Effects of lycobetaine on chromatin structure and activity of murine hepatoma cells

The effects of lycobetaine (LBT) on DNA single strand break and chromatin conformation were examined by in-situ nick translation method. It was found that LBT did not cause DNA single strand break. After 2-h incubation of murine hepatoma cells with 1-50 micrograms/ml LBT in vitro, the chromatin transcription activity was inhibited gradually. This effect was time- and dose-dependent. Actinomycin D produced a similar effect; 10-hydroxycamptothecin not only caused DNA single strand break, but also altered chromatin conformation; homoharringtonine had no marked influence on either. By molecular hybridization technique, it was found that the effect of LBT on individual genes was somewhat different. After 2-h incubation of the cells with LBT, the sensitivities of c-myc, N-ras, and beta 2-microglobulin genes to DNase I were decreased from 75 +/- 6, 66 +/- 4, 70 +/- 8% to 28 +/- 8, 25 +/- 5, 28 +/- 7%, respectively, while that of c-myb and beta-globin genes (8 + 6%, 6 + 5%) did not change obviously.