1xM concentration of We have therefore sought a strategy to identify and each primer, and 2 U of AmpliTaq DNA polymerase (Perkin Elmer clone genes regulated during skeletal muscle differentia- Corp., Norwalk, CT) using the following conditions: denaturation (94°C, tion employing retroviral gene traps, introduced into cul- 30 s), annealing (58°C, 45 s), and extension (72°C, l min) for 35 cycles. tured mouse C2C12 mouse myoblasts. When C2C12 myo- TaqStart antibody (Clontech, Palo Alto, CA) was used to facilitate "hot start" PCR. 5 Ixl from the first round product were cut separately with 5 U blasts, growing in serum rich media, are placed into media of the following enzymes: XhoI or BamHl or Pstl that cut within the am- with low serum concentration, they undergo differentia- plified fragment originating from the gene trap vector. 1 Ixl of each one of tion characterized by the formation of myotubes. We have these digestions was then used in the second round of nested priming, us- been able to screen hundreds of genes differentially regu- ing primers C (CGCGTCGACCTrGCCAACCTACAGGT) and D (CTC- GCTTCTGTTCGCG) and conditions identical with the ones described lated during muscle maturation and selectively pursue the above except for 25 cycles. The size of the amplification products obtained cloning of those in which mutations produce the most in- was between 300 and 1,000 bp and on the average ,-~400 bp. A source of teresting phenotypes and/or patterns of expression with background is amplification products originating from endogenous retro- respect to temporal sequence and subcellular localization. viruses. These products co-appear occasionally (but not reproducibly) as Among the first genes that we have identified in this fragments of °'300 bp and can be easily recognized and discarded by se- quence analysis. The PCR product was subcloned in the TA vector (Invi- manner is the lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin B. We trogen, San Diego, CA) and sequenced. find that its expression is induced in myoblasts by serum Sequence data from the products of the 5' RACE, inverse PCR, and starvation but downregulated in myotubes. Cells in which genomic walking was searched by BLAST ([email protected]). one cathepsin B allele is interrupted by the gene trap have a unique phenotype consisting of deficiency of myoblast Sequence Confirmation of Cathepsin B Integration fusion and an unusual growth morphology with decreased In the clone trapped at the cathepsin B locus, endogenous flanking se- postmitotic survival. The phenotype is reproducible in pa- quences were recovered through inverse PCR. Approximately 400 bp of rental C2C12 myoblasts with antisense cathepsin B ex- sequence downstream of the retroviral integration site from the 3' LTR of pression. These results implicate cathepsin B in myoblast the trapping vector to the leader C of mouse cathepsin B was essentially identical to published sequence data (Rhaissi et al., 1993). The integrity of growth and fusion and suggest that a specific deficiency of the upstream cathepsin B genomic sequence was confirmed by genomic cathepsin B could account for the myopathy of I cell dis- PCR, using a downstream primer contained within the I?,geo gene and ease, in which there is reduced localization of lysosomal three separate upstream primers, corresponding to genomic sequences enzymes. 1397 to 1420, 1610 to 1630, and 2329 to 2349. In each case, the expected size DNA fragment was uniquely amplified.