A guanine nucleotide-dependent phosphatidylinositol 4,5-diphosphate phospholipase C in cells transformed by the v-fms and v-fes oncogenes.

The metabolism of phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) was studied in a mink lung epithelial cell line and its subclones transformed by feline sarcoma viruses containing either the v-fms or v-fes oncogenes. The transformed cell lines had a higher rate of PtdIns turnover but did not have elevated levels of phosphorylated PtdIns species or PtdIns kinase activity. Significantly higher specific activities of a guanine nucleotide-activated PtdIns-4,5-diphosphate phospholipase C were detected in both transformed cell lines (F3CL7(v-fes), 55 pmol/min/mg of protein and G2M(v-fms), 18 pmol/min/mg of protein) as compared to the nontransformed parental cell line (CCL64, 2 pmol/min/mg of protein). The guanine nucleotide-stimulated phospholipase C activity was specific for PtdIns-4,5-diphosphate, and the water-soluble hydrolysis product was inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate. Both GTP and nonhydrolyzable GTP analogs activated the phospholipase C, whereas ATP was weakly effective and GDP was inactive. The phospholipase C activity was maximally active in the presence of 9 mM sodium cholate, had a sharp pH optimum of pH 6.5, and was not activated by calcium although hydrolysis was inhibited by high concentrations of EDTA. These data point to enhanced production of diacylglycerol and inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate second messengers in transformed cells due to the activation of guanine nucleotide-dependent PtdIns-4,5-diphosphate-specific phospholipase C and suggest that the generation of aberrant hormonally independent signals is associated with cell transformation by oncogenes encoding tyrosine-specific protein kinases.