118 DNA structure-induced genetic instability in mammals

Naturally occurring repetitive DNA sequences can adopt alternative (i.e. non-B) DNA secondary structures, and often co-localize with chromosomal breakpoint “hotspots,” implicating non-B DNA in translocation-related cancer etiology. We have found that sequences capable of adopting H-DNA and Z-DNA structures are intrinsically mutagenic in mammals. For example, an endogenous H-DNA-forming sequence from the human c-MYC promoter and a model Z-DNA-forming CpG repeat induced genetic instability in mammalian cells, largely in the form of deletions resulting from DNA double-strand breaks (Wang & Vasquez, 2004; Wang et al., 2006). Characterization of the mutants revealed microhomologies at the breakpoints, consistent with a microhomology-mediated end-joining repair of the double-strand breaks (Kha et al., 2010). We have constructed transgenic mutation-reporter mice containing these human H-DNA- and Z-DNA-forming sequences to determine their effects on genomic instability in a chromosomal context in a living organism (Wang et al., 2008). Initial results suggest that both H-DNA- and Z-DNA-forming sequences induced genetic instability in mice, suggesting that these non-B DNA structures represent endogenous sources of genetic instability and may contribute to disease etiology and evolution. Our current studies are designed to determine the mechanisms of DNA structure-induced genetic instability in mammals; the roles of helicases, polymerases, and repair enzymes in H-DNA and Z-DNA-induced genetic instability will be discussed.