It is widely reported that the growth of recombinant bacteria and yeast is
adversely affected by increased metabolic load caused by the maintenance of
plasmid copy number and recombinant protein expression. Reports suggest th
at recombinant mammalian systems are similarly affected by increased metabo
lic load. However, in comparison to bacterial systems relatively little inf
ormation exists. It was the aim of this study to test the effects of recomb
inant gene expression on the growth and metabolism of two industrially impo
rtant cell lines. A BHK and CHO cell line were stably transfected with the
human gastric inhibitory peptide (h-GIP) and glucagon receptor respectively
. Selection was by way of the neomycin resistance (neo(r)) gene using G418.
The growth and metabolism of both cell lines was affected by the presence
of G418 in a manner indicative of increased metabolic load and which appear
ed to be caused by over-expression of the neomycin resistance protein. The
two cell lines differed in their metabolic response to G418, which suggeste
d that some cell lines or clones may be better able to tolerate a metabolic
load than others. Growth under increased metabolic load was affected by me
dium composition with serum, insulin and glutamine concentration as influen
cing factors. Implications for the use of G418 are discussed.