Mosaicism in female hybrid hares heterozygous for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. V. The recovery of DNA synthesis of hare fibroblasts after ultraviolet irradiation.

The effect of uv irradiation on the recovery of DNA synthesis is examined in a population of hare fibroblasts exhibiting heterozygosity with reference to the X-linked enzyme, glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase (G-6-PD). These cells have been grown from skin explants of a hybrid female cross between Lepus timidus (female) and L. europaeus (male), the former carrying the G-6-PD gene for the slow-moving "T" variant and the latter with the fast-moving "E" variant gene. The hybrid, therefore, exhibits genetic mosaicism due to random inactivation in each cell, of one of the two X chromosomes in the embryonic stage. Exponentially growing cells from 13 fibroblast strains, comprising a wide range of E to T ratios, were exposed to moderately low dose of uv irradiation (6 J/m2). The recovery in DNA synthesis during the 2- to 8-h postirradiation period was calculated as the mean percentage rates of [3H]thymidine incorporated during the time as compared to the unirradiated zero-time controls. The results show a statistically significant positive correlation as determined by linear regression analysis between the levels of E and the rate of recovery in DNA synthesis. This is valid also at the higher dose of uv (21 J/m2). These results strengthen our earlier observations with 25-hydroxycholesterol that in the in vitro system the cell expressing the E variant is perhaps more resistant to cytotoxic agents. This also indicates that various factors contribute to the development of monotypism which include cell growth, cell death, mutation, and selection, to name a few.