NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE PRESERVATION OF HUMAN-LEUKEMIC MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA

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  • 1 January 1985
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 45  (4) , 1809-1814
Abstract
Nucleotide sequence variation in mitochondrial DNA isolated from human leukemic cells was analyzed by recombinant DNA techniques. Independent recombinant DNA clones (387), each containing 1 of 3 defined segments of mitochondrial DNA isolated from the neoplastic cells of 4 leukemic patients, were analyzed. Partial nucleotide sequence determination of the 387 clones yielded a total of 81.7 kilobases of nucleotide sequence information. The only evidence of within-individual nucleotide sequence divergence consisted of 3 clones containing deletions of 1 or 2 nucleotides in one mitochondrial DNA region. These clones were 3 of 113 independent clones isolated from a patient with acute lymphocytic leukemia. The low level of nucleotide sequence divergence in the mitochondrial DNA population of neoplastic cells from individual leukemic patients suggests that a mechanism or mechanisms exist that limit the development of nucleotide sequence divergence in mammalian mitochondrial DNA. This mechanism does not appear to be abrogated by neoplastic transformation in leukemic patients.