耐辐射球菌DNA双链断裂修复机制研究新进展

耐辐射球菌对于电离辐射等DNA损伤剂具有极强的抗性,能够将同一个基因组中同时产生的高达100个以上的DNA双链断裂在数十小时内高效而精准地进行修复,是研究DNA双链断裂修复机制的重要模式生物。同源重组、非同源末端连接和单链退火途径作为3个主要的修复途径参与了耐辐射球菌基因组DNA双链断裂的修复过程。此外,一系列新发现的重要蛋白质,如Ppr I、Ddr B等对于耐辐射球菌基因组的修复过程同样至关重要。根据本实验室和国内外在这一研究领域近年来的报道,以不同的修复途径为线索,综述该菌DNA双链断裂修复机制的最新研究成果。     

53BP1与DNA双链断裂损伤修复

DNA的精确复制和遗传对维持基因组稳定性有重要作用。DNA双链断裂损伤可能诱导细胞凋亡和染色质重排,在肿瘤的发生发展过程中发挥作用。53BP1是DNA双链断裂修复中的重要调节蛋白质之一,对调控损伤修复平衡和维持基因组稳定性起着重要作用。本文主要对53BP1的结构、生物学功能、信号通路、分子机制和翻译后修饰做一浅显的总结和展望,希望能为53BP1的深入研究提供一些理论基础。     

组蛋白去乙酰化酶抑制剂对DNA双链断裂修复路径的作用

DNA双链断裂(double strand breaks, DSBs)对细胞生存是致命的.细胞内非同源末端连接(NHEJ)、重组修复(HDR)、单链退火修复(SSA)和微同源序列末端连接(MMEJ)等通路可竞争性修复DNA双链断裂损伤.在肿瘤细胞DNA中制造难以修复的基因损伤,诱导肿瘤细胞周期中止、坏死和凋亡是临床放、化疗的主要策略.组蛋白去乙酰化酶（histone deacetylase）作为抗肿瘤治疗的新靶标,其抑制剂(histonedeacetylase inhibitors, HDACi)可显著降低肿瘤细胞DSBs修复能力,增强肿瘤细胞的放、化疗敏感性.研究显示,HDACi抑制了肿瘤细胞中具有正确修复倾向的HDR和经典NHEJ通路,具有错误修复倾向的SSA和MMEJ路径也可能牵涉其中.目前,HDACi作用于DSBs修复通路的分子机制已取得较大进展,但仍有许多问题有待阐明.     

DNA放射损伤与p53

电离辐射等多种因素可以引起DNA损伤,表现为碱基改变、DNA双链断裂(DNA double-strand breaks,DSBs)和DNA单链断裂(Single-strand breaks,SSBs)等多种形式。DNA损伤后,细胞发生应答,即引起细胞周期阻滞和/或细胞程序性死亡,以减少损伤引起的染色体畸变和基因组不稳定。在细胞应答过程中,p53蛋白水平和活性均发生变化,介导细胞周期阻滞、程序性死亡,并直接参与DNA损伤修复过程。     

DNA双链断裂检测技术研究进展

细胞DNA的完整性受到不同因素的影响,可分为内源性及外源性因素,这些因素均可引起不同程度的DNA损伤。其中,DNA双链断裂是最严重的一种DNA损伤,若未能进行及时的修复,则会引起一系列的损伤反应。严重的DNA双链断裂甚至可以造成细胞凋亡、肿瘤的发生等严重后果。因此,快速并准确地检测细胞DNA双链断裂程度能帮助评估DNA的完整性、内外环境的遗传毒性效应、临床诊断和放化疗监测。DNA双链断裂检测技术近年来发展迅速,目前可基于物理或化学方法、免疫荧光法和高通量测序技术检测DNA双链断裂程度。对这些检测方法的最新研究进展、应用以及其优缺点进行介绍,旨在为后续DNA双链断裂程度检测的研究和临床提供参考。     

DNA双链断裂检测技术研究进展 *

细胞DNA的完整性受到不同因素的影响,可分为内源性及外源性因素,这些因素均可引起不同程度的DNA损伤。其中,DNA双链断裂是最严重的一种DNA损伤,若未能进行及时的修复,则会引起一系列的损伤反应。严重的DNA双链断裂甚至可以造成细胞凋亡、肿瘤的发生等严重后果。因此,快速并准确地检测细胞DNA双链断裂程度能帮助评估DNA的完整性、内外环境的遗传毒性效应、临床诊断和放化疗监测。DNA双链断裂检测技术近年来发展迅速,目前可基于物理或化学方法、免疫荧光法和高通量测序技术检测DNA双链断裂程度。对这些检测方法的最新研究进展、应用以及其优缺点进行介绍,旨在为后续DNA双链断裂程度检测的研究和临床提供参考。     

表观遗传调控：基于染色质环境的DNA双链断裂修复

DNA双链断裂（DNA double-strand breaks, DSBs）是威胁基因组完整性和细胞存活的最有害的DNA损伤类型。同源重组（homologous recombination,HR）和非同源末端连接（non-homologous end joining,NHEJ）是修复DNA双链断裂的两种主要途径。DSB修复涉及到损伤部位修复蛋白的募集和染色质结构的改变。在DNA双链断裂诱导下,染色质结构的动态变化在时间和空间上受到严格调控,进而对DNA双链断裂修复过程进行精细调节。特定的染色质修饰形成利于修复的染色质状态,有助于DNA双链断裂修复机器的招募、修复途径的选择和DNA损伤检查点的活化;其中修复途径的选择对于基因组稳定性至关重要。修复不当或失败可导致基因组不稳定性,甚至促进肿瘤的发生。本文综述了染色质结构和染色质修饰的动态变化在DSB修复中的重要作用。此外,文章还总结了在癌症治疗中靶向关键染色质调控因子在基因组稳定性维持、肿瘤发生发展以及潜在临床应用价值等方面的进展。     

RecA蛋白介导的三链核酸结构形成及其序列提取

人工合成的单链DNA分子经PCR扩增形成双链DNA分子。将RecA蛋白与生物素标记的寡聚核酸探针序列在ATPγS存在的情况下共同哺育,使RecA蛋白包裹寡聚核酸探针,然后加入含同源序列的上述双链DNA分子经适当环境哺育形成了稳定的局部三链核酸结构。通过加入链亲和素包裹的磁珠吸附生物素化的探针,这样同源双链DNA分子与寡聚核酸探针形成的局部三链核酸结构也被吸附在磁珠上。使用磁分离装置提取这一结构,逐步降低盐离子浓度以洗脱双链DNA分子。将洗脱液中残留的蛋白质去除,经PCR扩增可获得目的DNA序列。同时使用同源探针和非同源探针在其它序列中提取目的DNA序列,结果显示目的DNA序列只被同源探针提取。实验结果显示了这一三链核酸结构形成的序列特异性,并且其稳定性随盐离子浓度降低而下降。提示在这一结构中同源的寡聚核酸单链与双链DNA分子形成了氢键结合,同时提示使用文中描述的方法可以提取特异的序列,用以克隆相应的基因。     

基因组编辑技术中供体DNA类型及选择

基因组编辑技术能够实现基因组的精确修饰和改造,是后基因组时代研究基因功能和遗传信息的主要手段。传统的基因打靶技术通过低效率的细胞自发同源重组实现目的基因的定点修饰。真核细胞中DNA双链断裂介导的同源重组效率远高于自发同源重组,利用人工核酸内切酶特异性地在基因组靶序列处引入双链断裂,通过提供适当形式的、含有一定长度同源臂的供体DNA,能够实现相对高效的基因组靶向编辑。本文系统总结了环状质粒、线性化质粒、聚合酶链式反应产物及单链寡聚脱氧核苷酸4种类型的供体DNA在基因组精确编辑研究中的应用及候选原则,以期为以后相关研究中供体DNA的选择、设计提供参考和借鉴。     

基因组编辑技术中供体DNA类型及选择北大核心CSCD

基因组编辑技术能够实现基因组的精确修饰和改造,是后基因组时代研究基因功能和遗传信息的主要手段。传统的基因打靶技术通过低效率的细胞自发同源重组实现目的基因的定点修饰。真核细胞中DNA双链断裂介导的同源重组效率远高于自发同源重组,利用人工核酸内切酶特异性地在基因组靶序列处引入双链断裂,通过提供适当形式的、含有一定长度同源臂的供体DNA,能够实现相对高效的基因组靶向编辑。本文系统总结了环状质粒、线性化质粒、聚合酶链式反应产物及单链寡聚脱氧核苷酸4种类型的供体DNA在基因组精确编辑研究中的应用及候选原则,以期为以后相关研究中供体DNA的选择、设计提供参考和借鉴。     

激光对DNA作用机理的AFM研究

激光作用质粒DNA和小牛胸腺DNA产生损伤效应,导致DNA结构变化,利用一种改进的试样制备过程和纳米显微镜－－原子力显微镜（AFM）能够获得可重现的激光作用质粒DNA和小牛胸腺DNA的AFM图像,显示它们的特殊的表达结构,讨论了激光辐照导致DNA链断裂的作用机理。     

Reinterpretation of fluorescence of terbium ion-DNA complexes

Terbium (Tb3+) fluorescence was used to investigate local non-denaturation perturbations of double-helical DNA structure induced in this nucleic acid by various physical and chemical agents. It has been shown that the interaction of Tb3+ with DNA into which single-strand or double-strand breaks have been introduced by DNase I or by low doses of ionizing radiation does not influence the fluorescence of the lanthanide cation. On the other hand, interaction of terbium with DNA modified by the antitumour drug cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) at low levels of binding and by low doses of ultraviolet radiation (wavelength 254 nm) has been shown to result in substantial enhancement of the fluorescence of this cation. It has been proposed that the terbium fluorescent probe can also be exploited successfully for the purpose of analysing the guanine bases present in distorted double-stranded regions of DNA, in which only the vertical stacking of the base-pairs is altered.     

Single DNA molecule stretching measures the activity of chemicals that target the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein

We develop a biophysical method for investigating chemical compounds that target the nucleic acid chaperone activity of HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein (NCp7). We used an optical tweezers instrument to stretch single lambda-DNA molecules through the helix-coil transition in the presence of NCp7 and various chemical compounds. The change in the helix-coil transition width induced by wild-type NCp7 and its zinc finger variants correlates with in vitro nucleic acid chaperone activity measurements and in vivo assays. The compound-NC interaction measured here reduces NCp7's capability to alter the transition width. Purified compounds from the NCI Diversity set, 119889, 119911, and 119913 reduce the chaperone activity of 5 nM NC in aqueous solution at 10, 25, and 100 nM concentrations respectively. Similarly, gallein reduced the activity of 4 nM NC at 100 nM concentration. Further analysis allows us to dissect the impact of each compound on both sequence-specific and non-sequence-specific DNA binding of NC, two of the main components of NC's nucleic acid chaperone activity. These results suggest that DNA stretching experiments can be used to screen chemical compounds targeting NC proteins and to further explore the mechanisms by which these compounds interact with NC and alter its nucleic acid chaperone activity.     

Photochemical stability of aromatic amino acids under picosecond laser UV-irradiation

Two-step photochemical decomposition of aromatic amino acids under picosecond laser UV-irradiation was investigated. These results were compared with the photochemical stability of nucleic acid bases. Using the known ratio between the nucleic acid bases and aromatic amino acids in native bacteriophages lambda and phi X174 it was shown that picosecond laser UV-inactivation of viruses occurred due to the photodegradation of nucleic acid.     

功能核酸DNA水凝胶的制备与组装

功能核酸DNA水凝胶是一种以DNA为构建单元通过化学反应或物理缠结自组装而成的新型柔性材料,其构建单元中包含1种或多种能够形成功能核酸的特定序列。功能核酸是通过碱基修饰和DNA分子之间的相互作用力组合的一类特定核酸结构,包括核酸适配体、DNA核酶、G-四联体(G-quadruplex,G4)和i-motif结构等。传统上,高浓度的长DNA链是制备DNA水凝胶的必要条件,而核酸扩增方法的引入为DNA水凝胶的组装方式提供了新的可能。因此,对常用于制备DNA水凝胶的多种功能核酸以及核酸的提取、合成和扩增手段进行了详细的介绍。在此基础上,综述了通过化学或物理交联方式组装功能核酸DNA水凝胶的制备方法。最后,提出了DNA纳米材料的组装所面临的挑战和潜在的发展方向,以期为开发高效组装的功能核酸DNA水凝胶提供参考。     

Quantifying Double-Strand Breaks and Clustered Damages in DNA by Single-Molecule Laser Fluorescence Sizing

Fluorescence from a single DNA molecule passing through a laser beam is proportional to the size (contour length) of the molecule, and molecules of different sizes can be counted with equal efficiencies. Single-molecule fluorescence can thus determine the average length of the molecules in a sample and hence the frequency of double-strand breaks induced by various treatments. Ionizing radiation-induced frank double-strand breaks can thus be quantified by single-molecule sizing. Moreover, multiple classes of clustered damages involving damaged bases and abasic sites, alone or in combination with frank single-strand breaks, can be quantified by converting them to double-strand breaks by chemical or enzymatic treatments. For a given size range of DNA molecules, single-molecule sizing is as or more sensitive than gel electrophoresis, and requires several orders-of-magnitude less DNA to determine damage levels.     

Double-stranded DNA cleavage/religation reaction of eukaryotic topoisomerase II: evidence for a nicked DNA intermediate

The DNA cleavage reaction of eukaryotic topoisomerase II produces nicked DNA along with linear nucleic acid products. Therefore, relationships between the enzyme's DNA nicking and double-stranded cleavage reactions were determined. This was accomplished by altering the pH at which assays were performed. At pH 5.0 Drosophila melanogaster topoisomerase II generated predominantly (greater than 90%) single-stranded breaks in duplex DNA. With increasing pH, less single-stranded and more double-stranded cleavage was observed, regardless of the buffer or the divalent cation employed. As has been shown for double-stranded DNA cleavage, topoisomerase II was covalently bound to nicked DNA products, and enzyme-mediated single-stranded cleavage was salt reversible. Moreover, sites of single-stranded DNA breaks were identical with those mapped for double-stranded breaks. To further characterize the enzyme's cleavage mechanism, electron microscopy studies were performed. These experiments revealed that separate polypeptide chains were complexed with both ends of linear DNA molecules generated during cleavage reactions. Finally, by use of a novel religation assay [Osheroff, N., & Zechiedrich, E. L. (1987) Biochemistry 26, 4303-4309], it was shown that nicked DNA is an obligatory kinetic intermediate in the topoisomerase II mediated reunion of double-stranded breaks. Under the conditions employed, the apparent first-order rate constant for the religation of the first break was approximately 6-fold faster than that for the religation of the second break. The above results indicate that topoisomerase II carries out double-stranded DNA cleavage/religation by making two sequential single-stranded breaks in the nucleic acid backbone, each of which is mediated by a separate subunit of the homodimeric enzyme.     

Laser cross-linking of nucleic acids to proteins. Methodology and first applications to the phage T4 DNA replication system

Single-pulse (approximately 8 ns) ultraviolet laser excitation of protein-nucleic acid complexes can result in efficient and rapid covalent cross-linking of proteins to nucleic acids. The reaction produces no nucleic acid-nucleic acid or protein-protein cross-links, and no nucleic acid degradation. The efficiency of cross-linking is dependent on the wavelength of the exciting radiation, on the nucleotide composition of the nucleic acid, and on the total photon flux. The yield of cross-links/laser pulse is largest between 245 and 280 nm; cross-links are obtained with far UV photons (200-240 nm) as well, but in this range appreciable protein degradation is also observed. The method has been calibrated using the phage T4-coded gene 32 (single-stranded DNA-binding) protein interaction with oligonucleotides, for which binding constants have been measured previously by standard physical chemical methods (Kowalczykowski, S. C., Lonberg, N., Newport, J. W., and von Hippel, P. H. (1981) J. Mol. Biol. 145, 75-104). Photoactivation occurs primarily through the nucleotide residues of DNA and RNA at excitation wavelengths greater than 245 nm, with reaction through thymidine being greatly favored. The nucleotide residues may be ranked in order of decreasing photoreactivity as: dT much greater than dC greater than rU greater than rC, dA, dG. Cross-linking appears to be a single-photon process and occurs through single nucleotide (dT) residues; pyrimidine dimer formation is not involved. Preliminary studies of the individual proteins of the five-protein T4 DNA replication complex show that gene 43 protein (polymerase), gene 32 protein, and gene 44 and 45 (polymerase accessory) proteins all make contact with DNA, and can be cross-linked to it, whereas gene 62 (polymerase accessory) protein cannot. A survey of other nucleic acid-binding proteins has shown that E. coli RNA polymerase, DNA polymerase I, and rho protein can all be cross-linked to various nucleic acids by the laser technique. The potential uses of this procedure in probing protein-nucleic acid interactions are discussed.     

Camptothecin induces protein-linked DNA breaks via mammalian DNA topoisomerase I

Camptothecin, a cytotoxic drug, is a strong inhibitor of nucleic acid synthesis in mammalian cells and a potent inducer of strand breaks in chromosomal DNA. Neither the equilibrium dialysis nor the unwinding measurement indicates any interaction between camptothecin and purified DNA. However, camptothecin induces extensive single strand DNA breaks in reactions containing purified mammalian DNA topoisomerase I. DNA breakage in vitro is immediate and reversible. Analyses of camptothecin-induced DNA breaks show that topoisomerase I is covalently linked to the 3' end of the broken DNA. In addition, camptothecin inhibits the catalytic activity of mammalian DNA topoisomerase I. We propose that camptothecin blocks the rejoining step of the breakage-reunion reaction of mammalian DNA topoisomerase I. This blockage results in the accumulation of a cleavable complex which resembles the transient intermediate proposed for eukaryotic DNA topoisomerase I. The inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis and the induction of DNA strand breaks observed in vivo may be related to the formation of this drug-induced cleavable complex.     

Radical-generating coordination complexes as tools for rapid and effective fragmentation and fluorescent labeling of nucleic acids for microchip hybridization

DNA microchip technology is a rapid, high-throughput method for nucleic acid hybridization reactions. This technology requires random fragmentation and fluorescent labeling of target nucleic acids prior to hybridization. Radical-generating coordination complexes, such as 1,10-phenanthroline-Cu(II) (OP-Cu) and Fe(II)-EDTA (Fe-EDTA), have been commonly used as sequence nonspecific "chemical nucleases" to introduce single-strand breaks in nucleic acids. Here we describe a new method based on these radical-generating complexes for random fragmentation and labeling of both single- and double-stranded forms of RNA and DNA. Nucleic acids labeled with the OP-Cu and the Fe-EDTA protocols revealed high hybridization specificity in hybridization with DNA microchips containing oligonucleotide probes selected for identification of 16S rRNA sequences of the Bacillus group microorganisms.We also demonstrated cDNA- and cRNA-labeling and fragmentation with this method. Both the OP-Cu and Fe-EDTA fragmentation and labeling procedures are quick and inexpensive compared to other commonly used methods. A column-based version of the described method does not require centrifugation and therefore is promising for the automation of sample preparations in DNA microchip technology as well as in other nucleic acid hybridization studies.