XENOGENEIC GENE-EXPRESSION IN CHIMERIC MICE DERIVED FROM RAT-MOUSE HYBRID-CELLS

Thymidine kinase-deficient OTT6050 mouse teratocarcinoma cells were fused with hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase-deficient Fu5AH rat hepatoma cells by means of inactivated Sendai virus. The resulting hybrid cells, which were selected in hypoxanthine/aminopterin/thymidine medium, retained almost all of the mouse chromosomes and various numbers of rat chromosomes, and showed many chromosomal rearrangements. The hybrid cells, as well as both parental lines, formed tumors after subcutaneous injection into athymic nude mice. Single rat-mouse hybrid cells from a clonally established subline were transplanted into C57BL6/J mouse blastocysts carrying many genetic markers suitable for the detection of hybrid cell-derived tissue contributions. From 144 blastocysts, each of which was injected with a hybrid cell and then surgically transferred to the uterus of a pseudopregnant foster mother, 62 adult mice developed without any visible coat mosaicism. However, three of these mice showed internal hybrid-cell participation in their livers and a limited number of organs of endomesodermal origin. A tumor classifiable as hemangio-endothelioma was found in the liver, the only mosaic tissue, of one of the chimeric mice. Nine different rat-specific enzyme variants were detected in the mosaic organs. A considerable number of variations concerning the presence and quantitative activity of the foreign gene products probably resulted from chromosomal segregation, tissue-specific gene activity, or dosage compensation during differentiation in vivo. Our results demonstrate that cultured malignant rat-mouse hybrid cells differentiate normally and become functionally integrated during development. The appearance in vivo of certain rat-specific gene products that are not found in the hybrid cells under conditions in vitro indicates differential gene expression of the introduced xenogeneic chromosomes.