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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2026

Human MutLα activates methylpurine DNA glycosylase to induce alkylation damage cytotoxicity.

Alkylation chemotherapy is commonly used against tumors such as glioblastoma, yet resistance often develops through downregulation of mismatch repair (MMR). Previous work has established that loss of MMR prevents the excision of the thymine-containing strand across O 6meG-T mismatches, thereby avoiding the futile repair cycle that ultimately leads to cell death. Here, we provide an alternative explanation to this prevailing mechanism of chemoresistance by MMR loss. We found that the MMR protein MutLα physically and functionally interacts with the base excision repair (BER) enzyme methylpurine DNA glycosylase (MPG), which processes common alkylation adducts, such as 7meG and 3meA. Biochemical reconstitution demonstrates that MutLα activates MPG glycosylase activity by promoting MPG substrate binding, and enhancing MPG release from the abasic site product, thereby facilitating enzyme turnover. This glycosylase stimulation requires ATP hydrolysis as well as the MLH1-interacting region on MPG. Both MutLα or its ability to interact with MPG promote the generation of alkylation-induced abasic sites in cells, which contribute to the cytotoxicity of methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), an SN2 alkylating agent that does not produce O 6meG. Our results provide new insight into the mechanism of alkylation chemoresistance and uncover an unappreciated cross-talk between MMR and BER.

DNA repair↗
PubMed1992

Oxidation of methylhydrazines to mutagenic methylating derivatives and inducers of the adaptive response of Escherichia coli to alkylation damage.

The methylhydrazines, monomethylhydrazine, 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, and 1,2-dimethylhydrazine, are known carcinogens but only weak mutagens in the Ames test. Chemical oxidation of these compounds by potassium ferricyanide greatly enhanced their mutagenicity to an Escherichia coli ada mutant and converted them into inducers of the adaptive response of E. coli to alkylation damage. Enzymatic oxidation of monomethylhydrazine by horseradish peroxidase-H2O2 also yielded products which induced the adaptive response. Thus, methylhydrazines can be oxidized to active DNA-methylating derivatives which generate methylphosphotriesters (the inducing signal of the adaptive response), O6-methylguanine and/or O4-methylthymine (the miscoding bases repaired by the Ada protein) in DNA. These observations support the suggestion that metabolic oxidation of methylhydrazines in mammalian systems may be required to generate the mutagenic/carcinogenic derivatives.

1,2-Dimethylhydrazine↗
PubMed1992

Mutagenesis and DNA repair for alkylation damages in Escherichia coli K-12.

In this work we report on the isolation of an Escherichia coli K-12 mutation, which confers a high sensitivity to bacteria cells to mutagenesis by simple monofunctional alkylating agents. The mutation emerged spontaneously from a bacterial strain that already proved useful in various mutagenicity studies. By monitoring the influence of such a mutation on the frequency of induced mutation by ethylating (EMS, DES, ENU, ENNG) vs. methylating (MMS, DMS, MNU, MNNG) compounds, and on the in vivo repair capacity for different alkyl-DNA lesions (O6-alkG, N7-alkG, N3-meA), we conclude that the mutation should affect the gene (ogt) that encodes constitutive DNA repair alkyltransferase (ATase). Thus in the presence of ada, differences in mutagenicity were observed only with ethylating agents; the sensitization of cells to both the ethylating and methylating partners requiring, by contrast, the absence of the ada protein. These results support the reported in vitro substrate specificities for both ogt and ada ATases. The parental cells exhibited biphasic dose-response curves in accordance with the idea of low basal level saturation attributed to the uninducible ogt ATase. Deficient bacterial derivatives showed, by contrast, linear mutation induction responses. The in vivo removal of alkylated bases from DNA was measured in bacterial strains deficient in the excision repair pathway (delta uvrB) and unable to induce the adaptive response (ada::Tn10). The very low initial levels for O6-meG and O6-etG (1.1 and 0.2 molecules per cell, respectively) were readily repaired by the parental cells but remained unchanged in the hypermutable derivatives. This result suggests that in the absence of nucleotide excision repair and of the adaptive response, no alternative pathway, other than ogt, is available for the repair of the major mutagenic lesion, O6-alkG, at least during the first 4 hours after alkylation. Comparatively, no differences were found in the capacity to repair the major lethal adduct, N3-meA, in agreement with the fact that no effect on cell survival was detected. In conclusion, we propose that the biological significance of the ogt protein relies mainly on its ability to prevent mutagenesis by low levels of bulkier ethylation products (especially in the absence of uvr excision repair.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Alkylating Agents↗
PubMed1975

Postreplication repair of alkylation damage to DNA of mammalian cells in culture.

Incorporation and alkaline sucrose sedimentation studies of DNA from mouse L-cells have demonstrated the following effects of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) and methyl methanesulfonate (MMS). Increasing the concentration of both agents increases the number of single-strand breaks or alkali-labile lesions of existing DNA, which affects the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA by reducing its relative rate. DNA that is newly synthesized during the 1st hr in [3H]thymidine after MNU treatment is of lower molecular weight than is existing DNA with alkali-labile lesions in treated cells and is also lower than DNA synthesized in control cells. Such small segments formed in treated cells are elongated and joined to form high-molecular-weight DNA in the subsequent 4-hr chase in thymidine or 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine. Near-ultraviolet photolysis selectively degrades 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-elongated DNA to segments that are nearly as small as those before chase. Further, caffeine (2 mM) present during the thymidine chase prevents nascent-strand elongation, although caffeine-insensitive chain growth occurs partly in MNU-alkylated cells. The MMS lesion (single-strand breakage in alkali) in existing DNA also temporarily interrupts replicative synthesis and makes short segments, but their elongation seems insensitive to caffeine. Our results indicate that MNU may produce both caffeine-sensitive interruptions (probably gaps), as ultraviolet damage does, and apurinic site-directed, caffeine-insensitive interruptions in nascent strands, while MMS may cause exclusively the latter. Further evidence for this is the caffeine potentiation of only MNU killing, like ultraviolet killing, of L-cells. The extent of such a specific MNU lesion is estimated to be no more than 4% of the total extent of methylation, predicting that the lesion that is accessible to caffeine-sensitive repair will be a minor product(s) other than N7-methylguanine. Mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of MNU, which are higher than those of MMS, could be ascribed to such a particular MNU lesion(s) and its repair.

Alkylation↗
PubMed1992

Mutational activation of H-ras oncogene transformability by alkylnitrosourea-induced DNA damage.

To assess the role of DNA alkylation damage in oncogene activation, plasmid DNA containing H-ras proto-oncogene (p220-EC) and oncogene (p220-EJ) were treated with increasing concentrations of carcinogenic methylnitrosourea (MNU) and ethylnitrosourea (ENU). The modified plasmid DNA were analyzed by transfection-transformation of the NIH/3T3-recipient cells. Treatment with varying doses of MNU (0.1-5 mM) and ENU (1-15 mM) did not result in the inactivation of the plasmid containing target genes. A transformation efficiency of greater than 40% was observed upon treatment of H-ras oncogene with the highest doses of the alkylating agents. The morphologically transformed foci obtained with alkylated p220-EC ranged from 2.8 to 0.3/microgram MNU alkylated and 1.6 to 0.6/microgram ENU alkylated plasmid DNA. A significant proportion of the morphological transformants exhibited growth in soft agar. The HpaII/MspI restriction length polymorphism (RFLP) at codon 12 of H-ras exon-1 was detected with 4 independently isolated clones obtained from MNU-alkylated p220-EC transfections. Allele-specific in situ gel hybridization with a battery of codon 12 and codon 61 oligonucleotide probes confirmed these RFLPs to be due to sequence changes at codon 12. No clone with sequence changes in the H-ras codon 61 could be detected. The data indicate that a high degree of in vitro alkylation damage of the target gene is necessary to elicit mutational activation of H-ras in transfection-transformation assay. Low frequency notwithstanding, the data demonstrate that DNA alkylation damage at critical target sites can initiate neoplastic cellular transformation.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1979

Pathways for repair of DNA damaged by alkylating agent in Escherichia coli.

A strain with both the polA12 and the alk-1 mutation is only slightly more sensitive to methyl methane sulfonate (MMS) than isogenic strains with only one of the mutations. On the other hand, alk-1 recA1 double mutant is much more sensitive to MMS than are strains carrying either one of alk or recA mutation. It was suggested that the alk and the polA gene products are involved in the same DNA repair process whereas the recA function is independent from the process. The yield of MMS-induced mutation (Arg- (argE) to Arg+ reversion) in alk mutant is considerably higher than that in wild type strain. Thus, the repair process in which the alk gene product is involved is relatively accurate. When MMS-treated lambda phages were plated on MMS-treated bacteria, there were considerable increases in survival of treated phage even in recA alk double mutant. It seems that a new repair pathway, which is specific for alkylating agent-induced damages and is not dependent on the RecA function, may be induced on exposure of bacteria to the alkylating agent.

DNA Repair↗
PubMed1976

Detection of different types of damage in alkylated DNA by means of human corrective endonuclease (correndonuclease).

Corrective endonuclease (correndunclease) activity of HeLa cells was assayed with alkylated DNA. Double-stranded, covalently closed DNA from phage PM II was treated with methyl methanesulfonate, N-methyl-N-nitrosourea, beta-propiolactone, or diepoxybutane to introduce alkylated bases and alkali-labile sites into the DNA. The damaged DNA was incubated with an extract of HeLa cells that catalyzes the formation of breaks at apurinic sites in double-stranded DNA. Methylated DNA was broken at every alkali-labile site by the HeLa correndonuclease, which indicated that these sites are similar to the apurinic sites produced by heating at acid pH. DNA alkylated with beta-propiolactone or diepoxybutane containing the same number of alkali-labile sites was broken to a far lesser extent. This indicates the presence of a second type of alkali-labile damage that is correndonuclease-insensitive.

Alkylating Agents↗
PubMed1975

In vivo repair of rat intestinal DNA damage by alkylating agents.

In an effort to evaluate the possible correlation of the transforming ability of the known colon carcinogens dimethylhydrazine, 3-2'-dimethyl-4-aminobiphenyl, and methylazoxymethanolacetate to damage and repair of DNA, a series of compounds known to react with DNA-nitrogen mustard, methylmethanesulfonate, and mitomycin C--were administered to rats that had been prelabeled with 3H-thymidine. The DNA of crypt and villus of the jejunum and crypt and surface cells of the large bowel were analyzed by ultracentrifugation on an alkaline sucrose gradient. All fractions suffered degradation to such an extent that essentially no undamaged DNA was detectable. This was followed by repair and an increase in size. However, in the surface cells of the colon of animals that had received a carcinogenic insult there was far less rapid repair. Since this is the site where tumors would ultimately arise these data are supportive of the hypothesis that there is a relationship between decreased repair and carcinogenicity. In view of the age related incidence of colon cancer, repair in older animals was evaluated and was found to be less than that seen in the young. Since multiple treatment with the carcinogen dimethylhydrazine is required and there is a long latent period, the effect of this treatment on repair potential was evaluated. Similar to what was seen in the older animals, these treated rats had greatly reduced capacity to repair DNA. All these observations are consistent with the hypothesis that decreased repair of DNA alterations is a concomitant of carcinogenesis.

Alkylating Agents↗
PubMed1977

Evidence that UV-inducible error-prone repair is absent in Haemophilus influenzae Rd, with a discussion of the relation to error-prone repair of alkylating-agent damage.

Haemophilus influenzae Rd and its derivatives are mutated either not at all or to only a very small extent by ultraviolet (UV) radiation, X-rays, methyl methanesulfonate, and nitrogen mustard, though they are readily mutated by such agents as N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, ethyl methanesulfonate, and nitrosocarbaryl. In these respects H. influenzae Rd resembles the lexA mutants of Escherichia coli that lack the SOS or reclex UV-inducible error-prone repair system. This similarity is further brought out by the observation that chloramphenicol has little or no effect on post-replication repair after UV irradiation. In E. coli, chloramphenicol has been reported to considerably inhibit post-replication repair in the wild type but not in the lexA mutant. Earlier work has suggested that most or all the mutations induced in H. influenzae by NC result from error-prone repair. Combined treatment with NC and either X-rays or UV shows that the NC error-prone repair system does not produce mutations from the lesions induced by these radiations even while it is producing them from its own lesions. It is concluded that the NC error-prone repair system or systems and the reclex error-prone system are different.

Alkylating Agents↗
PubMed1992

Anaerobic induction of the alkylation-inducible Escherichia coli aidB gene involves genes of the cysteine biosynthetic pathway.

The Escherichia coli aidB gene is a component of the adaptive response to alkylation damage. This gene is subject to two different forms of induction: an ada-dependent alkylation induction and an ada-independent induction that occurs when cells are grown anaerobically (M. R. Volkert, L. I. Hajec, and D. C. Nguyen, J. Bacteriol. 171:1196-1198, 1989; M. R. Volkert, and D. C. Nguyen, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:4110-4114, 1984). In this study, we isolated and characterized strains bearing mutations that specifically affect the anaerobic induction pathway. This pathway requires a functional cysA operon, which encodes sulfate permease. Mutations in cysA block this pathway of aidB induction. In contrast, mutations in either cysH, cysD, cysN, or cysC result in elevated levels of aidB expression during aerobic growth. These results indicate that the sulfate transport genes perform a role in anaerobic induction of the aidB gene and suggest that growth under anaerobic conditions may modify either the function or the expression of gene products encoded by the cysA operon.

Alkylation↗
PubMed2024

DNA lesion bypass and the stochastic dynamics of transcription-coupled repair.

DNA base damage is a major source of oncogenic mutations and disruption to gene expression. The stalling of RNA polymerase II (RNAP) at sites of DNA damage and the subsequent triggering of repair processes have major roles in shaping the genome-wide distribution of mutations, clearing barriers to transcription, and minimizing the production of miscoded gene products. Despite its importance for genetic integrity, key mechanistic features of this transcription-coupled repair (TCR) process are controversial or unknown. Here, we exploited a well-powered in vivo mammalian model system to explore the mechanistic properties and parameters of TCR for alkylation damage at fine spatial resolution and with discrimination of the damaged DNA strand. For rigorous interpretation, a generalizable mathematical model of DNA damage and TCR was developed. Fitting experimental data to the model and simulation revealed that RNA polymerases frequently bypass lesions without triggering repair, indicating that small alkylation adducts are unlikely to be an efficient barrier to gene expression. Following a burst of damage, the efficiency of transcription-coupled repair gradually decays through gene bodies with implications for the occurrence and accurate inference of driver mutations in cancer. The reinitation of transcription from the repair site is not a general feature of transcription-coupled repair, and the observed data is consistent with reinitiation never taking place. Collectively, these results reveal how the directional but stochastic activity of TCR shapes the distribution of mutations following DNA damage.

Animals↗