Mutagenic effects of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 deficiency in transgenic mice

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (Parp1) plays a central role in the maintenance of genomic integrity and has been unequivocally associated to DNA base excision repair (BER) but its involvement in double-strand break (DSB) repair pathways remains unclear. In this work, using transgenic Parp1-deficient mice harbouring the lacZ reporter gene, we provide in vivo evidence that Parp1 contributes to the prevention of deletions/insertions in testis following an alkylation insult. In response to N-Methyl-N-Nitrosurea (MNU) treatment no significant difference in the mutant frequency (MF) in the liver and testis could be attributed to Parp1 status, given that both Parp1^+/+ and Parp1^−/− mice showed a similar significant increase in the overall MF. However, restriction analysis of MNU-induced mutants evidenced a shift in the distribution of mutations between deletions/insertions and point mutations in testis, but not in the liver, dependent on the Parp1 status. A significant higher frequency of deletions/insertions was observed in testis from Parp1^−/− in comparison to Parp1^+/+ mice, whereas point mutations were not significantly affected. Overall, our findings show that Parp1 participates in the prevention of deletions/insertions induced by methylating agents and that organ-specific factors may influence its capacity to protect against genotoxic damage.