Abstract
The effect of [the antineoplastic drug] 1-.beta.-D-arabinofurosylcytosine (ara-C) on DNA replication in methotrexate-resistant Chinese hamster ovary [CHO] cells was examined under circumstances in which nuclear DNA synthesis could be distinguished from mitochondrial DNA synthesis. G1-arrested cells were induced to traverse G1 and enter the S phase in the presence of radiolabeled thymidine and various cocentrations of the drug. ara-C did not affect the kinetics of G1 traverse and subsequent entry into S after release from isoleucine deprivation, as measured by autoradiography. The inhibitor reduced the net rate of thymidine incorporation into nuclear DNA in a dose-dependent fashion. Autoradiography of nuclear matrix-DNA halo structures suggests that the drug inhibits nuclear thymidine incorporation by slowing chain elongation and movement of newly replicated DNA through a matrix-bound replication apparatus. Southern blot analysis of restriction digests of DNA radiolabeled in early S in the presence of ara-C indicates that the synthesis of the early-replicating amplified dihydrofolate reductase domain in these cells begins at sequences identical with those observed in cells synchronized with aphidicolin or hydroxyurea. Progressively lower concentrations of ara-C permit proportionately greater extents of the amplified unit to be replicated. Thus, ara-C apparently slows the rate of chain elongation without altering the site at which DNA replication is initiated within individual replicons.

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