den V gene of bacteriophage T4 determines a DNA glycosylase specific for pyrimidine dimers in DNA.

Endonuclease V of bacteriophage T4 has been described as an enzyme, coded for by the denV gene, that incises UV-irradiated DNA. It has recently been proposed that incision of irradiated DNA by this enzyme and the analogous "correndonucleases" I and II of Micrococcus luteus requires the sequential action of a pyrimidine dimer-specific DNA glycosylase and an apyrimidinic/apurinic endonuclease. In support of this two-step mechanism, we found that our preparations of T4 endonuclease V contained a DNA glycosylase activity that produced alkali-labile sites in irradiated DNA and an apyrimidinic/apurinic endonuclease activity that converted these sites to nicks. Both activities could be detected in the presence of 10 mM EDTA. In experiments designed to determine which of the activities is coded by the denV gene, we found that the glycosylase was more heat labile in extracts of Escherichia coli infected with either of two thermosensitive denV mutants than in extracts of cells infected with wild-type T4. In contrast, apyrimidinic/apurinic endonuclease activity was no more heat labile in extracts of the former than in extracts of the latter. Our results indicate that the denV gene codes for a DNA glycosylase specific for pyrimidine dimers.     

Site-directed mutagenesis of the T4 endonuclease V gene: mutations which enhance enzyme specific activity at low salt concentrations

Previous structure/function analyses of the DNA repair enzyme, T4 endonuclease V, have suggested that the extreme carboxyl portion of the enzyme is associated with pyrimidine dimer-specific binding (Recinos and Lloyd, and Stump and Lloyd, Biochemistry 27:1832-1838 and 1839-1843, 1988, respectively). Within the final 11 amino acids there are 5 aromatic, 2 basic, and no acidic residues and it has been proposed that these residues stack with and electrostatically interact with the kinked DNA at the site of a pyrimidine dimer. The role of the tyrosine residue at position 129 has been investigated by oligonucleotide site-directed mutagenesis in which the codon for Tyr-129 has been altered to reflect conservative changes of Trp and Phe and more dramatic changes of Ser, a stop codon, deletion of the codon or introduction of a frameshift. Both changes to the aromatic amino acids resulted in proteins which accumulated well in E. coli and not only significantly enhanced the UV survival of repair-deficient cells but also complemented a defective denV gene within UV-irradiated T4 phage. Partially purified preparations of the Tyr-129----Trp and Tyr-129----Phe mutants were assayed for their ability to processively incise UV-irradiated plasmid DNA (a nicking reaction carried out at low 25 mM salt concentrations). The mutant enzymes Tyr-129----Phe and Tyr-129----Trp displayed a 1000% and 500% enhanced specific nicking activity, respectively. These reactions were also shown to be completely processive. Assays performed at higher (100 mM) salt concentrations reduced the specific activities of the mutant enzymes approximately to that of wild type for the Tyr-129----Phe mutant and to 20% that of wild type for the Tyr-129----Trp mutant.     

Site-directed mutagenesis of the T4 endonuclease V gene: role of lysine-130

The DNA sequence of the bacteriophage T4 denV gene which encodes the DNA repair enzyme endonuclease V was previously constructed behind the hybrid lambda promoter OLPR in a plasmid vector. The OLPR-denV sequence was subcloned in M13mp18 and used as template to construct site-specific mutations in the denV structural gene in order to investigate structure/function relationships between the primary structure of the protein and its various DNA binding and catalytic activities. The Lys-130 residue of the wild-type endonuclease V has been postulated to be associated with its apurinic endonuclease (AP-endonuclease) activity. The codon for Lys-130 was changed to His-130 or Gly-130, and each denV sequence was subcloned into a pEMBL expression vector. These plasmids were transformed into repair-deficient Escherichia coli (uvrA recA), and the following parameters were examined for cells or cell extracts: expression and accumulation of endonuclease V protein (K-130, H-130, or G-130); survival after UV irradiation; dimer-specific DNA binding; and kinetics of phosphodiester bond scission at pyrimidine dimer sites, dimer-specific N-glycosylase activity, and AP-endonuclease activity. The enzyme's intracellular accumulation was significantly decreased for G-130 and slightly decreased for H-130 despite normal levels of denV-specific mRNA for each mutant. On a molar basis, the endonuclease V gene products generally gave parallel levels of each of the catalytic and binding functions with K-130 greater than H-130 greater than G-130 much greater than control denV-.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Selective metal binding to Cys-78 within endonuclease V causes an inhibition of catalytic activities without altering nontarget and target DNA binding

T4 endonuclease V is a pyrimidine dimer-specific DNA repair enzyme which has been previously shown not to require metal ions for either of its two catalytic activities or its DNA binding function by virtue of its ability to function in the presence of metal-chelating agents. However, we have investigated whether the single cysteine within the enzyme was able to bind metal salts and influence the various activities of this repair enzyme. A series of metals (Hg2+, Ag+, Cu+) were shown to inactivate both endonuclease Vs pyrimidine dimer-specific DNA glycosylase activity and the subsequent apurinic nicking activity. The binding of metal to endonuclease V did not interfere with nontarget DNA scanning or pyrimidine dimer-specific binding. The Cys-78 codon within the endonuclease V gene was changed by oligonucleotide site-directed mutagenesis to Thr-78 and Ser-78 in order to determine whether the native cysteine was directly involved in the enzyme's DNA catalytic activities and whether the cysteine was primarily responsible for the metal binding. The mutant enzymes were able to confer enhanced ultraviolet light (UV) resistance to DNA repair-deficient Escherichia coli at levels equal to that conferred by the wild type enzyme. The C78T mutant enzyme was purified to homogeneity and shown to be catalytically active on pyrimidine dimer-containing DNA. The catalytic activities of the C78T mutant enzyme were demonstrated to be unaffected by the addition of Hg2+ or Ag+ at concentrations 1000-fold greater than that required to inhibit the wild type enzyme. These data suggest that the cysteine is not required for enzyme activity but that the binding of certain metals to that amino acid block DNA incision by either preventing a conformational change in the enzyme after it has bound to a pyrimidine dimer or sterically interfering with the active site residue's accessibility to the pyrimidine dimer.     

den V gene of bacteriophage T4 codes for both pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase and apyrimidinic endonuclease activities.

Recent studies have shown purified preparations of phage T4 UV DNA-incising activity (T4 UV endonuclease or endonuclease V of phage T4) contain a pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase activity that catalyzes hydrolysis of the 5' glycosyl bond of dimerized pyrimidines in UV-irradiated DNA. Such enzyme preparations have also been shown to catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds in UV-irradiated DNA at a neutral pH, presumably reflecting the action of an apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease at the apyrimidinic sites created by the pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase. In this study we found that preparations of T4 UV DNA-incising activity contained apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease activity that nicked depurinated form I simian virus 40 DNA. Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease activity was also found in extracts of Escherichia coli infected with T4 denV+ phage. Extracts of cells infected with T4 denV mutants contained significantly lower levels of apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease activity; these levels were no greater than the levels present in extracts of uninfected cells. Furthermore, the addition of DNA containing apurinic or apyrimidinic sites to reactions containing UV-irradiated DNA and T4 enzyme resulted in competition for pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase activity against the UV-irradiated DNA. On the basis of these results, we concluded that apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease activity is encoded by the denV gene of phage T4, the same gene that codes for pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase activity.     

The DNA scanning mechanism of T4 endonuclease V. Effect of NaCl concentration on processive nicking activity

T4 endonuclease V is a pyrimidine dimer-specific endonuclease which generates incisions in DNA at the sites of pyrimidine dimers by a processive reaction mechanism. A model is presented in which the degree of processivity is directly related to the efficacy of the one-dimensional diffusion of endonuclease V on DNA by which the enzyme locates pyrimidine dimers. The modulation of the processive nicking activity of T4 endonuclease V on superhelical covalently closed circular DNA (form I) which contains pyrimidine dimers has been investigated as a function of the ionic strength of the reaction. Agarose gel electrophoresis was used to separate the three topological forms of the DNA which were generated in time course reactions of endonuclease V with dimer-containing form I DNA in the absence of NaCl, and in 25, 50, and 100 mM NaCl. The degree of processivity was evaluated in terms of the mass fraction of form III (linear) DNA which was produced as a function of the fraction of form I DNA remaining. Processivity is maximal in the absence of NaCl and decreases as the NaCl concentration is increased. At 100 mM NaCl, processivity is abolished and endonuclease V generates incisions in DNA at the site of dimers by a distributive reaction mechanism. The change from the distributive to a processive reaction mechanism occurs at NaCl concentrations slightly below 50 mM. The high degree of processivity which is observed in the absence of NaCl is reversible to the distributive mechanism, as demonstrated by experiments in which the NaCl concentration was increased during the time course reaction. In addition, unirradiated DNA inhibited the incision of irradiated DNA only at NaCl concentrations at which processivity was observed.     

Site-directed mutagenesis of the T4 endonuclease V gene: the role of arginine-3 in the target search

Endonuclease V, a pyrimidine dimer specific endonuclease in T4 bacteriophage, is able to scan DNA, recognize pyrimidine dimer photoproducts produced by exposure to ultraviolet light, and effectively incise DNA through a two-step mechanism at the damaged bases. The interaction of endonuclease V with nontarget DNA is thought to occur via electrostatic interactions between basic amino acids and the acidic phosphate DNA backbone. Arginine-3 was chosen as a potential candidate for involvement in this protein-nontarget DNA interaction and was extensively mutated to assess its role. The mutations include changes to Asp, Glu, Leu, and Lys and deleting it from the enzyme. Deletion of Arg-3 resulted in an enzyme that retained marginal levels of AP specificity, but no other detectable activity. Charge reversal to Glu-3 and Asp-3 results in proteins that exhibit AP-specific nicking and low levels of dimer-specific nicking. These enzymes are incapable of affecting cellular survival of repair-deficient Escherichia coli after irradiation. Mutations of Arg-3 to Lys-3 or Leu-3 also are unable to complement repair-deficient E. coli. However, these two proteins do exhibit a substantial level of in vitro dimer- and AP-specific nicking. The mechanism by which the Leu-3 and Lys-3 mutant enzymes locate pyrimidine dimers within a population of heavily irradiated plasmid DNA molecules appears to be significantly different from that for the wild-type enzyme. The wild-type endonuclease V processively incises all dimers on an individual plasmid prior to dissociation from that plasmid and subsequent reassociation with other plasmids, yet neither of these mutants exhibits any of the characteristics of this processive nicking activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Purification of the T4 endonuclease V

A new purification protocol has been developed for the rapid isolation to physical homogeneity of T4 endonuclease V. The enzyme was purified from an Escherichia coli strain which harbors a plasmid containing the T4 denV structural gene downstream of the lambda rightward promoter. The purification of the enzyme was monitored by pyrimidine dimer-specific nicking activity, Western blot analysis and silver or Coomassie Blue staining of SDS-polyacrylamide gels. Milligram quantities of the enzyme have been purified by the following procedure. After sonication of cells and removal of major cell debris, total protein and nucleic acids were passed over a single-stranded DNA agarose column. Endonuclease V was eluted at 650 mM KCl with a linear salt gradient yielding enzyme of approximately 20% purity and following dialysis, was applied to a chromatofocusing column. The enzyme elutes at pH 9.4 and is greater than 90% homogeneous at this step. The final purification step is CM-Sephadex chromatography which attains greater than 98% homogeneity.     

Recognition of damaged regions in DNA by oligopeptides and proteins

The binding of various damaged DNAs to the single-strand binding protein coded for by gene 32 from bacteriophage T4, on the one hand, and of oligopeptides containing tryptophan and lysine residues, on the other hand, is described. These molecules exhibit a higher affinity for modified DNA than for native DNA in so far as modification results in a local destabilization of the double-stranded structure of the nucleic acid. Stacking interactions between aromatic amino acids and nucleic acid bases appear to play a crucial role in the recognition of destabilized regions induced by chemical agents (carcinogens and antitumor drugs). These interactions confer to the peptide lysyl-tryptophyl-lysine an endonucleolytic activity specific for apurinic sites. From results obtained with such oligopeptides a model for the active sites of Ap-endonucleases is proposed which could account for the strategy used by the denV endonuclease from phage T4 during the first step of excision repair of pyrimidine dimers in DNA. The effect of the overall conformation of modified DNA on repair efficiency is discussed.     

Oligonucleotide site directed mutagenesis of all histidine residues within the T4 endonuclease V gene: role in enzyme-nontarget DNA binding

In order to evaluate the contributions that histidine residues might play both in the catalytic activities of endonuclease V and in binding to nontarget DNA, the technique of oligonucleotide site directed mutagenesis was used to create mutations at each of the four histidine residues in the endonuclease V gene. Although none of the histidines were shown to be absolutely required for the pyrimidine dimer specific DNA glycosylase activity or the apurinic lyase activity, conservative amino acid changes at His16 produced enzymes with little or no catalytic activity. In addition, the evaluation of conservative and radical amino acid substitutions at positions 34, 56, and 107 is consistent with the interpretation that each of these histidines may be involved in nontarget DNA binding. The data supporting this conclusion are that histidine changes to lysine at positions 34 and 107 enhance the nontarget DNA binding activity of the mutant enzymes while neutralization of charge at His56 reduces nontarget DNA binding.     

Excision repair and DNA synthesis with a combination of HeLa DNA polymerase beta and DNase V

The ability of HeLa DNA polymerases to carry out DNA synthesis from incisions made by various endodeoxyribonucleases which recognize or form baseless sites in DNA was examined. DNA polymerase beta carried out limited strand displacement synthesis from 3'-hydroxyl nucleotide termini made by HeLa apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease II at the 5'-side of apurinic sites. Escherichia coli endonuclease III incises at the 3'-side of apurinic sites to produce nicks with 3'-deoxyribose termini which did not efficiently support DNA synthesis with beta-polymerase. However, these nicks could be activated to support limited DNA synthesis by HeLa AP endonuclease II, an enzyme which removes the baseless sugar phosphate from the 3'-termini, thus creating a one-nucleotide gap. With dGTP as the only nucleoside triphosphate present, the beta-polymerase catalyzed one-nucleotide DNA repair synthesis from those gaps which lacked dGMP. In contrast, HeLa DNA polymerase alpha was unreactive with all of the above incised DNA substrates. Larger patches of DNA synthesis were produced by nick translation from one-nucleotide gaps with HeLa DNA polymerase beta and HeLa DNase V. Moreover, incisions made by E. coli endonuclease III were activated to support DNA synthesis by the DNase V which removed the 3'-deoxyribose termini. HeLa DNase V also stimulated both the rate and extent of DNA synthesis by DNA polymerase beta from AP endonuclease II incisions. In this case the baseless sugar phosphate was removed from the 5'-termini, and nick translational synthesis occurred. Complete DNA excision repair of pyrimidine dimers was achieved with the beta-polymerase, DNase V, and DNA ligase from incisions made in UV-irradiated DNA by T4 UV endonuclease and HeLa AP endonuclease II. Such incisions produce a one-nucleotide gap containing 3'-hydroxyl nucleotide and 5'-thymine: thymidylate cyclobutane dimer termini. DNase V removes pyrimidine dimers primarily as a dinucleotide and then promotes nick translational DNA synthesis.     

Excision repair characteristics of denV-transformed xeroderma pigmentosum cells

Introduction of the denV gene of phage T4, encoding the pyrimidine dimer-specific endonuclease V, into xeroderma pigmentosum cells XP12RO(M1) was reported to result in partial restoration of colony-forming ability and excision repair synthesis. We have further characterized 3 denV-transformed XP clones in terms of rates of excision of pyrimidine dimers and size of the resulting resynthesized regions following exposure to 100 J/m2 from an FS-40 sunlamp. In the denV-transformed XP cells we observed 50% dimer removal within 3-6 h after UV exposure as compared to no measurable removal in the XP12RO(M1) line and 50% dimer excision after 18 h in the GM637A human, control cells. Dimer removal was assayed with Micrococcus luteus UV-endonuclease in conjunction with sedimentation of treated DNA in alkaline sucrose gradients. The size of the resulting repaired regions was determined by the bromouracil photolysis technique. Based on the photolytic sensitivity of DNA repaired in the presence of bromodeoxyuridine, we calculated that the excision of a dimer in the GM637A cells appears to be accompanied by the resynthesis of a region approximately 95 nucleotides in length. Conversely, the resynthesized regions in the denV-transformed clones were considerably smaller and were estimated to be between 13 and 18 nucleotides in length. These results may indicate that either the endonuclease that initiated dimer repair dictated the size of the resynthesized region or that the long-patch repair observed in the normal cells resulted from the repair of non-dimer DNA lesions.     

Host cell reactivation of CAT-expression vectors as a method to assay for cloned DNA-repair genes

We demonstrate the feasibility of using passive host-cell reactivation of a shuttle-vector pRSVcat to detect cloned DNA-repair genes. As models, a transient expression vector, pRSVdenV, and a positive-selection vector, pRSVdenV/SVgpt, were constructed containing the T4 coliphage denV gene, coding for an ultraviolet-specific endonuclease, under promotion of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) long-terminal repeat. Cotransfection of one or three copies of pRSVdenV per UV-irradiated pRSVcat molecule into xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) cells (XP12Ro[M1]) resulted in a dramatic increase in transient expression of chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) activity. XP clones stable transformed by pRSVdenV/SVgpt but not the parent cell line rescued CAT activity from this UV-irradiated reporter gene. The ability to express CAT activity from a UV-irradiated pRSVcat correlated with the presence of the structural denV gene as detected by Southern blot analysis. Post-UV irradiation colony-forming ability and DNA nucleotide excision-repair synthesis were partially restored in XP clones which rescued CAT activity. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using the cloned denV gene with its well characterized pyrimidine cyclobutane dimer-specific endonuclease activity to reconstitute UV-induced DNA repair in human cells deficient in DNA repair. Measuring CAT expression from pRSVcat affords a rapid, sensitive procedure to screen for functional cloned DNA-repair genes and to test mutant cells for defects in DNA repair.     

Excision of pyrimidine dimers from the DNA of Neurospora

Summary Germinated conidia of Neurospora have been monitored for their ability to excise pyrimidine dimers. Dimer concentration was measured in DNA extracted immediately after UV treatment, and it was compared to that of DNA from cells which had a post-UV incubation before extraction. Two methods were used to assay dimer level in DNA: 1) measurement of the number of single-strand breaks (as revealed in alkaline sucrose gradients) produced by a dimer-specific endonuclease; 2) monitoring the ability to compete for binding to dimer-specific antibodies in a radioimmuno assay. Both methods showed efficient excision of dimers by wild-type and by uvs-2, even though an earlier study had reported that uvs-2 was unable to excise dimers.UV-induced mutation shows a dose-rate effect: acute UV yields several times as many mutations as does the same dose of chronic UV. There is a parallel effect on dimer accumulation. The concentration of dimers at the conclusion of the UV treatment shows a strong correlation with the resultant mutation frequency.     

Loss of thymine dimers from mammalian cell DNA. The kinetics for antibody-binding sites are not the same as that for T4 endonuclease V sites

Antiserum specific for thymine-containing dimers was used to assay DNA isolated from ultraviolet-irradiated cells following different repair periods. A 50% loss in antibody-binding sites was evident 1 h post-irradiation, and within 4 h 80% of the sites were removed. This result contrasts with data obtained with dimer-specific T4 endonuclease V and does not appear to be due to masking of the dimers by repair enzymes. T4 endonuclease V treatment of ultraviolet-irradiated DNA at 0 degree C resulted in conversion of the thymine dimers to apyrimidinic sites. This did not result in loss of antigenicity in either PM2 or CHO cell DNA. Likewise, treatment of ultraviolet-irradiated CHO cell DNA with T4 endonuclease at 37 degrees C did not change its antigenicity. These results suggest that aglycosylation of the dimers is not responsible for their inability to bind dimer-specific antibody 2-4 h post-irradiation. The possibility that T4 endonuclease V and the antiserum have different specificities for different dimers is discussed.     

Processive action of T4 endonuclease V on ultraviolet-irradiated DNA.

The action of the dimer-specific endonuclease V of bacteriophage T4 was studied on UV-irradiated, covalently-closed circular DNa. Form I ColE1 DNA preparations containing average dimer frequencies ranging from 2.5 to 35 pyrimidine dimers per molecule were treated with T4 endonuclease V and analysed by agarose gel electrophoresis. At all dimer frequencies examined, the production of form III DNA was linear with time and the double-strand scissions were made randomly on the ColE1 DNA genome. Since the observed fraction of form III DNA increased with increasing dimer frequency but the initial rate of loss of form I decreased with increasing dimer frequency, it was postulated that multiple single-strand scissions could be produced in a subset of the DNA population while some DNA molecules contained no scissions. When DNA containing an average of 25 dimers per circle was incubated with limiting enzyme concentrations, scissions appeared at most if not all dimmer sites in some molecules before additional strand scissions were produced in other DNA molecules. The results support a processive model for the interaction of T4 endonuclease V with UV-irradiated DNA.     

Replication and mutagenesis of UV-damaged DNA templates in human and monkey cell extracts.

We have used in vitro DNA replication systems from human HeLa cells and monkey CV-1 cells to replicate a UV-damaged simian virus 40-based shuttle vector plasmid, pZ189. We found that replication of the plasmid was inhibited in a UV fluence-dependent manner, but even at UV fluences which caused damage to essentially all of the plasmid molecules some molecules became completely replicated. This replication was accompanied by an increase (up to 15-fold) in the frequency of mutations detected in the supF gene of the plasmid. These mutations were predominantly G:C-->A:T transitions similar to those observed in vivo. Treatment of the UV-irradiated plasmid DNA with Escherichia coli photolyase to reverse pyrimidine cyclobutane dimers (the predominant UV-induced photoproduct) before replication prevented the UV-induced inhibition of replication and reduced the frequency of mutations in supF to background levels. Therefore, the presence of pyrimidine cyclobutane dimers in the plasmid template appears to be responsible for both inhibition of replication and mutation induction. Further analysis of the replication of the UV-damaged plasmid revealed that closed circular replication products were sensitive to T4 endonuclease V (a pyrimidine cyclobutane dimer-specific endonuclease) and that this sensitivity was abolished by treatment of the replicated DNA with E. coli photolyase after replication but before T4 endonuclease treatment. These results demonstrate that these closed circular replication products contain pyrimidine cyclobutane dimers. Density labeling experiments revealed that the majority of plasmid DNA synthesized in vitro in the presence of bromodeoxyuridine triphosphate was hybrid density whether or not the plasmid was treated with UV radiation before replication; therefore, replication of UV-damaged templates appears to occur by the normal semiconservative mechanism. All of these data suggest that replication of UV-damaged templates occurs in vitro as it does in vivo and that this replication results in mutation fixation.     

Demonstration of pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase activity in vivo: bacteriophage T4-infected Escherichia coli as a model system.

An approach to the detection of pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase activity in living cells is presented. Mutants of Escherichia coli defective in uvr functions required for incision of UV-irradiated DNA were infected with phage T4 denV+ or denV- (defective in the T4 pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase activity). In the former case the denV gene product catalyzed the incision of UV-irradiated host DNA, facilitating the subsequent excision of thymine-containing pyrimidine dimers. Isolation of these dimers from the acid-soluble fraction of infected cells was achieved by a multistep thin-layer chromatographic system. Exposure of the dimers to irradiation that monomerizes pyrimidine dimers (direct photoreversal) resulted in the stoichiometric formation of free thymine. Thus, in vivo incision of UV-irradiated DNA dependent on a pyrimidine dimer-DNA glycosylase can be demonstrated.     

Consequences of molecular engineering enhanced DNA binding in a DNA repair enzyme.

Facilitated one-dimensional diffusion is a general mechanism utilized by several DNA-interactive proteins as they search for their target sites within large domains of nontarget DNA. T4 endonuclease V is a protein which scans DNA in a nonspecifically bound state and processively incises DNA at ultraviolet (UV)-induced pyrimidine dimer sites. An electrostatic contribution to this mechanism of target location has been established. Previous studies indicate that a decrease in the affinity of endonuclease V for nontarget DNA results in a decreased ability to scan DNA and a concomitant decrease in the ability to enhance UV survival in repair-deficient Escherichia coli. This study was designed to question the contrasting effect of an increase in the affinity of endonuclease V for nontarget DNA. With this as a goal, a gradient of increasingly basic amino acid content was created along a proposed endonuclease V-nontarget DNA interface. This incremental increase in positive charge correlated with the stepwise enhancement of nontarget DNA binding, yet inversely correlated with enhanced UV survival in repair-deficient E. coli. Further analysis suggests that the observed reduction in UV survival is consistent with the hypothesis that enhanced nontarget DNA affinity results in reduced pyrimidine dimer-specific recognition and/or binding. The net effect is a reduction in the efficiency of pyrimidine dimer incision.     

Modulation of the processive abasic site lyase activity of a pyrimidine dimer glycosylase

The repair of cis-syn cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) can be initiated via the base excision repair (BER) pathway, utilizing pyrimidine dimer-specific DNA glycosylase/lyase enzymes (pdgs). However, prior to incision at lesion sites, these enzymes bind to non-damaged DNAs through charge-charge interactions. Following initial binding to DNA containing multiple lesions, the enzyme incises at most of these sites prior to dissociation. If a subset of these lesions are in close proximity, clustered breaks may be produced that could lead to decreased cell viability or increased mutagenesis. Based on the co-crystal structures of bacteriophage T4-pdg and homology modeling of a related enzyme from Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus-1, the structure-function basis for the processive incision activity for both enzymes was investigated using site-directed mutagenesis. An assay was developed that quantitatively measured the rates of incision by these enzymes at clustered apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites. Mathematical modeling of random (distributive) versus processive incisions predicted major differences in the rate and extent of the accumulation of singly nicked DNAs between these two mechanisms. Comparisons of these models with biochemical nicking data revealed significant changes in the damage search mechanisms between wild-type pdgs and most of the mutant enzymes. Several conserved arginine residues were shown to be critical for the processivity of the incision activity, without interfering with catalysis at AP sites. Comparable results were measured for incision at clustered CPD sites in plasmid DNAs. These data reveal that pdgs can be rationally engineered to retain full catalytic activity, while dramatically altering mechanisms of target site location.