The associated reactivation of two X-linked genes. The spontaneous and azacytidine-induced reexpression of ornithine transcarbamoylase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in a rat hepatoma.

Two X-linked genes, specifying ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTC) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (Glc-6-PD), are reversibly suppressed in certain derivatives of the rat H4-II-E hepatoma. Either gene can become reactivated spontaneously, and it is shown that both can be reactivated by azacytidine treatment. This gene reactivation has been investigated by enzyme assay and by the use of selective growth media ('ornithine-medium' to select for OTC, and medium containing diamide to select for Glc-6-PD). There is a clear tendency for both genes to be reactivated together, though either can become active alone. Since OTC is an enzyme of the urea-cycle, and Glc-6-PD is an enzyme of the hexose monophosphate shunt, and since these two pathways are normally under quite separate control, it would seem that the coupled regulation of the two genes in these hepatomas is abnormal. It is suggested that the suppression of the two genes resembles X-inactivation: in both cases, azacytidine treatment induces gene reactivation with a high frequency and results in different clones of cells expressing widely varying amounts of enzyme activity. The association between the re-expression of OTC and Glc-6-PD might indicate that some phenomenon like the position-effect is occurring.