Roles of DNA interstrand crosslinking and its repair in the induction of sister-chromatid exchange and a higher induction in fanconi's anemia cells

The roles of DNA crosslink and its repair in the induction of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) were studied in normal, xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) complementation group A, and Fanconi's anemia (FA) fibroblasts after treatment with mitomycin C (MC) or decarbamoyl mitomycin C (DMC) for 1 h. FA strains were 5—30-fold more sensitive to MC killing than normal cells, but normally responded to DMC killing. XP group-A cells were twice and only slightly more sensitive to DMC and MC killings, respectively, than normal cells. The induction rate of immediate SCEs by MC was 1.7 times higher, despite a normal SCE rate by DMC, in FA strains than that in normal cells. Alternatively, SCE rates by DMC and MC were 6 times and only 1.3 times higher, respectively, in XP cells than in normal cells. In normal cells, the reduction of MC-induced SCEs as a function of repair time followed a biphasic curve of the first rapid (half-life, 2 h) and the second slow (half-life, 14 h) components. Such components corresponded exactly to the first half-excision and the second slow repair processes of molecular crosslink repair. In MC-induced SCEs, FA17JTO cells exhibited only the slow reduction component without the first rapid component and a higher saturation level in the time-dependent reduction in SCEs. This indicates that SCEs are produced by crosslinks remaining unrepaired for long times (24—48 h) after treatment of FA cells. Conversely, XP group-A cells capable of the first half-excision manifested the first rapid reduction in SCEs, although the second component declined at the slowest rate (half-life, 48 h) owing to a defect in the second mono-adduct repair. The reduction in DMC-induced SCEs followed only the slow component. Thus, these results demonstrate that crosslink can be the lesion leading to SCE, and the MC-induced SCE frequency is higher in FA cells than in normal cells. In the FA20JTO strain, such a repair defect seemed to be less than in FA17JTO cells, judged from the survival and SCE characteristics.     

Both cross-links and monoadducts induced in DNA by psoralens can lead to sister chromatid exchange formation

The relative importance of DNA-DNA cross-links and bulky monoadducts in sister chromatid exchange (SCE) formation was investigated in three human fibroblast cell lines with different repair capabilities. These cell lines included normal cells, which can repair both classes of lesions; xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) cells, which cannot repair either psoralen-induced cross-links or monoadducts; and an XP revertant that repairs only cross-links and not monoadducts. SCEs were induced by two psoralen derivatives, 4'-hydroxymethyl-4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen (HMT) and 5-methylisopsoralen (5-MIP). After activation with long-wave ultraviolet light, HMT produces cross-links and monoadducts in DNA, whereas 5-MIP produces only monoadducts. In normal human cells both psoralens induced SCEs, but if cells were allowed to repair for 18 h before bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd) was added for SCE analysis, the SCE frequency was significantly reduced. XP cells showed an SCE frequency that remained high regardless of whether SCEs were analyzed immediately after psoralen exposure or 18 h later. In the XP revertant that repairs only cross-links, both psoralens induced a high yield of SCEs when BrdUrd was added immediately after psoralen treatment. When XP revertant cells were allowed 18 h to repair before addition of BrdUrd, the SCEs induced by HMT were greatly reduced, whereas those induced by 5-MIP were only slightly reduced. These observations indicate that both cross-links and monoadducts are lesions in DNA that can lead to SCE formation.     

Structural studies of a membrane-bound acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo californica

We investigated the differential repair of DNA lesions induced by bifunctional mitomycin C, monofunctional decarbamoyl mitomycin C and ultraviolet irradiation in normal human, Xeroderma pigmentosum and Fanconi's anemia cells using assays for the survival of clone-forming ability, alkaline sucrose sedimentation and hydroxyapatite chromatography of DNA. Four FA cell lines exhibited about 5 to 15 times higher sensitivity to MC killing, despite normal resistance to u.v. and DMC, than did normal human cells. The XP cells, however, were highly sensitive to u.v. and DMC killings due to their deficiency in excision repair, but the cells unexpectedly had an almost normal capacity for surviving MC and repairing the MC interstrand cross-links.In experiments to determine the sedimentation velocity of the DNA in alkaline sucrose gradients, normal and XP cells showed evidence for single-strand cutting following MC treatment. The sedimentation velocity of the DNA covalently cross-linked by MC in an FA strain was 2.5 times faster than that of the untreated control, and remained unaltered during post-incubation due to the lack of half-excision⁴ of cross-links. However, FA cells, but not XP cells, had the normal ability to incise DNA with the DMC monoadducts. Hydroxyapatite chromatography revealed the reversibly bihelical property of MC cross-linked DNA after denaturation. Normal and XP cells lost such reversibility during post-MC incubation as the result of cross-link removal with first-order kinetics (half-life = 2 h). The three FA lines studied exhibited two- to eightfold reduced rates of cross-link removal than normal and XP cells, indicating a difference in the repair deficiency of the FA strain. Thus we have been led to conclude that FA cells may have different levels of deficiency in half-excision repair of interstrand cross-links induced by MC, despite having normal mechanisms for repair of u.v.-induced pyrimidine dimers and DMC monoadducts, and vice versa in XP cells.     

Analysis of single and twin sister chromatid exchanges in endoreduplicated normal and bloom syndrome B-lymphoid cells

Single and twin sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) were analysed in the colcemid-induced endoreduplicated normal and Bloom syndrome (BS) B-lymphoid cells with diplochromosomes. In normal cells, an equal number of SCEs occur in each of the two cell cycles; the ratio of single (= 5.51 SCEs/cell) to twins (= 2.64 SCEs/cell) was 21 on the endoreduplicated-cell basis, and it was 11 on the diploid-cell basis. In contrast, in 29 endomitoses from one BS B-lymphoid line, a manyfold increase of single SCEs was detected and 139.4 single SCEs on the average were counted, whereas twin SCEs were rare and only 4.9 twin SCEs were countable. In BS cells, the ratio of single (= 139.4 SCEs/cell) to twins (4.9 SCEs/cell) was 281 on the endoreduplicated-cell basis, and it was 141 on the diploid cell-basis; the rates of S1 and S2 exchanges were 4.9 and 69.7 SCEs/cell, respectively. The present study strongly indicates that most of BS SCEs occur during the second cell cycle when BrdU-containing DNA is used as template for replication and that BrdU enhances BS SCEs.     

Do the frequencies of sister chromatid exchanges in endoreduplieated mitoses provide a measure for lesion persistence and repair?

Endoreduplication was induced in V 79 cells using Colcemid. The concentration of Colcemid necessary to induce endoreduplication is about 1000 times higher than that needed to arrest mitoses or to induce ordinary tetraploid cells. Diplochromosomes with sister chromatid differentiation were obtained by adding BrdU for the duration of one cell cycle prior to the induction of endoreduplication. The induction of endoreduplication with Colcemid had no influence on the frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs). Treating the cultures with mitomycin C (MMC) before adding BrdU increased the percentage of endoreduplieated mitoses and also led to marked SCE induction. In the diplochromosomes, the frequencies of both twin SCEs (first cycle) as well as single SCEs (second cycle) were increased. It was also found that the SCE frequencies in mitoses after endoreduplication were lower than the values found in diploid and ordinary tetraploid metaphases of the same preparation. The possible conclusions concerning the lifetime of SCE-inducing lesions and the influence of repair processes are discussed.     

Rad51C-deficient CL-V4B cells exhibit normal levels of mitomycin C-induced SCEs but reduced levels of UVC-induced SCEs

The mechanisms of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) are not known. One hypothesis is that SCE is a manifestation of Rad51-dependent homologous recombination repair. In order to test this hypothesis, we have compared the frequencies of SCEs induced by mitomycin C (MMC) and 254nm ultraviolet radiation (UVC) in wt V79B and the Rad51C-deficient CL-V4B cells. SCEs were analysed in the first (M1) and second (M2) post-treatment mitoses. In M1 MMC induced the same frequencies of SCEs in CL-V4B and V79B cells, while the UVC-induced SCE frequencies were lower in CL-V4B than V79B cells. In CL-V4B cells, MMC-induced SCEs were higher in M2 than in M1, suggesting that interstrand cross-links (ICL) are either not removed completely or are transformed into another form of DNA damage that persists until the next cell cycle. We suggest that SCEs may represent a mechanism to bypass MMC-induced ICL without their removal.     

Further analysis of the replication bypass model for sister chromatid exchange

Summary The replication bypass model for sister chromatid exchange (SCE) proposed by Shafer is examined in detail. When applied through two cell cycles, the model predicts that potentially observable SCEs induced during one S phase will then be cancelled and rendered undetectable during the subsequent S phase. This aspect of replication bypass is inconsistent with the observation of twin SCEs in tetraploid cells. Furthermore, the model cannot account for the efficient induction of SCEs by non-cross-linking chemical agents.     

Influence of low doses of BrdU and estimation of spontaneous SCE in CHO chromosomes: three-way differential staining and an immunoperoxidase method

The influence of low doses of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) on the occurrence of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) during the first cell cycle, when unsubstituted DNA templates replicate in the presence of the halogenated nucleoside (SCE1) has been assessed in third mitosis (M3) Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells showing three-way differential (TWD) staining. In addition, lower concentrations of BrdU, not detectable by Giemsa staining, have been tested by a high resolution immunoperoxidase method (anti-BrdU monoclonal antibody) and SCEs were scored in second mitosis (M2) cells. Our findings was a dose-response curve for SCE1 that allows an estimated mean spontaneous yield of 1.32/cell per cell cycle by extrapolation to zero concentration of BrdU. On the other hand, when the total SCE frequency corresponding to the first and second rounds of replication (SCE1+SCE2) found in M3 chromosomes was compared with the yield of SCEs scored in M2 cells grown in BrdU at doses lower than 1 M no further reduction was achieved. This seems to indicate that SCEs can occur spontaneously in this cell line, though the estimated frequency is higher than that reported in vivo.by S. Wolff     

Strand breaks arising from the repair of the 5-bromodeoxyuridine-substituted template and methyl methanesulphonate-induced lesions can explain the formation of sister chromatid exchanges

5-Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-induced sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) are mainly determined during replication on a BrdU-substituted template. The BrdU, once incorporated, is rapidly excised as uracil (U), and the gap is repaired with the incorporation of BrdU from the medium, which leads to further repair. During the second S period in BrdU medium, this process continues as the strand acts as template. Experiments suggest that 3-amino-benzamide (3AB) delays the ligation of the gaps formed after U excision, resulting in enhanced SCE levels during the second cycle of BrdU incorporation. When normal templates of G1 cells are treated before BrdU introduction with methyl methanesulphonate (MMS), 3AB in the first cycle doubles the MMS-induced SCEs but has no effect on them during the second cycle. When the BrdU-substituted template is treated with MMS in G1 of the second cycle, 3AB again doubles the SCEs due to MMS and also enhances the SCEs resulting from delays in ligation of the gaps following U excision in the BrdU-substituted template. The repair processes of MMS lesions that are sensitive to 3AB and lead to SCEs take place rapidly, while the repair process of late repairing lesions that lead to SCEs appear to be insensitive to 3AB. A model for SCE induction is proposed involving a single-strand break or gap as the initial requirement for SCE initiation at the replicating fork. Subsequent events represent natural stages in the repair process of a lesion, ensuring replication without loss of genetic information. G1 cells treated with methylnitrosourea (MNU) and grown immediately in BrdU medium rapidly lose the O⁶-methylguanine from their DNA and the rate of loss is BrdU-dose dependent. The rapid excision of the U lesions can explain the effect of BrdU concentration on SCE reduction following both MNU or MMS treatment.     

Sister chromatid differentiation and exchanges in adult mudminnows (Umbra limi) after in vivo exposure to 5-bromodeoxyuridine

An in vivo system for the detection of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) in the central mudminnow, Umbra limi, is presented. Sister chromatid differential (SCD) and SCE were demonstrated by fluorescent and Giemsa procedures 5 to 6 days after the fish were injected with 500 g/g of BrdU. The exchange rate was found to be 2.64 SCEs metaphase in the intestines and 2.42 SCEs/metaphase in the gills. SCE analysis in U. limi should be a useful tool for measuring the mutagenicity of water-borne chemicals.     

Sister chromatid exchanges occur in G2-irradiated cells

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are arguably the most important lesions induced by ionizing radiation (IR) since unrepaired or misrepaired DSBs can lead to chromosomal aberrations and cell death. The two major pathways to repair IR-induced DSBs are non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR). Perhaps surprisingly, NHEJ represents the predominant pathway in the G₁ and G₂ phases of the cell cycle, but HR also contributes and repairs a subset of IR-induced DSBs in G₂. Following S-phase-dependent genotoxins, HR events give rise to sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), which can be detected cytogenetically in mitosis. Here, we describe that HR occurring in G₂-irradiated cells also generates SCEs in ∼50% of HR events. Since HR of IR-induced DSBs in G₂ is a slow process, SCE formation in G₂-irradiated cells requires several hours. During this time, irradiated S-phase cells can also reach mitosis, which has contributed to the widely held belief that SCEs form only during S phase. We describe procedures to measure SCEs exclusively in G₂-irradiated cells and provide evidence that following IR cells do not need to progress through S phase in order to form SCEs.Key words: sister chromatid exchanges, double-strand break repair, ionizing radiation, homologous recombination, G₂ phase     

Knockdown of αII spectrin in normal human cells by siRNA leads to chromosomal instability and decreased DNA interstrand cross-link repair

Nonerythroid α-spectrin (αIISp) is a structural protein involved in repair of DNA interstrand cross-links and is deficient in cells from patients with Fanconi anemia (FA), which are defective in ability to repair cross-links. In order to further demonstrate the importance of the role that αIISp plays in normal human cells and in the repair defect in FA, αIISp was knocked down in normal cells using siRNA. Depletion of αIISp in normal cells by siRNA resulted in chromosomal instability and cellular hypersensitivity to DNA interstrand cross-linking agents. An increased number of chromosomal aberrations were observed and, following treatment with a DNA interstrand cross-linking agent, mitomycin C, cells showed decreased cell growth and survival and decreased formation of damage-induced αIISp and XPF nuclear foci. Thus depletion of αIISp in normal cells leads to a number of defects observed in FA cells, such as chromosome instability and a deficiency in cross-link repair.     

Isolation and subregional mapping of a human cDNA clone detecting a common RELP on chromosome 12

Summary Peripheral blood lymphocytes from three patients with Down syndrome (DS; trisomy 21; aged 5–6 years) and three age-matched control children were studied for the induction of chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs).Cells in G₀ were exposed to bleomycin (20–100 g/ml) for 3 h, and then cultured in medium containing 5-bromodeoxyuridine and phytohemagglutinin for 66 h. By the sister chromatid differential staining method, chromosome analyses were performed on metaphase cells that had divided one, two, or three or more times after treatment. The results indicate that DS cells exposed to bleomycin are hypersensitive to the production of dicentric and ring chromosomes compared to normal cells. Bleomycin also led to a dose-related increase in the frequency of SCEs, but no difference was found between the SCE frequencies in DS or normal lymphocytes exposed to bleomycin.     

Low doses of alpha particles do not induce sister chromatid exchanges in bystander Chinese hamster cells defective in homologous recombination

We reported previously that the homologous recombinational repair (HRR)-deficient Chinese hamster mutant cell line irs3 (deficient in the Rad51 paralog Rad51C) showed only a 50% spontaneous frequency of sister chromatid exchange (SCE) as compared to parental wild-type V79 cells. Furthermore, when irradiated with very low doses of alpha particles, SCEs were not induced in irs3 cells, as compared to a prominent bystander effect observed in V79 cells [H. Nagasawa, Y. Peng, P.F. Wilson, Y.C. Lio, D.J. Chen, J.S. Bedford, J.B. Little, Role of homologous recombination in the alpha-particle-induced bystander effect for sister chromatid exchanges and chromosomal aberrations, Radiat. Res. 164 (2005) 141-147]. In the present study, we examined additional Chinese hamster cell lines deficient in the Rad51 paralogs Rad51C, Rad51D, Xrcc2, and Xrcc3 as well as another essential HRR protein, Brca2. Spontaneous SCE frequencies in non-irradiated wild-type cell lines CHO, AA8 and V79 were 0.33SCE/chromosome, whereas two Rad51C-deficient cell lines showed only 0.16SCE/chromosome. Spontaneous SCE frequencies in cell lines defective in Rad51D, Xrcc2, Xrcc3, and Brca2 ranged from 0.23 to 0.33SCE/chromosome, 0-30% lower than wild-type cells. SCEs were induced significantly 20-50% above spontaneous levels in wild-type cells exposed to a mean dose of 1.3mGy of alpha particles (<1% of nuclei traversed by an alpha particle). However, induction of SCEs above spontaneous levels was minimal or absent after alpha-particle irradiation in all of the HRR-deficient cell lines. These data suggest that Brca2 and the Rad51 paralogs contribute to DNA damage repair processes induced in bystander cells (presumably oxidative damage repair in S-phase cells) following irradiation with very low doses of alpha particles.     

Induction of endoreduplication by hydrazine in Chinese hamster V 79 cells and reduced incidence of sister chromatid exchanges in endoreduplicated mitoses

Hydrazine in high concentrations very effectively induces endoreduplication in Chinese hamster V 79 cells. The addition of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) for the duration of one cell cycle prior to the induction of endoreduplication produces diplochromosomes with sister chromatid differentiation (SCD) after differential chromatid staining. The fact that diplochromosomes with complete SCD are obtained shows that endoreduplication was induced in cells that were in G2-phase. The analysis of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) showed that hydrazine treatment rarely led to increased SCE frequencies in mitoses after endoreduplication, but that it caused a strong SCE induction in diploid second division metaphases in the same culture. Neither catalase nor cysteine had an effect on the induction of endoreduplication or the incidence of SCEs. Treatment of the cells with mitomycin C prior to addition of BrdU led to increased SCE frequencies. Compared with the normal mitoses from the same preparation, the mitoses after endoreduplication showed a significantly reduced induction of SCEs. In contrast to these findings, SCE induction was not reduced in the common tetraploid V 79 cells after colcemid-induced polyploidization.     

Inhibitors of DNA synthesis induce sister chromatid exchanges at the early S phase of the cell cycle

To investigate the origin of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) induced by inhibitors of DNA synthesis, V79/AP4 Chinese hamster cells were treated with aphidicolin, 1--d-arabinofuranosylcytosine, and thymidine. At the end of the treatments we determined both the distribution of the cells in the various phases of the cell cycle and the induction of SCEs. Our data indicate that the cells that were replicating their DNA were arrested at various stages of the S phase. By analyzing the patterns of SCE distribution, we found that the metaphases of the treated cells exhibited either normal or enhanced levels of SCEs. Our results suggest that the inhibitors of DNA synthesis induce SCEs in the cells in early S phase probably by activation of potential replicative origins.     

Suppressing effect of tannic acid on the frequencies of mutagen-induced sister-chromatid exchanges in mammalian cells

The effects of tannic acid (m-galloyl gallic acid) and 7 of its analogues on the frequencies of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs) were investigated in cultured Chinese hamster cells. SCEs induced by UV-light or mitomycin C (MMC) were suppressed by post-treatment with tannic acid and 5 of its analogues. These effects were independent of the extension of the cell cycle. The compounds which showed an SCE-suppressing effect have a common structure of 3 neighboring hydroxy or methoxy groups substituted on the phenyl group in benzoic acid or ester. These decreasing effects of tannic acid were observed in the G1 phase but not in the S or G2 phase of the cell cycle and a greater decline of the frequencies of UV-induced SCEs during liquid holding was seen in the presence of tannic acid. However, cells irradiated with X-rays were not influenced by tannic acid. In cells from a xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) patient, a Fanconi's anemia (FA) patient, and a normal human embryo, MMC-induced SCEs were also decreased by post-treatment with tannic acid. Tannic acid reduced the SCE frequencies in UV-irradiated FA and normal human cells but not in UV-irradiated XP cells. Our results suggest that tannic acid modifies DNA-excision repair and that the decrease in the amount of unrepaired DNA damage might cause the reduction of induced SCEs.     

Functional relationships of FANCC to homologous recombination, translesion synthesis, and BLM

Some of the restarting events of stalled replication forks lead to sister chromatid exchange (SCE) as a result of homologous recombination (HR) repair with crossing over. The rate of SCE is elevated by the loss of BLM helicase or by a defect in translesion synthesis (TLS). We found that spontaneous SCE levels were elevated approximately 2-fold in chicken DT40 cells deficient in Fanconi anemia (FA) gene FANCC. To investigate the mechanism of the elevated SCE, we deleted FANCC in cells lacking Rad51 paralog XRCC3, TLS factor RAD18, or BLM. The increased SCE in fancc cells required Xrcc3, whereas the fancc/rad18 double mutant exhibited higher SCE than either single mutant. Unexpectedly, SCE in the fancc/blm mutant was similar to that in blm cells, indicating functional linkage between FANCC and BLM. Furthermore, MMC-induced formation of GFP-BLM nuclear foci was severely compromised in both human and chicken fancc or fancd2 cells. Our cell survival data suggest that the FA proteins serve to facilitate HR, but not global TLS, during crosslink repair.     

Relationship of spontaneous chromosome instability and sister chromatid exchanges in Fanconi's anemia

The frequency of spontaneous instability of lymphocyte chromosomes of the first 2 mitoses, the rate of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), and the proliferative kinetics of lymphocytes were studied in a 6-year-old girl with Fanconi's anemia (FA) and in 4 healthy donors. The frequencies of aberrant cells and the total number of chromosome breaks in the FA patient decreased with cell transition from the first to the second mitosis. The FA lymphocytes had a slower proliferative kinetics and the level of SCEs was higher as compared with control. The probability of chromatid deletions at the sites of SCEs localization and in the dark and light stained chromatids was unequal. 33.8% of chromatid breaks were associated with SCEs. The data point to the relationship between SCEs and spontaneous chromosome instability in AF cells.     

Sister Chromatid Exchanges Are Mediated by Homologous Recombination in Vertebrate Cells

Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency is a commonly used index of chromosomal stability in response to environmental or genetic mutagens. However, the mechanism generating cytologically detectable SCEs and, therefore, their prognostic value for chromosomal stability in mitotic cells remain unclear. We examined the role of the highly conserved homologous recombination (HR) pathway in SCE by measuring SCE levels in HR-defective vertebrate cells. Spontaneous and mitomycin C-induced SCE levels were significantly reduced for chicken DT40 B cells lacking the key HR genes RAD51 and RAD54 but not for nonhomologous DNA end-joining (NHEJ)-defective KU70(-/-) cells. As measured by targeted integration efficiency, reconstitution of HR activity by expression of a human RAD51 transgene restored SCE levels to normal, confirming that HR is the mechanism responsible for SCE. Our findings show that HR uses the nascent sister chromatid to repair potentially lethal DNA lesions accompanying replication, which might explain the lethality or tumorigenic potential associated with defects in HR or HR-associated proteins.