Open AccessSpontaneous Cell Competition in Immortalized Mammalian Cell Lines
Author(s) -
Alfredo Penzo–Méndez,
YiJu Chen,
Jinyang Li,
Eric S. Witze,
Ben Z. Stanger
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0132437
Subject(s) - cell culture , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , immortalised cell line , biology , context (archaeology) , cell type , cell–cell interaction , hek 293 cells , programmed cell death , genetics , apoptosis , paleontology
Cell competition is a form of cell-cell interaction by which cells compare relative levels of fitness, resulting in the active elimination of less-fit cells, “losers,” by more-fit cells, “winners.” Here, we show that in three routinely-used mammalian cell lines – U2OS, 3T3, and MDCK cells – sub-clones arise stochastically that exhibit context-dependent competitive behavior. Specifically, cell death is elicited when winner and loser sub-clones are cultured together but not alone. Cell competition and elimination in these cell lines is caspase-dependent and requires cell-cell contact but does not require de novo RNA synthesis. Moreover, we show that the phenomenon involves differences in cellular metabolism. Hence, our study demonstrates that cell competition is a common feature of immortalized mammalian cells in vitro and implicates cellular metabolism as a mechanism by which cells sense relative levels of “fitness.”