Effect of DNA damage on the expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene after transfection into diploid human fibroblasts.

The activity of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (cat) gene after transfection into human fibroblasts has been measured following treatment of the plasmid pRSVcat with either restriction enzymes or ultraviolet light. Restriction enzymes producing single cuts in the plasmid inactivated the expression of the cat gene whether the enzymes cut the plasmid inside the coding region of the gene or several kilobases away from the gene. Ultraviolet light produced a dose-dependent inactivation of the gene. The inactivation curve was steeper if the recipient cell strain was derived from a patient with xeroderma pigmentosum. The findings with this transient expression system contrast with previously reported results of experiments using plasmids which transform cells stably by integrating into the cellular genomic DNA.