Escherichia Coli Mutator Mutd5 Is Defective in the Muthls Pathway of DNA Mismatch Repair

We have previously reported that the Escherichia coli mutator strain mutD5 was defective in the correction of bacteriophage M13mp2 heteroduplex DNA containing a T.G mismatch. Here, this defect was further investigated with regard to its interaction with the mutHLS pathway of mismatch repair. A set of 15 different M13mp2 heteroduplexes was used to measure the mismatch-repair capability of wild-type, mutL and mutD5 cells. Throughout the series, the mutD5 strain proved as deficient in mismatch repair as the mutL strain, indicating that the repair defect is similar in the two strains in both extent and specificity. [One exception was noted in the case a T.G mispair that was subject to VSP (Very Short Patch) repair. VSP repair was abolished by mutL but not by mutD.] Variation in the dam-methylation state of the heteroduplex molecules clearly affected repair in the wild-type strain but had no effect on either the mutD or mutL strain. Finally, mutDmutL or mutDmutS double-mutator strains were no more deficient in mismatch repair as were the single mutator strains. The combined results strongly argue that the mismatch-repair deficiency of mutD5 cells resides in the mutH,L,S-dependent pathway of mismatch repair and that the high mutation rate of mutD strains derives in part from this defect.     

Recombinagenic Processing of Uv-Light Photoproducts in Nonreplicating Phage DNA by the Escherichia Coli Methyl-Directed Mismatch Repair System

Nonreplicating lambda phage DNA in homoimmune Escherichia coli lysogens provides a useful model system for study of processes that activate DNA for homologous recombination. We measured recombination by extracting phage DNA from infected cells, using it to transfect recA recipient cells, and scoring the frequency of recombinant infective centers. With unirradiated phage, recombinant frequencies were less than 0.1%. However, recombination could be increased over 300-fold by prior UV irradiation of the phages. The dependence of recombination on UvrA function varied greatly with UV dose. With phage irradiated to 20 J/m2, recombinant frequencies in repressed infections of uvr+ bacteria were one-fifth those in uvrA infections; with phages irradiated to 100 J/m2, frequencies in uvr+ infections were thirty times higher than in uvrA infections. Most UV-stimulated recombination in uvrA infections appeared to depend on the bacterial methyl-directed mismatch-repair system: frequencies were depressed 5-20-fold in uvrA bacteria also lacking MutH, MutL or MutS functions, and recombinant frequencies decreased with increasing GATC-adenine methylation of phage stocks. The biological activity of nonreplicating UV-irradiated phage DNA declined with time after infection of uvrA cells; this decline was photoproduct-dependent, more marked for undermethylated than overmethylated phage DNA, and depended on host MutHLS functions. In uvr+ bacteria, where the UvrABC system provided an alternative, apparently less efficient, route to recombinagenic DNA, UV-stimulated recombinant frequencies were about twice as high in mutH or mutLS as in mut+ cells, in agreement with hyper-rec mut effects previously described by others.     

The Influence of Primary and Secondary DNA Structure in Deletion and Duplication between Direct Repeats in Escherichia Coli

We describe a system to measure the frequency of both deletions and duplications between direct repeats. Short 17- and 18-bp palindromic and nonpalindromic DNA sequences were cloned into the EcoRI site within the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene of plasmids pBR325 and pJT7. This creates an insert between direct repeated EcoRI sites and results in a chloramphenicol-sensitive phenotype. Selection for chloramphenicol resistance was utilized to select chloramphenicol resistant revertants that included those with precise deletion of the insert from plasmid pBR325 and duplication of the insert in plasmid pJT7. The frequency of deletion or duplication varied more than 500-fold depending on the sequence of the short sequence inserted into the EcoRI site. For the nonpalindromic inserts, multiple internal direct repeats and the length of the direct repeats appear to influence the frequency of deletion. Certain palindromic DNA sequences with the potential to form DNA hairpin structures that might stabilize the misalignment of direct repeats had a high frequency of deletion. Other DNA sequences with the potential to form structures that might destabilize misalignment of direct repeats had a very low frequency of deletion. Duplication mutations occurred at the highest frequency when the DNA between the direct repeats contained no direct or inverted repeats. The presence of inverted repeats dramatically reduced the frequency of duplications. The results support the slippage-misalignment model, suggesting that misalignment occurring during DNA replication leads to deletion and duplication mutations. The results also support the idea that the formation of DNA secondary structures during DNA replication can facilitate and direct specific mutagenic events.     

The Effects of Nucleotide Sequence Changes on DNA Secondary Structure Formation in Escherichia Coli Are Consistent with Cruciform Extrusion in Vivo

The construction in bacteriophage λ of a set of long DNA palindromes with paired changes in the central sequence is described. Identical palindrome centers were previously used by others to test the S-type model for cruciform extrusion in vitro. Long DNA palindromes prevent the propagation of carrier phage λ on a wild-type host, and the sbcC mutation is sufficient to almost fully alleviate this inviability. The plaque areas produced by the palindrome containing phages were compared on an Escherichia coli sbcC lawn. Central sequence changes had a greater effect upon the plaque area than peripheral changes, implying that the residual palindrome-mediated inviability in E. coli sbcC is center-dependent and could be due to the formation of a cruciform structure. The results argue strongly that intrastrand pairing within palindromes is critical in determining their effects in vivo. In addition, the same data suggests that DNA loops in vivo may sometimes contain two bases only.     

Unraveling DNA Repair in Human: Molecular Mechanisms and Consequences of Repair Defect

Cellular genomes are vulnerable to an array of DNA-damaging agents, of both endogenous and environmental origin. Such damage occurs at a frequency too high to be compatible with life. As a result cell death and tissue degeneration, aging and cancer are caused. To avoid this and in order for the genome to be reproduced, these damages must be corrected efficiently by DNA repair mechanisms. Eukaryotic cells have multiple mechanisms for the repair of damaged DNA. These repair systems in humans protect the genome by repairing modified bases, DNA adducts, crosslinks and double-strand breaks. The lesions in DNA are eliminated by mechanisms such as direct reversal, base excision and nucleotide excision. The base excision repair eliminates single damaged-base residues by the action of specialized DNA glycosylases and AP endonucleases. Nucleotide excision repair excises damage within oligomers that are 25 to 32 nucleotides long. This repair utilizes many proteins to remove the major UV-induced photoproducts from DNA, as well as other types of modified nucleotides. Different DNA polymerases and ligases are utilized to complete the separate pathways. The double-strand breaks in DNA are repaired by mechanisms that involve DNA protein kinase and recombination proteins. The defect in one of the repair protein results in three rare recessive syndromes: xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne syndrome, and trichothiodystrophy. This review describes the biochemistry of various repair processes and summarizes the clinical features and molecular mechanisms underlying these disorders.     

DNA Repair Mechanisms and the Bypass of DNA Damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

DNA repair mechanisms are critical for maintaining the integrity of genomic DNA, and their loss is associated with cancer predisposition syndromes. Studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have played a central role in elucidating the highly conserved mechanisms that promote eukaryotic genome stability. This review will focus on repair mechanisms that involve excision of a single strand from duplex DNA with the intact, complementary strand serving as a template to fill the resulting gap. These mechanisms are of two general types: those that remove damage from DNA and those that repair errors made during DNA synthesis. The major DNA-damage repair pathways are base excision repair and nucleotide excision repair, which, in the most simple terms, are distinguished by the extent of single-strand DNA removed together with the lesion. Mistakes made by DNA polymerases are corrected by the mismatch repair pathway, which also corrects mismatches generated when single strands of non-identical duplexes are exchanged during homologous recombination. In addition to the true repair pathways, the postreplication repair pathway allows lesions or structural aberrations that block replicative DNA polymerases to be tolerated. There are two bypass mechanisms: an error-free mechanism that involves a switch to an undamaged template for synthesis past the lesion and an error-prone mechanism that utilizes specialized translesion synthesis DNA polymerases to directly synthesize DNA across the lesion. A high level of functional redundancy exists among the pathways that deal with lesions, which minimizes the detrimental effects of endogenous and exogenous DNA damage.     

Mutational Analysis of the Cy Motif from p21 Reveals Sequence Degeneracy and Specificity for Different Cyclin-Dependent Kinases

Inhibitors, activators, and substrates of cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks) utilize a cyclin-binding sequence, known as a Cy or RXL motif, to bind directly to the cyclin subunit. Alanine scanning mutagenesis of the Cy motif of the cdk inhibitor p21 revealed that the conserved arginine or leucine (constituting the conserved RXL sequence) was important for p21's ability to inhibit cyclin E-cdk2 activity. Further analysis of mutant Cy motifs showed, however, that RXL was neither necessary nor sufficient for a functional cyclin-binding motif. Replacement of either of these two residues with small hydrophobic residues such as valine preserved p21's inhibitory activity on cyclin E-cdk2, while mutations in either polar or charged residues dramatically impaired p21's inhibitory activity. Expressing p21N with non-RXL Cy sequences inhibited growth of mammalian cells, providing in vivo confirmation that RXL was not necessary for a functional Cy motif. We also show that the variant Cy motifs identified in this study can effectively target substrates to cyclin-cdk complexes for phosphorylation, providing additional evidence that these non-RXL motifs are functional. Finally, binding studies using p21 Cy mutants demonstrated that the Cy motif was essential for the association of p21 with cyclin E-cdk2 but not with cyclin A-cdk2. Taking advantage of this differential specificity toward cyclin E versus cyclin A, we demonstrate that cell growth inhibition was absolutely dependent on the ability of a p21 derivative to inhibit cyclin E-cdk2.     

Molecular Mechanisms of DNA Damage and Repair: Progress in Plants

Dedicated to Prof. Jan H. J. Hoeijmakers.

Referee: Dr. Nawin C. Mishra, Professor of Genetics, University of South Carolina, Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia, SC 29208

Despite stable genomes of all living organisms, they are subject to damage by chemical and physical agents in the environment (e.g., UV and ionizing radiations, chemical mutagens, fungal and bacterial toxins, etc.) and by free radicals or alkylating agents endogenously generated in metabolism. DNA is also damaged because of errors during its replication. The DNA lesions produced by these damaging agents could be altered base, missing base, mismatch base, deletion or insertion, linked pyrimidines, strand breaks, intra- and inter-strand cross-links.     

Mutagenic DNA repair in Escherichia coli. XIV. Influence of two DNA polymerase III mutator alleles on spontaneous and UV mutagenesis

Summary We introduced the dnaE486 and polC74 mutations (which are associated with decreased DNA polymerase III replication fidelity) into excision defective Escherichia coli strains with varying SOS responses. These mutations increased the UV-induced frequency of base pair substitution mutations in all strains tested, except recA430 and umuC122 derivatives. This UV mutator effect therefore requires expression of the SOS error-prone repair system. In recA441 lexA51 strains where the SOS system is constitutively expressed, the UV mutator effect of the dnaE alleles was similar in relative terms (though greater in absolute terms). Since these dnaE alleles decrease rather than increase survival after UV it is argued that they promote a burst of untargeted mutations close to UV photoproducts (hitch-hiking mutations) rather than increase the number of translesion synthesis events. The fact that there was no UV mutagenesis in dnaE486 umuC122 or polC74 umuC122 strains indicates that infidelity associated with these dnaE alleles did not of itself enable translesion synthesis to occur. The spontaneous mutator effect conferred by dnaE486 and polC74 was not affected by umuC122 or recA430 indicating that it is not dependent upon error-prone repair ability. In recA441 lexA51 bacteria, where SOS error-prone repair is constitutively induced, the mutator effect of dnaE486 was greater and was largely blocked by umuC122. It is suggested that spontaneously occurring cryptic lesions that are themselves unable to induce the SOS system are subject to translesion synthesis under these conditions and trigger a burst of hitch-hiking mutations that are therefore effectively umuC dependent.     

DNA Structures Generated during Recombination Initiated by Mismatch Repair of Uv-Irradiated Nonreplicating Phage DNA in Escherichia Coli: Requirements for Helicase, Exonucleases, and Recf and Recbcd Functions

During infection of homoimmune Escherichia coli lysogens (``repressed infections'), undamaged non-replicating λ phage DNA circles undergo very little recombination. Prior UV irradiation of phages dramatically elevates recombinant frequencies, even in bacteria deficient in UvrABC-mediated excision repair. We previously reported that 80-90% of this UvrABC-independent recombination required MutHLS function and unmethylated d(GATC) sites, two hallmarks of methyl-directed mismatch repair. We now find that deficiencies in other mismatch-repair activities--UvrD helicase, exonuclease I, exonuclease VII, RecJ exonuclease--drastically reduce recombination. These effects of exonuclease deficiencies on recombination are greater than previously observed effects on mispair-provoked excision in vitro. This suggests that the exonucleases also play other roles in generation and processing of recombinagenic DNA structures. Even though dsDNA breaks are thought to be highly recombinagenic, 60% of intracellular UV-irradiated phage DNA extracted from bacteria in which recombination is low--UvrD(-), ExoI(-), ExoVII(-), or RecJ(-)--displays (near-)blunt-ended dsDNA ends (RecBCD-sensitive when deproteinized). In contrast, only bacteria showing high recombination (Mut(+) UvrD(+) Exo(+)) generate single-stranded regions in nonreplicating UV-irradiated DNA. Both recF and recB recC mutations strikingly reduce recombination (almost as much as a recF recB recC triple mutation), suggesting critical requirements for both RecF and RecBCD activity. The mismatch repair system may thus process UV-irradiated DNA so as to initiate more than one recombination pathway.     

The Speciation History of Drosophila Pseudoobscura and Close Relatives: Inferences from DNA Sequence Variation at the Period Locus

Thirty-five period locus sequences from Drosophila pseudoobscura and its siblings species, D. p. bogotana, D. persimilis, and D. miranda, were studied. A large amount of variation was found within D. pseudoobscura and D. persimilis, consistent with histories of large effective population sizes. D. p. bogotana, however, has a severe reduction in diversity. Combined analysis of per with two other loci, in both D. p. bogotana and D. pseudoobscura, strongly suggest this reduction is due to recent directional selection at or near per within D. p. bogotana. Since D. p. bogotana is highly variable and shares variation with D. pseudoobscura at other loci, the low level of variation at per within D. p. bogotana can not be explained by a small effective population size or by speciation via founder event. Both D. pseudoobscura and D. persimilis have considerable intraspecific gene flow. A large portion of one D. persimilis sequence appears to have arisen via introgression from D. pseudoobscura. The time of this event appears to be well after the initial separation of these two species. The estimated times since speciation are one mya for D. pseudoobscura and D. persimilis and 2 mya since the formation of D. miranda.     

Effect of DNA Local Conformation on the Affinity and Binding Specificity of bis-Netropsins to DNA

The interaction of short nucleotide duplexes with bis-netropsins, in which netropsin fragments are linked tail-to-tail via cis-diammineplatinum group (Nt–Pt(NH ₃ )–Nt) or aliphatic pentamethylene chain (Nt–(CH ₂ ) ₅ –Nt), has been studied. Both bis-netropsins have been shown to bind to DNA oligomer 5"-CCTATATCC-3" (I) as a hairpin with parallel orientation of netropsin fragments in 1:1 stoichiometry. Monodentate binding has been detected upon binding of bis-netropsins to other duplexes of sequences 5"-CCXCC-3" [where X = TTATT (II), TTAT (III), TTTTT (IV), and AATTT (V)] along with the binding of bis-netropsins as a hairpin. The formation of dimeric antiparallel motif between the halves of two bound bis-netropsin molecules has been observed in the complexes of Nt–(CH ₂ ) ₅ –Nt with DNA oligomers IV and V. The ratio of binding constant of bis-netropsin as a hairpin ( ₂) to monodentate binding constant ( ₁) has been shown to correlate with the width and/or conformational lability of DNA in the binding site. The share of bis-netropsin bound as a hairpin decreases in the order: TATAT > TTATT > TTAAT > TTTTT > AATTT, whereas the contribution of monodentate binding rises. The minimal strong binding site for Nt–Pt(NH ₃ )–Nt and Nt–(CH ₂ ) ₅ –Nt binding as a hairpin has been found to be DNA duplex 5"-CGTATACG-3".     

DNA Repair 2008: Tenth Biennial Meeting of the German Society for Research on DNA Repair

The Tenth Meeting of the German Society for Research on DNA Repair was held in Berlin in September 2008. Invited presentations by Yosef Shiloh, Stanton L. Gerson, Sacha Beneke, Patrick Concannon, Jochen Dahm-Daphi, Thilo Dörk, Friedrike Eckardt-Schupp, Bernd Epe, Ian Hickson, Ulrich Hübscher, Penny Jeggo, Malik Lutzmann, Christof Niehrs, Primo Schär and Predrag Slijepcevic together with over 80 selected oral and poster presentations generated an inspiring scientific program, which documented the impressive progress of the community and defined future challenges in the field.     

The Mechanism of Reca Pola Lethality: Suppression by Reca-Independent Recombination Repair Activated by the Lexa(def) Mutation in Escherichia Coli

The mechanism of recA polA lethality in Escherichia coli has been studied. Complementation tests have indicated that both the 5' -> 3' exonuclease and the polymerization activities of DNA polymerase I are essential for viability in the absence of RecA protein, whereas the viability and DNA replication of DNA polymerase I-defective cells depend on the recombinase activity of RecA. An alkaline sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis has indicated that RecA has only a minor role in Okazaki fragment processing. Double-strand break repair is proposed for the major role of RecA in the absence of DNA polymerase I. The lexA(Def)::Tn5 mutation has previously been shown to suppress the temperature-sensitive growth of recA200(Ts) polA25::spc mutants. The lexA(Def) mutation can alleviate impaired DNA synthesis in the recA200(Ts) polA25::spc mutant cells at the restrictive temperature. recF(+) is essential for this suppression pathway. recJ and recQ mutations have minor but significant adverse effects on the suppression. The recA200(Ts) allele in the recA200(Ts) polA25::spc lexA(Def) mutant can be replaced by δrecA, indicating that the lexA(Def)-induced suppression is RecA independent. lexA(Def) reduces the sensitivity of δrecA polA25::spc cells to UV damage by ~10(4)-fold. lexA(Def) also restores P1 transduction proficiency to the δrecA polA25::spc mutant to a level that is 7.3% of the recA(+) wild type. These results suggest that lexA(Def) activates a RecA-independent, RecF-dependent recombination repair pathway that suppresses the defect in DNA replication in recA polA double mutants.     

Mechanisms of ultraviolet-induced mutation. Mutational spectra in the Escherichia coli lacI gene for a wild-type and an excision-repair-deficient strain

We have analyzed the DNA sequence changes in a total of 409 ultraviolet light-induced mutations in the lacI gene of Escherichia coli: 227 in a Uvr+ and 182 in a UvrB- strain. Both differences and similarities were observed. In both strains the mutations were predominantly (60 to 75%) base substitutions, followed by smaller contributions of single-base frameshifts, deletions and frameshift hotspot mutations. The base substitutions proved largely similar in the two strains but differences were observed among the single-base frameshifts, the deletions and the hotspot mutations. Among the base substitutions, both transitions (72.5%) and transversions (27.5%) were observed. The largest single group was G.C----A.T (60% of all base substitutions). The sites where G.C----A.T changes occurred were strongly correlated (97.5%) with sequences of adjacent pyrimidines, indicating mutation targeted ultraviolet photoproducts. Comparable amounts of mutation occurred at cytosine/cytosine and (mixed) cytosine/thymine sites. From an analysis of the prevalence of mutation at either the 5' or 3' side of a dipyrimidine, we conclude that both cyclobutane dimers and (6-4) lesions may contribute to mutation. Despite the general similarity of the base-substitution spectra between the wild-type and excision-defective strains, a number of sites were uniquely mutable in the UvrB- strain. Analysis of their surrounding DNA sequences suggested that, in addition to damage directly at the site of mutation, the potential for nearby opposite-strand damage may be important in determining the mutability of a site. The ultraviolet light-induced frameshift mutations were largely single-base losses. Inspection of the DNA sequences at which the frameshifts occurred suggested that they resulted from targeted mutagenesis, probably at cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers. The prevalence of frameshift mutations at homodimers (TT or CC) suggests that their formation involves local misalignment (slippage) and that base-pairing properties are partially retained in cyclobutane dimers. While the frameshift mutations in the Uvr+ strain were distributed over many different sites, more than half in the UvrB- strain were concentrated at a single site. Ultraviolet light-induced deletions as well as frameshift hotspot mutations (+/- TGGC at positions 620 to 632) are considered to be examples of untargeted or semitargeted mutagenesis. Hotspot mutations in the Uvr+ strain showed an increased contribution by (-)TGGC relative to (+)TGGC, indicating that ultraviolet light may specifically promote the loss of the four bases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Mutagenic effect on Escherichia coli bacteria of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine--a DNA base damage product induced by oxygen radicals and ionizing radiation]

The effect of 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) (8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine)--a DNA base damage product induced by oxygen radicals and irradiation on survival and mutagenesis in Escherichia coli strains C-600 and P-687 was investigated. Survival and mutagenesis curves, in dependence of 8-oxo-dG concentrations in the medium, ranging from 0.2 through 10 mM, were obtained. Bacterial survival at all 8-oxo-dG concentrations tested was shown to be no lesser than in the control. The mutagenic effect of 8-oxo-dG was tested by frequency of reversions in the absence of leucine and threonine. A non-linear dependence of mutagenesis on the concentration was observed. Linear increase in the amount of revertants took place at concentrations of 8-oxo-dG lower than 1 mM, and being kept constant at higher concentrations. Induction of SOS repair under the action of 8-oxo-dG in E. coli PQ37 strain was estimated according to alteration of activity of beta-galactosidase in the SOS chromotest. Weak induction of the SOS response was observed within the wide range of 8-oxo-dG concentration values, which points to a lack of genotoxicity and independence of mutagenesis on SOS repair.