Human artificial chromosomes (HACs), which carry a fully functional centromere and are maintained as a single-copy episome, are not associated with random mutagenesis and offer greater control over expression of ectopic genes on the HAC. Recently, we generated a HAC with a conditional centromere, which includes the tetracycline operator (tet-O) sequence embedded in the alphoid DNA array. This conditional centromere can be inactivated, loss of the alphoidtet-O (tet-O HAC) by expression of tet-repressor fusion proteins. In this report, we describe adaptation of the tet-O HAC vector for gene delivery and gene expression in human cells. A loxP cassette was inserted into the tet-O HAC by homologous recombination in chicken DT40 cells following a microcell-mediated chromosome transfer (MMCT). The tet-O HAC with the loxP cassette was then transferred into Chinese hamster ovary cells, and EGFP transgene was efficiently and accurately incorporated into the tet-O HAC vector. The EGFP transgene was stably expressed in human cells after transfer via MMCT. Because the transgenes inserted on the tet-O HAC can be eliminated from cells by HAC loss due to centromere inactivation, this HAC vector system provides important novel features and has potential applications for gene expression studies and gene therapy.

Condensins I and II in vertebrates are essential ATP-dependent complexes necessary for chromosome condensation in mitosis. Condensins depletion is known to perturb structure and function of centromeres, however the mechanism of this functional link remains elusive. Depletion of condensin activity is now shown to result in a significant loss of loading of CENP-A, the histone H3 variant found at active centromeres and the proposed epigenetic mark of centromere identity. Absence of condensins and/or CENP-A insufficiency produced a specific kinetochore defect, such that a functional mitotic checkpoint cannot prevent chromosome missegregation resulting from improper attachment of sister kinetochores to spindle microtubules. Spindle microtubule-dependent deformation of both inner kinetochores and the HEC1/Ndc80 microtubule-capturing module, then results in kinetochore separation from the Aurora B pool and ensuing reduced kinase activity at centromeres. Moreover, recovery from mitosis-inhibition by monastrol revealed a high incidence of merotelic attachment that was nearly identical with condensin depletion, Aurora B inactivation, or both, indicating that the Aurora B dysfunction is the key defect leading to chromosome missegregation in condensin-depleted cells. Thus, beyond a requirement for global chromosome condensation, condensins play a pivotal role in centromere assembly, proper spatial positioning of microtubule-capturing modules and positioning complexes of the inner centromere versus kinetochore plates.

that involves TRPV1, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR/4E-BP1 signaling pathway, and MMP-9, a molecule known to be involved in inflammation and the early stages of chronic pain (18).

Human artificial chromosomes (HACs) represent a novel promising episomal system for functional genomics, gene therapy and synthetic biology. HACs are engineered from natural and synthetic alphoid DNA arrays upon transfection into human cells. The use of HACs for gene expression studies requires the knowledge of their structural organization. However, none of de novo HACs constructed so far has been physically mapped in detail. Recently we constructed a synthetic alphoidtetO-HAC that was successfully used for expression of full-length genes to correct genetic deficiencies in human cells. The HAC can be easily eliminated from cell populations by inactivation of its conditional kinetochore. This unique feature provides a control for phenotypic changes attributed to expression of HAC-encoded genes. This work describes organization of a megabase-size synthetic alphoid DNA array in the alphoidtetO-HAC that has been formed from a ~50 kb synthetic alphoidtetO-construct. Our analysis showed that this array represents a 1.1 Mb continuous sequence assembled from multiple copies of input DNA, a significant part of which was rearranged before assembling. The tandem and inverted alphoid DNA repeats in the HAC range in size from 25 to 150 kb. In addition, we demonstrated that the structure and functional domains of the HAC remains unchanged after several rounds of its transfer into different host cells. The knowledge of the alphoidtetO-HAC structure provides a tool to control HAC integrity during different manipulations. Our results also shed light on a mechanism for de novo HAC formation in human cells.

BackgroundAneuploidy is a feature of most cancer cells that is often accompanied by an elevated rate of chromosome mis-segregation termed chromosome instability (CIN). While CIN can act as a driver of cancer genome evolution and tumor progression, recent findings point to the existence of a threshold level beyond which CIN becomes a barrier to tumor growth and therefore can be exploited therapeutically. Drugs known to increase CIN beyond the therapeutic threshold are currently few in number, and the clinical promise of targeting the CIN phenotype warrants new screening efforts. However, none of the existing methods, including the in vitro micronuclei (MNi) assay, developed to quantify CIN, is entirely satisfactory.MethodsWe have developed a new assay for measuring CIN. This quantitative assay for chromosome mis-segregation is based on the use of a non-essential human artificial chromosome (HAC) carrying a constitutively expressed EGFP transgene. Thus, cells that inherit the HAC display green fluorescence, while cells lacking the HAC do not. This allows the measurement of HAC loss rate by routine flow cytometry.ResultsUsing the HAC-based chromosome loss assay, we have analyzed several well-known anti-mitotic, spindle-targeting compounds, all of which have been reported to induce micronuclei formation and chromosome loss. For each drug, the rate of HAC loss was accurately measured by flow cytometry as a proportion of non-fluorescent cells in the cell population which was verified by FISH analysis. Based on our estimates, despite their similar cytotoxicity, the analyzed drugs affect the rates of HAC mis-segregation during mitotic divisions differently. The highest rate of HAC mis-segregation was observed for the microtubule-stabilizing drugs, taxol and peloruside A.ConclusionThus, this new and simple assay allows for a quick and efficient screen of hundreds of drugs to identify those affecting chromosome mis-segregation. It also allows ranking of compounds with the same or similar mechanism of action based on their effect on the rate of chromosome loss. The identification of new compounds that increase chromosome mis-segregation rates should expedite the development of new therapeutic strategies to target the CIN phenotype in cancer cells.