Bacterial IMPDH Gene Used for the Selection of Mammalian Cell Transfectants

Stable cell transfection is used for the expression of exogenous genes or cDNAs in eukaryotic cells. Selection of these transfectants requires a dominant selectable marker. A variety of such markers has been identified and is currently in use. However, many of these are not suitable for all cell types or require unique conditions. Here we describe a simple and versatile dominant selectable marker that involves bacterial IMP dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme essential for the replication of mammalian and bacterial cells. Although IMPDH is evolutionarily conserved, the bacterial enzyme is orders of magnitude more resistant to the toxic effect of the drug mycophenolic acid, which is an IMPDH inhibitor. We have demonstrated that transfection of human, monkey or Chinese hamster cell lines with an expression vector containing bacterial IMPDH and mycophenolic acid treatment resulted in the selection of colonies with a strikingly increased resistance to mycophenolic acid toxicity. Analysis of cells derived from th...