Accumulation of DNA strand breaks during thymineless death in thymidylate synthase-negative mutants of mouse FM3A cells.

Thymidylate synthase-negative mutants of cultured mouse cells were immediately committed to cell death upon thymidine deprivation, especially when the cells were synchronized in the S phase. Thymidylate deprivation induced single strand breaks in chromosome-size DNA strands, as measured by alkaline sucrose gradient sedimentation, giving rise to two peaks, one with large and the other with small fragments, the latter about the size of T4 DNA. An increase in the small DNA fragments paralleled that of thymineless death. Thymidine deprivation also produced double strand DNA fragments as determined by a method of neutral filter elution, and their extent paralleled that of cell death. Double-stranded DNA eluted through the filter sedimented as a single peak both in a neutral and in an alkaline sucrose gradient that coincided with that of the above small DNA fragments. Therefore, the strand breaks seemed to occur in some defined portions of the genome and in a specific manner compared to breaks induced by x-rays, which occurred rather randomly. Cycloheximide blocked both thymineless death and the production of the small DNA fragments. The strand breaks induced by thymidine starvation were not repaired but instead advanced on subsequent incubation of the cells in growth medium containing thymidine.