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Reversal of the ATM/ATR-mediated DNA damage response by the oncogenic phosphatase PPM1D.

The eukaryotic cell has evolved a sophisticated set of cell signaling pathways that respond to DNA damage and efficiently repair that damage, protecting the cell from deleterious mutations, genomic instability, and transformation into a cancerous state. The ATM and ATR serine/threonine kinases are key sensors and transducers of DNA damage signals through phosphorylation of an array of signaling molecules that mediate all aspects of the DNA damage response, including enforcement of cell cycle checkpoints and direct repair of damaged DNA. We have shown that a type 2C serine/threonine phosphatase, PPM1D (or Wip1), can reverse the phosphorylation status of ATM/ATR-phosphorylated proteins p53 and Chk1. This dephosphorylation of p53 and Chk1 by PPM1D may result in reduced functional activities and is accompanied by suppression of DNA damage-induced cell cycle checkpoints and some aspects of DNA repair. Because PPM1D is transcriptionally activated by p53 in response to DNA damage, PPM1D may serve as a critical component of a p53 negative feedback regulatory loop since it now appears that PPM1D can inhibit p53 activity by at least four different molecular mechanisms. This may explain why PPM1D is amplified and overexpressed in a subset of human breast cancers that invariably retain wild type p53 alleles. We hypothesize that PPM1D is a homeostatic regulator of the DNA damage response that returns the cell to a more normal unstressed state following repair of the damage.

Alleles↗

HLA-J, a second inactivated class I HLA gene related to HLA-G and HLA-A. Implications for the evolution of the HLA-A-related genes.

Ragoussis and co-workers (Genomics 4:301) previously described a class I HLA gene (now designated HLA-J) that maps to within 50 kb of HLA-A. The nucleotide sequences of three HLA-J alleles are reported here. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of HLA-J alleles shows this gene is more related to HLA-G, A, and H than to HLA-B, C, E, and F. All four alleles of HLA-J are pseudogenes because of deleterious mutations that produce translation termination either in exon 2 or exon 4. Apart from these mutations, the predicted proteins have structures similar to those of HLA-A, B, and C molecules. There is, however, little polymorphism at HLA-J and none at functional positions of the Ag-recognition site. The polymorphism is less than found for HLA-H another HLA-A-related pseudogene. HLA-J appears, like HLA-H, to be an inactivated gene that result from duplication of an Ag-presenting locus related to HLA-A. Nucleotide sequence comparisons show that the HLA-A, H, J, and G genes form a well defined group of "HLA-A-related" loci. Evolutionary relationships as assessed by construction of trees suggest the four modern loci: HLA-A, G, H, and J were formed by successive duplications from a common ancestral gene. In this scheme one intermediate locus gave rise to HLA-A and H, the other to HLA-G and J.

Alleles↗

Intragenic suppressors reveal long distance interactions between inactivating and reactivating amino acid replacements generating three-dimensional constraints in the structure of mitochondrial cytochrome b.

Revertants of nonfunctional cytochrome b mutants were isolated and characterized to determine how specific deleterious mutations in cytochrome b can be suppressed by secondary mutations not restoring a wild type protein. It was recently shown that the cytochrome b function can be recovered following various pseudo-wild type reversions at the level of the original site mutation or adjacent positions (di Rago, J.-P., Netter, P., and Slonimski, P. P. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 3332-3339). In the present study, we describe how the cytochrome b function can be recovered by secondary mutations in positions which are removed from the original mutation by up to more than 100 amino acids. Such revertant mutants are useful for the study of the three-dimensional structure of cytochrome b. The results of the analysis of four deficient mutations which affect a short region of the protein (positions 131-138 of the polypeptide chain) lead us to propose a possible mode of interactive combination between the first five putative transmembrane segments of cytochrome b within the membrane.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

DNA haplotype analyses of patients with hyperphenylalaninemia.

Linkage analysis of phenylketonurics has shown a strong association between the DNA haplotype at the phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) locus and phenylketonuria (PKU). Similarly, a genetic linkage between less severe forms of hyperphenylalaninemia (HPA) and the PAH locus has been suggested. In the present study we analyzed this linkage in more detail. Haplotypes at the PAH locus were determined for 19 individuals with moderately elevated plasma phenylalanine and normal urinary neopterin/biopterin ratios. Fourteen of these individuals had plasma phenylalanine levels of 4-10 mg/dl (mild HPA), and the other five had plasma phenylalanine levels of 10-19 mg/dl (atypical PKU). Thirteen of the 15 HPA families consisted of an affected child and at least one other sibling. Elevated plasma phenylalanine was seen to genetically segregate with specific PAH alleles in each family. Summation of the LOD scores for both categories of moderate plasma phenylalanine elevation gave a maximum value of 3.556 at theta = 0. At theta = 0 this gives a probability of linkage between the PAH locus and the locus for moderate phenylalanine elevations that is approximately 3,600:1. None of the alleles segregating with either mild HPA or atypical PKU were of haplotype 2 or 3, and 13/20 were of types 1 or 4. This is in agreement with the most deleterious mutations being on haplotypes 2 and 3 and with the less severe mutations being on haplotypes 1 and 4. chi 2 Analyses indicated no statistically significant correlation between HPA and a particular haplotype or restriction-enzyme site.

Alleles↗

HLA-AR, an inactivated antigen-presenting locus related to HLA-A. Implications for the evolution of the MHC.

The MHC contains many class I genes other than those known to present peptides to T lymphocytes. These additional class I genes vary between species and their functions are unknown. Genes involved in Ag presentation, HLA-A,B,C in humans, are highly diverse whereas other class I genes are of much more limited diversity. We have studied alleles of a gene, HLA-AR, that is closely linked and structurally related to HLA-A; properties consistent with these two loci having been formed by a gene duplication. Compared to HLA-A the diversity in HLA-AR is much less, and does not focus on residues of a putative Ag recognition site. However, the structure of HLA-AR alleles closely resembles those encoding Ag-presenting molecules, although the presence of one or two deleterious mutations prevents these alleles being active in Ag presentation. These results suggest HLA-AR derives from an Ag-presenting locus that became inactivated, possibly as a result of positive natural selection due to changing demands on T cell immunity. Thus absence of diversity may sometimes correlate with loss rather than preservation of function in class I MHC genes.

Alleles↗

Characterization of two genes encoding human steroid 11 beta-hydroxylase (P-450(11) beta).

Steroid 11 beta-hydroxylase (P-450(11) beta) is a mitochondrial cytochrome P-450 enzyme necessary for cortisol biosynthesis. Deficiency of 11 beta-hydroxylase causes a hypertensive form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. A partial cDNA clone encoding this enzyme has been previously isolated and the corresponding gene, CYP11B1, mapped to human chromosome 8q. This gene has now been isolated along with a second linked homologous gene, CYP11B2. Each gene contains nine exons. The eight introns are identical in location to the introns of the CYP11A gene encoding another mitochondrial P-450 enzyme, cholesterol desmolase, confirming that 11 beta-hydroxylase and cholesterol desmolase are in the same gene family within the P-450 superfamily. The nucleotide sequences of CYP11B1 and B2 are 95% identical in coding regions and about 90% identical in introns. The putative proteins encoded by CYP11B1 and B2 each contain 503 amino acids including a 24-residue signal peptide and have sequences that are 93% identical to each other and 75% identical to the predicted sequence of bovine P-450(11) beta. There are no obviously deleterious mutations in coding sequences of CYP11B2. However, the 5'-flanking regions of CYP11B1 and B2 have diverged considerably, and B2 transcripts were not detected in human adrenal mRNA or among cDNA clones.

Adrenal Glands↗

[Increased recombination in a multi-locus system during environmental fluctuations].

The role of variability of environment as a factor of recombination evolution is studied. It was shown that selection in multilocus system under cyclic or random fluctuations of external conditions results in rapid increase in recombination frequency, even under free recombination between the rec-modificator and the selected system (SS). If so, pair-vise linkage disequilibrium coefficients have unchanged signs and are negative, and the advantage of rec+ alleles is provided by changes in signs of disequilibriums of higher order. The low frequency environmental fluctuations maintain recombination as it is, while high frequency ones induce the substitution of the low level by high. It was established that the recombination promoting mechanism of crossing-over maintenance, due to elimination of non-optimal allelic combinations of SS loci under temporal optimum variations, may be accomplished by smaller genetic load, than under elimination of deleterious mutations.

Environment↗

Evidence for frequent gene conversion in the steroid 21-hydroxylase P-450(C21) gene: implications for steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency.

Oligonucleotide probes specific for the deleterious mutations harbored in the P-450(C21)A pseudogene and oligonucleotide probes specific for the corresponding sequences in the B gene were prepared to examine the molecular lesions in the P-450(C21) gene of P-450(C21)-deficient patients. Using these gene-specific probes, we performed Southern blot analyses of genomic DNAs from 11 patients and eight normal individuals. At least one allele of the B gene (the 3.7-kb TaqI fragment) in a patient was inactivated by mutations caused by recombination with the A gene. The A genes in normal individuals and patients seemed to be replaced frequently (i.e., 10/19 individuals) in their 3' portions by B gene sequences. All of these alterations occurred without changing the characteristic length (3.2 kb) of the TaqI fragment of the A gene, a result strongly suggesting that frequent gene conversions and/or intragenic recombinations have happened in the P-450(C21) genes. Densitometric analysis of the autoradiograms from hybridization experiments revealed extensive variation (from one to five copies) in the copy number of the A gene (the 3.2-kb TaqI fragment) whereas that of the B gene (the 3.7-kb TaqI fragment) was relatively constant at two or three copies.

Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital↗

Genotype assignment of haemophilia A by use of intragenic and extragenic restriction fragment length polymorphisms.

We performed DNA analysis in 20 families with haemophilia A in order to evaluate its usefulness for carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis. The polymorphic BclI site within intron 18 of the factor VIII gene and the extragenic TaqI and BglII polymorphic sites which are detected by the random DNA probes designated St14 and DX13, respectively, were investigated for. Two events of recombination were found between the St14 and the haemophilia A locus in 51 informative meioses. In one of these recombinant meioses crossing over had also occurred between the DX13 and the haemophilia A locus. No further crossovers between the DX13 and the haemophilia A locus were found in 20 informative meioses. Segregation analysis of the polymorphic markers and the deleterious mutation within the families allowed a diagnosis at the gene level for 52 out of 57 potential carriers. The new method considerably decreased the uncertainty about carriership for seventeen of the nineteen women with a probability of carriership between 5% and 95% based on pedigree analysis and factor VIII assays. In seven cases chromosome and DNA analysis of a chorionic villus biopsy was carried out. Three of the fetuses were female, four were male. Three of the male fetuses had inherited the normal maternal X-chromosome and were, therefore, not affected. For another male fetus no diagnosis at the gene level was possible since the mother was homozygous for all the known restriction fragment length polymorphisms within or closely linked with the haemophilia A locus.

Carrier State↗

Carrier detection of haemophilia B by using an intragenic restriction-fragment length polymorphism.

We analysed DNA from individuals of five families with haemophilia B, including nineteen potential carriers. A gene-specific probe was used to reveal a TaqI restriction-fragment length polymorphism. Segregation analysis of the polymorphic marker and the deleterious mutation within families allowed diagnosis at the gene level for 16 out of the 19 potential carriers, two proving to be carriers and 14 non-carriers. The obvious advantage is that lyonisation, which is a limiting factor when gene product (clotting factor IX) measurements are used for carrier detection, does not interfere with this procedure and that the result is a definitive diagnosis instead of a risk estimate. The method also permits prenatal diagnosis on chorionic villi in the first trimester of pregnancy. Restriction-fragment length analysis, based upon the probe and restriction enzyme used in this study, will be informative for approximately 45% of the individuals at risk of carrying or transmitting the haemophilia B mutation.

DNA Restriction Enzymes↗

[Biopolymers and evolution].

Biopolymers are usually studied being extracted from the whole system of a cell or of an organism. Some important features are lost during such a procedure. It is necessary to take into account the behavior of proteins and nucleic acids in metabolic networks and to investigate their evolution. The substitutions of amino-acids metabolic networks residues are biologically possible in the polypeptides and proteins if they do not influence their spatial structure and function. The correlations of the primary structure with these properties are degenerate. The protein can be treated as "an edited statistical copolymer" (Ptitsyn). In the process of "edition" an important role is played by the ions of transient metals. Nucleic acids possess similar properties. It can be shown that the deleterious mutations of proteins can be compensated by the changes of their amount, spatial and temporal characteristics of the synthesis. Not only the structure of the protein is important but also the exact answers of the questions: how much, when and where? The contemporary theory of evolution unites phylogeny and onthogeny. The directionality of evolution is determined both by natural selection and by the already existing structure of an organism. Hence many characters are not adaptive. This is valid also for the molecular level of the structure. Thus three independent groups of facts and suggestions are presented, which confirm the neutral theory of evolution (Kimura) and elucidate its physical meaning. The molecular evolution does not coincide with the biological evolution.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The first arrival time and mean age of a deleterious mutant gene in a finite population.

The mean and standard deviation of the first arrival time for a single mutant to reach a certain frequency and the mean age of a mutant persisting in a population have been studied using diffusion methods. These quantities are shown to be highly dependent on both the heterozygous effect and the population size. For partially recessive deleterious mutations, both the mean first arrival time and the mean age decrease with increasing selection coefficient against heterozygotes. For overdominant mutations, the mean age always increases very rapidly with increasing heterozygous advantage, while the mean first arrival time first increases rapidly with increasing heterozygous advantage to a maximum and then decreases rapidly with increasing heterozygous advantage. The standard deviation of the first arrival time is small while that of the age is large. The results of this study have been applied to study the case of the sickle cell anemia mutant in Africa. It is argued that the present prevalence may be explained without the necessity of quite so great a heterozygous advantage as .25 or higher as proposed by some workers. A reasonable range for the heterozygous advantage seems to be from .05 to .18.

Anemia, Sickle Cell↗

Molecular diagnosis of hemophilia A in Chinese patients by an analysis of inversions in the factor VIII gene.

Hemophilia A is an X-linked bleeding disorder caused by deleterious mutations in the factor VIII gene. An inversion caused by introchromosomal homologous recombination between the A gene located in intron 22 of the factor VIII gene and one of the two telomeric A genes has been recently described as the common cause of about 50% of cases of severe hemophilia A. The rearrangement can be readily detected by a Southern blotting procedure. We report use of this procedure to detect rearrangements in 106 unrelated Chinese hemophilia A cases. In 49.3% of the patients with severe disease an inversion was found, but no inversion was detected in any of the patients with moderate or mild disease. The majority of inversions (91.4%) involved the most distal A gene; in a minority (8.6%) the more proximal A gene was involved. These results indicate that intron 22 inversion is the most important molecular defect causing Chinese hemophilia A and that analysis for intron 22 inversion may be the first-line test in the molecular diagnosis of severe hemophilia A.

Asian People↗

The human p19ARF protein encoded by the beta transcript of the p16INK4a gene is frequently lost in small cell lung cancer.

The p16IN4/CDKN2/MTS1 gene encodes two structurally different proteins: a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor called p16INK4a, which regulates retinoblastoma protein-dependent G1 arrest, and a cell cycle inhibitor designated p19ARF, which arrests cell growth in G1-S and also in G2-M. Whereas inactivation of p16INK4a has been described as a frequent event in lung cancer, the current function of p19ARF is still poorly understood. We have examined the expression of the human p19ARF (hp19ARF) protein in a large series of lung cancers using immunohistochemistry and showed that the protein was more frequently lost in high-grade neuroendocrine (NE) lung tumors (large cell NE carcinoma and small cell lung carcinoma; 51 of 78, 65%) than it was in non-small cell lung cancer (25 of 101, 25%). No deleterious mutation was found in exons 1beta and 2 of hp19ARF in those NE tumors with negative immunoreactivity, and a beta transcript was detected in the majority of them. Concomitant absence of hp19ARF and retinoblastoma proteins was frequently detected in high-grade NE lung tumors, whereas no relationship could be found between the status of hp19ARF and p53 proteins in those tumors. These results are consistent with an alternative growth suppressor function for hp19ARF in NE lung cancer that is distinct from that of p16INK4a. Moreover, the frequent uncoupling between the beta transcript and the hp19ARF protein suggests a novel mechanism of inactivation at the translational level.

Carcinoma, Small Cell↗

Host-parasite arms race in mutation modifications: indefinite escalation despite a heavy load?

If constantly changing genotypes are favorable in host and parasite coevolution, an indefinite escalation of mutation rates would result despite heavy mutational loads. We theoretically study this possibility by examining the mutation modifier dynamics of host and parasite that engage in genotype-specific epidemiological interaction. In the first model, we study the evolutionarily stable (ESS) mutation rate or switching rate if two alleles in a single locus are subjected to frequency-dependent selection favoring the rarer of the two. Mutation modifier locus is either tightly linked or unlinked to the selected locus. Sufficiently strong frequency-dependent selection may cause cycles in allele frequencies and a modifier with higher mutation rate enjoys the long-term advantage by randomizing the genotype of their offspring. Through the repeated events of invasion and replacement of mutation modifiers, the mutation rate continues to increase until the allele frequencies are stabilized. If some fraction of mutations are deleterious, there is no longer a pure ESS mutation rate: the evolutionarily stable population then consists of multiple strains concerning mutation modifier, typically one with a very high mutation rate and the other with a very low rate, stably coexisting and fighting off invasion by any other modifiers. These results are almost independent of the linkage between the selected and the modifier loci. In the second model, we consider the joint evolution of host and parasite mutation modifiers, assuming that a specific pair of host and parasite genotype densities change following the Nicholson-Bailey type model. If there is no cost of deleterious mutations, mutation rates of both species are escalated indefinitely by modifier evolution until they completely suppress the fluctuation of genotype densities. However, a small cost of deleterious mutation is enough to collapse this coevolutionary equilibrium of inflated mutations. Typical coevolutionary outcome is that the parasite mutation rate is accelerated to a high level; whereas the host mutation rate is driven to zero. Extension of our results to host-parasite coevolution of recombination modifier evolution is discussed.

Animals↗

Evolutionary coupling between the deleteriousness of gene mutations and the amount of non-coding sequences.

The phenotypic effects of random mutations depend on both the architecture of the genome and the gene-trait relationships. Both levels thus play a key role in the mutational variability of the phenotype, and hence in the long-term evolutionary success of the lineage. Here, by simulating the evolution of organisms with flexible genomes, we show that the need for an appropriate phenotypic variability induces a relationship between the deleteriousness of gene mutations and the quantity of non-coding sequences maintained in the genome. The more deleterious the gene mutations, the shorter the intergenic sequences. Indeed, in a shorter genome, fewer genes are affected by rearrangements (duplications, deletions, inversions, translocations) at each replication, which compensates for the higher impact of each gene mutation. This spontaneous adjustment of genome structure allows the organisms to retain the same average fitness loss per replication, despite the higher impact of single gene mutations. These results show how evolution can generate unexpected couplings between distinct organization levels.

Animals↗

Relative fitness of carriers of the mitochondrial DNA mutation 3243A > G.

Deleterious point mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been found in many human populations and always at a low frequency suggesting that they are under strong negative selection. It is assumed that this selection is caused by reduced genetic fitness of mutation carriers, but the fitness of carriers of any mtDNA mutation has not been determined. We estimated the reproductive disadvantage caused by the mitochondrial DNA mutation 3243A > G in a population-based group of female carriers (n = 32). The person-years method, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and population statistics were used to estimate net reproduction rates of the mutation carriers and the general population. We found that women with 3243A > G reproduced at the same rate as women in the general population, suggesting that on average host-level selection against women harbouring the 3243A > G mutation is not strong.

Adolescent↗

Six novel deleterious and three neutral mutations in the gene encoding the alpha-subunit of hexosaminidase A in non-Jewish individuals.

Initial investigations demonstrated that only 3/34 "Tay-Sachs chromosomes" in 22 unrelated, non-Jewish patients or carriers of some form of GM2-gangliosidosis (7 black and 15 non-Jewish Caucasian) had either of the two mutations commonly found in the Jewish population. To determine the nature and incidence of the alterations in this non-Jewish population we have utilized PCR, single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis and sequencing to detect new mutations in genomic DNA. Fourteen primer sets have been utilized to analyze 80% of the coding region and 23/26 splice sites of the gene coding for the alpha chain of hexosaminidase A. Presumed deleterious mutations were discovered in 17/34 chromosomes believed to be carrying a beta-hexosaminidase A alpha-subunit gene mutation. Ten had abnormalities which have been described previously. In the remaining 24 Tay-Sachs disease alleles, six novel mutations predicted to be deleterious were discovered. These include two small deletions (a single-base frameshift and a three-base deletion removing an amino acid), two different nonsense mutations, an initiation codon mutation (ATG----GTG), and a missense mutation (Arg499Cys) in a highly conserved residue. In addition, three presumed nondeleterious mutations were found.

Base Sequence↗