Synthesis and characteristics of modified DNA fragments containing thymidine glycol residues

Chemical synthesis of a series of modified oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing one or two residues of thymidine glycol (5,6-dihydro-5,6-dihydroxythymidine), the main product of oxidative DNA damage, is described. The thermal stability of DNA duplexes containing thymidine glycol residues was studied using UV spectroscopy. Introduction of even one thymidine glycol residue into the duplex structure was shown to result in its significant destabilization. Data on the interaction of DNA methyltransferases and type II restriction endonucleases with DNA ligands containing oxidized thymine were obtained for the first time. Introduction of a thymidine glycol residue in the central degenerate position of the recognition site of restriction endonuclease SsoII was found to result in an increase in the initial hydrolysis rate of the modified duplex in comparison with that of unmodified structure. The affinity of C5-cytosine methyltransferase SsoII for the DNA duplex bearing thymidine glycol was found to be twofold higher than for the unmodified substrate. However, such a modification of the DNA ligand prevents its methylation.     

Oxidative damage to 5-methylcytosine in DNA.

Exposure of pyrimidines of DNA to ionizing radiation under aerobic conditions or oxidizing agents results in attack on the 5,6 double bond of the pyrimidine ring or on the exocyclic 5-methyl group. The primary product of oxidation of the 5,6 double bond of thymine is thymine glycol, while oxidation of the 5-methyl group yields 5-hydroxymethyluracil. Oxidation of the 5,6 double bond of cytosine yields cytosine glycol, which decomposes to 5-hydroxycytosine, 5-hydroxyuracil and uracil glycol, all of which are repaired in DNA by Escherichia coli endonuclease III. We now describe the products of oxidation of 5-methylcytosine in DNA. Poly(dG-[3H]dmC) was gamma-irradiated or oxidized with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of Fe3+ and ascorbic acid. The oxidized co-polymer was incubated with endonuclease III or 5-hydroxymethyluracil-DNA glycosylase, to determine whether repairable products were formed, or digested to 2'-deoxyribonucleosides, to determine the total complement of oxidative products. Oxidative attack on 5-methylcytosine resulted primarily in formation of thymine glycol. The radiogenic yield of thymine glycol in poly(dG-dmC) was the same as that in poly(dA-dT), demonstrating that 5-methylcytosine residues in DNA were equally susceptible to radiation-induced oxidation as were thymine residues.     

Synthesis and characteristics of modified DNA fragments containing thymidine glycol residues

Chemical synthesis of a series of modified oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing one or two residues of thymidine glycol (5,6-dihydro-5,6-dihydroxythymidine), the main product of oxidative DNA damage, is described. The thermal stability of DNA duplexes containing thymidine glycol residues was studied using UV spectroscopy. Introduction of even one thymidine glycol residue into the duplex structure was shown to result in its significant destabilization. Data on the interaction of DNA methyltransferases and type II restriction endonucleases with DNA ligands containing oxidized thymine were obtained for the first time. Introduction of a thymidine glycol residue into the central degenerate position of the recognition site of restriction endonuclease SsoII was found to result in an increase in the initial hydrolysis rate of the modified duplex in comparison with that of the unmodified structure. The affinity of C5-cytosine methyltransferase SsoII for the DNA duplex bearing thymidine glycol was found to be twofold higher than for the unmodified substrate. However, such a modification of the DNA ligand prevents its methylation. The English version of the paper: Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry, 2008, vol. 34, no. 2; see also http://www.maik.ru.     

Endonuclease IV enhances base excision repair of endonuclease III from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum

Damaged DNA strands are repaired by base excision (BER) in organisms, a process initiated by repair enzymes, which include DNA glycosylases and endonucleases. We expressed and characterized two putative endonuclease genes from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, Mt0764 and Mt1010, encoding homologues of endonuclease III (endo III) and endonuclease IV (endo IV) of Escherichia coli. The Mt0764 and Mt1010 proteins showed endo III activity by removing thymine glycol from DNA strand and AP endonuclease activity, respectively. The Mt0764 protein not only cleaved the oligonucleotide duplex, containing a thymine glycol/adenine pair efficiently, but also showed activity on the 8-oxoguanine-containing oligonucleotide duplex. In this study, we report upon the stimulation of endo III activity by endo IV using two recombinant proteins (Mt1010 and Mt0764) from M. thermoautotrophicum. Mt1010 stimulated the DNA glycosylase activity of Mt0764 for DNA substrates containing 8-oxoguanine residues and increasing the formation of the Mt0764 protein-DNA complex. The interaction between Mt1010 and Mt0764 was observed by using an in vitro binding assay. These results suggest that association between endo III and endo IV may occur in vivo, and this contributes to efficient base excision repair for the oxidative damage of DNA.     

Action of T4 endonuclease V on DNA containing various photoproducts

The action of T4 endonuclease V on DNA containing various photoproducts was investigated. (1) The enzyme introduced strand breaks in DNA from ultraviolet-irradiated vegetative cells of Bacillus subtilis but not in DNA from irradiated spores of the same organism. DNA irradiated with long wavelength (360 nm peak) ultraviolet light in the presence of 4,5',8-trimethylpsoralen was not attacked by the enzyme. These results indicate that 5-thyminyl 5,6-dihydrothymine (spore photoproduct) and psoralen mediated cross-links in DNA are not recognized by T4 endonuclease V. (2) DNA of phage PBS1, containing uracil in place of thymine, and DNA of phage SPO1, containing hydroxymethyluracil in place of thymine, were fragmented by the enzyme when the DNA's had been irradiated with ultraviolet light. T4 endonuclease V seems to act on DNA with pyrimidine dimers whether the dimers contain thymine residues or not.     

Ultraviolet-induced thymine hydrates in DNA are excised by bacterial and human DNA glycosylase activities

Ultraviolet irradiation of DNA results in various pyrimidine modifications. We studied the excision of an ultraviolet thymine photoproduct by Escherichia coli endonuclease III and by a preparation of human WI-38 cells. These enzymes cleave UV-irradiated DNA at apyrimidinic sites formed by glycosylic removal of the photoproduct. Poly(dA-[3H]dT).poly(dA-[3H]dT) was UV irradiated and incubated with purified E. coli endonuclease III. 3H-Containing material was released in a manner consistent with Michaelis-Menten kinetics. This 3H-labeled material was determined to be a mixture of thymine hydrates (6-hydroxy-5,6-dihydrothymine), separable from unmodified thymine by chromatography in three independent systems. Both cis-thymine hydrate and trans-thymine hydrate were chemically and photochemically synthesized. These coeluted with the enzyme-released 3H-containing material. No thymine glycol was released from the UV-irradiated polymer. Similar results were obtained with extracts of WI-38 cells as the enzyme source. The release of thymine hydrates by both glycosylase activities was directly proportional to the amount of enzyme and the irradiation dose to the DNA substrate. These results demonstrate the modified thymine residues recognized and excised by endonuclease III and the human enzyme to be a mixture of cis-thymine hydrate and trans-thymine hydrate. The reparability of these thymine hydrates suggests that they are stable in DNA and therefore potentially genotoxic.     

Formation of endonuclease III-sensitive sites as a consequence of oxygen radical attack on DNA

Exposure of the plasmid pBR 322 to the aerobic xanthine oxidase reaction introduced single strand scissions and endonuclease III-sensitive sites. The latter may be residues of thymine glycol. Both forms of DNA damage were completely prevented by superoxide dismutase or catalase, whereas bovine serum albumin was much less effective. Mannitol and benzoate, added as scavengers of HO., and desferrioxamine or diethylene triamine pentaacetate, added to sequester Fe(III), also protected. These results indicate a metal-catalyzed interaction of O2- with H2O2, which produces HO. which, in turn, causes DNA strand scission and oxidation of thymine residues to thymine glycol. Plasmid isolated from aerobically-incubated cells contained more strand scissions and endonuclease III-sensitive sites than did plasmid from anaerobically-incubated cells, and a low molecular weight scavenger of O2- prevented the damage seen with the aerobic cells. Genetic defects in AP endonucleases rendered E. coli more susceptible to the dioxygen-dependent lethality of plumbagin, which mediates O2- production. Similarly, plasmid DNA, within the endonuclease-deficient cells, exhibited more strand scissions and endonuclease III-sensitive sites upon aerobic exposure to plumbagin than did endonuclease-sufficient cells, and a low molecular weight scavenger of O2- was protective. These results are consistent with the conclusions that strand scissions and formation of endonuclease III-sensitive sites are among the consequences of exposure of DNA to O2- plus H2O2, both in vitro and in vivo.     

Affinity of single- or double-stranded oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing a thymine photodimer for T4 endonuclease V

A gene for T4 endonuclease V was constructed by joining chemically synthesized oligodeoxyribonucleotides and expressed efficiently in Escherichia coli under the control of the E. coli tryptophan promoter. Overproduced T4 endonuclease V, which can cleave thymine photodimers as well as the corresponding phosphodiester linkage of DNA, was used to investigate the precise mode of the reaction with single- or double-stranded synthetic DNA fragments containing a thymine photodimer. The substrates, three oligodeoxyribonucleotides, d(GCGGTTGGCG) (10-mer), d(CGAAGGTTGGAAGC) (14-mer), and d(CACGAAGGTTGGAAGCAC) (18-mer), were prepared by UV irradiation of the nascent oligonucleotides. These single-stranded oligonucleotides were cleaved by the enzyme with a concentration 100 times higher than that required for the corresponding duplexes. The Km values for the TT duplex (14- and 18-mer) were found to be on the order of 10(-8) M. Dissociation constants for the 14- and 18-mer duplexes were measured by a binding assay on a nitrocellulose filter and found to be 10(-9).     

Excision repair of thymine glycols, urea residues, and apurinic sites in Escherichia coli

The genetic requirements for the excision repair of thymine glycols, urea residues, and apurinic (AP) sites were examined by measuring the survival in Escherichia coli mutants of phi X174 replicative form (RF) I transfecting DNA containing selectively introduced lesions. phi X RF I DNA containing thymine glycols was inactivated at a greater rate in mutants deficient in endonuclease III (nth) than in wild-type hosts, suggesting that endonuclease III is involved in the repair of thymine glycols in vivo. phi X RF I DNA containing thymine glycols was also inactivated at a greater rate in mutants that were deficient in both exonuclease III and endonuclease IV (xth nfo) than in wild-type hosts, suggesting that a class II AP endonuclease is required for the in vivo processing of thymine glycols. phi X duplex-transfecting DNA containing urea residues or AP sites was inactivated at a greater rate in xth nfo double mutants than in wild-type, but not single-mutant, hosts, suggesting that exonuclease III or endonuclease IV is required for the repair of these damages and that either activity can substitute for the other. These data are in agreement with the known in vitro substrate specificities of endonuclease III, exonuclease III, and endonuclease IV.     

Identification of 5-formyluracil DNA glycosylase activity of human hNTH1 protein

5-Formyluracil (5-foU) is a potentially mutagenic lesion of thymine produced in DNA by ionizing radiation and various chemical oxidants. The elucidation of repair mechanisms for 5-foU will yield important insights into the biological consequences of the lesion. Recently, we reported that 5-foU is recognized and removed from DNA by Escherichia coli enzymes Nth (endonuclease III), Nei (endonuclease VIII) and MutM (formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase). Human cells have been shown to have enzymatic activities that release 5-foU from X-ray-irradiated DNA, but the molecular identities of these activities are not yet known. In this study, we demonstrate that human hNTH1 (endonuclease III homolog) has a DNA glycosylase/AP lyase activity that recognizes 5-foU in DNA and removes it. hNTH1 cleaved 5-foU-containing duplex oligonucleotides via a β-elimination reaction. It formed Schiff base intermediates with 5-foU-containing oligonucleotides. Furthermore, hNTH1 cleaved duplex oligonucleotides containing all of the 5-foU/N pairs (N = G, A, T or C). The specific activities of hNTH1 for cleavage of oligonucleotides containing 5-foU and thymine glycol were 0.011 and 0.045 nM/min/ng protein, respectively. These results indicate that hNTH1 has DNA glycosylase activity with the potential to recognize 5-foU in DNA and remove it in human cells.     

Endonuclease from Escherichia coli that acts specifically upon duplex DNA damaged by ultraviolet light, osmium tetroxide, acid, or x-rays.

An endonuclease which is active upon DNA exposed to ultraviolet light at a photoproduct other than thymine dimers has been extensively purified from Escherichia coli. The small (2.7 S) enzyme is active in the presence of EDTA, has a neutral pH optimum, and is inhibited by tRNA and 1 M NaCl. It has no detectable exonuclease, DNA-N-glycosidase, or ribonuclease activities. The enzyme also nicks duplex DNA exposed to OsO4, x-rays, or acid, but it does not act upon undamaged DNA or irradiated single-stranded DNA. The majority of sites of action in DNA exposed to ultraviolet light or OsO4 appear to be alkali-stable, but those in DNA exposed to x-rays or acid are not. The incisions created by the endonuclease contain 5'-phosphate termini. The enzyme is possibly the same as E. coli endonuclease III described by Radman (Radman, M. (1976) J. Biol. Chem. 251, 1438-1445), but it is distinguishable from the other endodeoxyribonucleases described from that organism.     

Stability of DNA thymine hydrates.

Pyrimidine hydrates are products of ultraviolet irradiation of DNA. We have already demonstrated the formation of both cis-thymine hydrate and trans-thymine hydrate (6-hydroxy-5,6-dihydrothymine) in irradiated poly(dA-dT):poly(dA-dT). These are released from DNA as free bases by bacterial or human glycosylases. Thymine hydrate stabilities were studied in irradiated DNA substrates using purified E. coli endonuclease III as a reagent for their removal. After irradiation, substrate poly(dA-dT):poly(dA-dT), radiolabeled in thymine, was incubated at 50, 60, 70 or 80 degrees C, cooled, and then reacted with the enzyme under standard conditions. Thymine hydrates were assayed by enzymic release of labeled material into the ethanol-soluble fraction. Their identities were confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography. The decay of thymine hydrates in heated DNA followed first-order kinetics with a k = 2.8 x 10(-5)/sec at 80 degrees C. These hydrates were also detected in lesser quantities in the unirradiated, control substrate. Extrapolation from an Arrhenius plot yields an estimated half-life of 33.3 hours at 37 degrees C for DNA thymine hydrates. Such stability, together with their formation in unirradiated DNA, suggest thymine hydrates to be formed under physiological conditions and to be sufficiently stable in DNA to be potentially genotoxic. This necessitates their constant removal from DNA by the excision-repair system.     

Participation of glutamic acid 23 of T4 endonuclease V in the beta-elimination reaction of an abasic site in a synthetic duplex DNA.

T4 endonuclease V catalyzes the hydrolysis of the glycosyl bond of a thymine dimer in a DNA duplex and the cleavage of the 3'-phosphate by beta-elimination. We have previously identified a catalytic site for the first reaction (pyrimidine dimer-glycosylase activity) by systematic mutagenesis (Doi et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1992 in press) and by x-ray crystallography (Morikawa et al. Science, 256: 523-526, 1992). The results showed that replacement of Glu23 with either glutamine or aspartic acid completely abolished the glycosylase activity. We describe the investigation of the second reaction (apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease activity), using twenty two mutants of T4 endonuclease V plus a DNA mini duplex containing an abasic site. Replacement of Glu23 by glutamine abolished the second reaction, but replacement with aspartic acid did not. The pH optima of the mutant (23 Asp) and the wild type were found to be 5.0 and 5.5, respectively. We conclude that the carboxylate anion in position 23 may act as a general base in the beta-elimination reaction of the endonuclease.     

Purification and characterization of a mitochondrial thymine glycol endonuclease from rat liver

Mitochondrial DNA is exposed to oxygen radicals produced during oxidative phosphorylation. Accumulation of several kinds of oxidative lesions in mitochondrial DNA may lead to structural genomic alterations, mitochondrial dysfunction, and associated degenerative diseases. The pyrimidine hydrate thymine glycol, one of many oxidative lesions, can block DNA and RNA polymerases and thereby exert negative biological effects. Mitochondrial DNA repair of this lesion is important to ensure normal mitochondrial DNA metabolism. Here, we report the purification of a novel rat liver mitochondrial thymine glycol endonuclease (mtTGendo). By using a radiolabeled oligonucleotide duplex containing a single thymine glycol lesion, damage-specific incision at the modified thymine was observed upon incubation with mitochondrial protein extracts. After purification using cation exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and size exclusion chromatography, the most pure active fractions contained a single band of approximately 37 kDa on a silver-stained gel. MtTGendo is active within a broad KCl concentration range and is EDTA-resistant. Furthermore, mtTGendo has an associated apurinic/apyrimidinic-lyase activity. MtTGendo does not incise 8-oxodeoxyguanosine or uracil-containing duplexes or thymine glycol in single-stranded DNA. Based upon functional similarity, we conclude that mtTGendo may be a rat mitochondrial homolog of the Escherichia coli endonuclease III protein.     

Processing of model single-strand breaks in phi X-174 RF transfecting DNA by Escherichia coli

The inactivation efficiency and repair of single-strand breaks was investigated using model strand breaks created by endonucleolytic incision of damaged DNA. Phi X-174 duplex transfecting DNA containing either thymine glycols, urea residues, or abasic (AP) sites was incubated with AP endonucleases that produce breaks on the 3' side, the 5' side, or both sides of the lesion. For each lesion, incubation with Escherichia coli endonuclease III results in a single-strand break containing a 3' alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehyde (4-hydroxy-2-pentenal), while treatment of AP- or urea-containing DNA with E. coli endonuclease IV results in a single-strand break containing a 5' deoxyribose or a 5' deoxyribosylurea moiety, respectively. Incubation of lesion-containing DNA with both enzymes results in a base gap. Ligatable nicks containing 3' hydroxyl and 5' phosphate moieties were produced by subjecting undamaged DNA to DNase I. When the biological activity of these DNAs was assessed in wild-type cells, ligatable nicks were not lethal, but each of the other strand breaks tested was lethal, having inactivation efficiencies between 0.12 and 0.14. These inactivation efficiencies are similar to those of the base lesions from which the strand breaks were derived. In keeping with the current model of base excision repair, when phi X duplex DNA containing strand breaks with a blocked 3' terminus was transfected into an E. coli double mutant lacking the major 5' cellular AP endonucleases, a greater than twofold decrease in survival was observed. Moreover, when this DNA was treated with a 5' AP endonuclease prior to transfection, the survival returned to that of wild type. As expected, when DNA containing strand breaks with a 5' blocked terminus or DNA containing base gaps was transfected into the double mutant lacking 5' AP endonucleases, the survival was the same as in wild-type cells. The decreased survival of transfecting DNA containing thymine glycols, urea, or AP sites observed in appropriate base excision repair-defective mutants was also obviated if the DNA was incubated with the homologous enzyme prior to transfection. Thus, in every case, with both base lesions and single-strand breaks, the lesion was repaired in the cell by the enzyme that recognizes it in vitro. Furthermore, the repair step in the cell could be eliminated if the appropriate enzyme was added in vitro prior to transfection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Photoaffinity labeling of T4 endonuclease V with a substrate containing a phenyldiazirine derivative.

T4 endonuclease V recognizes thymine photodimers in DNA duplexes and, in a two-step reaction, cleaves the glycosyl linkage of the 5'-side thymidine and the phosphodiester linkage. To determine the amino acid residues responsible for binding thymine photodimers, a photoaffinity reagent, 4-(1-azi-2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)-benzoate, was linked to the aminoalkylphosphonate of a thymine photodimer in a 14-mer duplex. The reactive substrate was treated with the enzyme under UV light (365 nm). The nascent enzyme and the modified enzyme were treated with lysyl endopeptidase, and the peptide maps were compared. Three peptides from the C terminus were found to interact with the reactive oligonucleotide to various extents. The three modified peptides were isolated and analyzed by Edman degradation. The amino acid residues Gly-133, Tyr-129, and Thr-89 were partially linked with the reactive substrate and may be involved in the binding of thymine photodimers.     

Definitive characterization of human thymine glycol N-glycosylase activity

An N-glycosylase activity that released cis-[3H]-5,6-dihydroxy-5,6-dihydrothymine (thymine glycol, TG) from chemically oxidized poly(dA-[3H]dT) was unambiguously characterized both in extracts of HeLa cells and in purified Escherichia coli endonuclease III. This was accomplished by use of microderivatization procedure that quantitatively converted cis-TG to 5-hydroxy-5-methylhydantoin (HMH). The reaction products were analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatography before and after derivatization by using cis-[14C]TG and [14C]HMH, which had been independently synthesized, as reference compounds. This technique facilitated construction of a v/[E]t plot for the enzyme activity in HeLa cells, permitting estimation of its specific activity. The results obtained prove the existence of both human and bacterial N-glycosylase activities that effect removal of TG from DNA.     

Enhancement of the uvrA gene dosage reduces pyrimidine dimer excision in UV-irradiated Escherichia coli

E. coli possesses an efficient repair mechanism able to remove pyrimidine dimers from UV-irradiated DNA, which is catalyzed by UvrABC endonuclease. In E. coli B/r Hcr⁺ cells transformed with a multicopy plasmid harboring a gene coding for UvrA, the excision capacity was greatly reduced. The course of thymine dimer excision was investigated using the enzymatic as well as the radiochromatographic method and the results are discussed in term of nonspecific interaction between the excess of UvrA protein and undamaged DNA duplex.     

Replication process of the parvovirus H-1. VIII. Partial denaturation mapping and localization of the replication origin of H-1 replicative-form DNA with electron microscopy.

Partial denaturation mapping, restriction endonuclease digestion, and electron microscopy were used to determine which end of the linear duplex replicative-form (RF) DNA molecule contains the origin of RF replication for the parvovirus H-1. This origin was localized within approximately 300 base pairs of the arbitrarily designated right end of the RF DNA, in the EcoRI or HaeII-A fragment. Based on denaturation behavior in formamide, the right end was also found to have a relatively high guanine plus cytosine content, whereas the region adjacent to the left terminus of the RF DNA molecule was adenine plus thymine rich.     

Nucleotide excision repair 3' endonuclease XPG stimulates the activity of base excision repairenzyme thymine glycol DNA glycosylase.

An ionizing radiation-induced DNA lesion, thymine glycol, is removed from DNA by a thymine glycol DNA glycosylase with an apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) lyase activity encoded by the Escherichia coli endonuclease III ( nth ) gene and its homolog in humans. Cells from Cockayne syndrome patients with mutations in the XPG gene show approximately 2-fold reduced global repair of thymine glycol. Hence, I decided to investigate the molecular mechanism of the effect of XPG protein observed in vivo on thymine glycol removal by studying the interactions of XPG protein and human endonuclease III (HsNTH) protein in vitro and the effect of XPG protein on the activity of HsNTH protein on a substrate containing thymine glycol. The XPG protein stimulates the binding of HsNTH protein to its substrate and increases its glycosylase/AP lyase activity by a factor of approximately 2 through direct interaction between the two proteins. These results provide in vitro evidence for a second function of XPG protein in DNA repair and a mechanistic basis for its stimulatory activity on HsNTH protein.