Biomedical subjects

Michael D Topal

Publications and source records attributed to Michael D Topal.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Triplet repeat expansion generated by DNA slippage is suppressed by human flap endonuclease 1.

Human flap endonuclease 1 (h-FEN1) mutations have dramatic effects on repeat instability. Current models for repeat expansion predict that h-FEN1 protein prevents mutations by removing 5'-flaps generated at ends of Okazaki fragments by strand displacement synthesis. The models propose that hairpin formations within flaps containing repeats enable them to escape h-FEN1 cleavage. Friedreich's ataxia is caused by expansion mutations in a d(GAA)n repeat tract. Single-stranded d(GAA)n repeat tracts, however, do not form stable hairpins until the repeat tracts are quite long. Therefore, to understand how d(GAA)n repeat expansions survive h-FEN1 activity, we determined the effects of h-FEN1 on d(GAA)n repeat expansion during replication of a d(TTC)n repeat template. Replication initiated within the repeat tract generated significant expansion that was suppressed by the addition of h-FEN1 at the start of replication. The ability of h-FEN1 to suppress expansion implies that DNA slippage generates a 5'-flap in the nascent strand independent of strand displacement synthesis by an upstream polymerase. Delaying the addition of h-FEN1 to the replication reaction abolished the ability of h-FEN1 ability to suppress d(GAA)n repeat expansion products of all sizes, including sizes unable to hairpin. Use of model substrates demonstrated that h-FEN1 cleaves d(GAA)n 5'-flaps joined to double-stranded nonrepeat sequences but not those joined to double-stranded repeat tracts. The results provide evidence that, given the opportunity, short d(GAA)n repeat expansion products rearrange from 5'-flaps to stable internal loops inside the repeat tract. Long expansion products are predicted to form hairpinned flaps and internal loops. Once formed, these DNA conformations resist h-FEN1. The biological implications of the results are discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Effects of sequence on repeat expansion during DNA replication.

Small DNA repeat tracts are located throughout the human genome. The tracts are unstable, and expansions of certain repeat sequences cause neuromuscular disease. DNA expansions appear to be associated with lagging-strand DNA synthesis and DNA repair. At some sites of repeat expansion, e.g. the myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) tetranucleotide repeat expansion site, more than one repeat tract with similar sequences lie side by side. Only one of the DM2 repeat tracts, however, is found to expand. Thus, DNA base sequence is a possible factor in repeat tract expansion. Here we determined the expansion potential, during DNA replication by human DNA polymerase beta, of several tetranucleotide repeat tracts in which the repeat units varied by one or more bases. The results show that subtle changes, such as switching T for C in a tetranucleotide repeat, can have dramatic consequences on the ability of the nascent-strand repeat tract to expand during DNA replication. We also determined the relative stabilities of self-annealed 100mer repeats by melting-curve analysis. The relative stabilities did not correlate with the relative potentials of the analogous repeats for expansion during DNA replication, suggesting that hairpin formation is not required for expansion during DNA replication.

Base Sequence↗

PubMed2003

Amino acid substitutions at position 43 of NaeI endonuclease. Evidence for changes in NaeI structure.

NaeI endonuclease contains a 10-amino acid region with sequence similarity to the active site KXDG motif of DNA ligase except for leucine (Leu-43) in NaeI ((43)LXDG(46)). Changing Leu-43 to lysine abolishes the NaeI endonuclease activity and replaces it with topoisomerase and recombinase activities. Here we report the results of substituting Leu-43 with alanine, arginine, asparagine, glutamate, and histidine. Quantitating specific activities and DNA binding values for the mutant proteins determined the range of amino acids at position 43 that alter NaeI mechanism. Substituting alanine, asparagine, glutamate, and histidine for Leu-43 maintained endonuclease activity, but at a lower level. On the other hand, substituting positively charged arginine, like lysine at position 43, converted NaeI to a topoisomerase with no observable double-strand cleavage activity. The specific activities of NaeI-43K and NaeI-43R and their relative sensitivities to salt, the topoisomerase-inhibiting drug N-[4-(9-acridinylamino)-3-methoxyphenyl]methane-sulfonamide (amsacrine) and single-stranded DNA showed that the two activities are similar. The effect of placing a positive charge at position 43 on NaeI structure was determined by measuring (for NaeI and NaeI-43K) relative susceptibilities to proteolysis, UV, circular dichroism spectra, and temperature melting transitions. The results provide evidence that a positive charge at position 43 induces dramatic changes in NaeI structure that affect both the Endo and Topo domains of NaeI. The identification of four putative DNA ligase motifs in NaeI leads us to speculate that structural changes that superimpose these motifs on the ligase structure may account for the changes in activity.

Alanine↗

PubMed2002

Hairpin formation in Friedreich's ataxia triplet repeat expansion.

Triplet repeat tracts occur throughout the human genome. Expansions of a (GAA)(n)/(TTC)(n) repeat tract during its transmission from parent to child are tightly associated with the occurrence of Friedreich's ataxia. Evidence supports DNA slippage during DNA replication as the cause of the expansions. DNA slippage results in single-stranded expansion intermediates. Evidence has accumulated that predicts that hairpin structures protect from DNA repair the expansion intermediates of all of the disease-associated repeats except for those of Friedreich's ataxia. How the latter repeat expansions avoid repair remains a mystery because (GAA)(n) and (TTC)(n) repeats are reported not to self-anneal. To characterize the Friedreich's ataxia intermediates, we generated massive expansions of (GAA)(n) and (TTC)(n) during DNA replication in vitro using human polymerase beta and the Klenow fragment of Escherichia coli polymerase I. Electron microscopy, endonuclease cleavage, and DNA sequencing of the expansion products demonstrate, for the first time, the occurrence of large and growing (GAA)(n) and (TTC)(n) hairpins during DNA synthesis. The results provide unifying evidence that predicts that hairpin formation during DNA synthesis mediates all of the disease-associated, triplet repeat expansions.

DNA↗