Accumulation Of DNA Breaks Research Articles

Xeroderma pigmentosum D-HeLa hybrids with low and high ultraviolet sensitivity associated with normal and diminished DNA repair ability, respectively.

Fusion between HeLa and fibroblasts from complementation group D xeroderma pigmentosum (XPD) followed by challenge with small doses of ultraviolet light (u.v.) results in the production of hybrid cells expressing either HeLa (HD1) or XPD-like (HD2) sensitivity to u.v. and related repair capacity. Assays used included unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS), DNA break accumulation in the presence of inhibitors of DNA repair synthesis and host cell reactivation of irradiated adenovirus. Complementation assay in heterokaryons reveals limited ability of HD2 to restore UDS in XPD nuclei. We believe this complementation is more apparent than real since proliferating hybrids of HD2 and XPD parentage are without exception u.v.-sensitive and express limited excision repair. On the other hand hybrids between HD2 and XPC, XPE or XPF fibroblasts show true complementation resulting in a return to normal u.v. sensitivity and elevated repair ability.

DNA repair in mouse embryo fibroblasts II. Responses of nontransformed, preneoplastic and tumorigenic cells to ultraviolet irradiation

Ultraviolet light-induced excision repair, as measured by single-strand DNA-break accumulation in the presence of hydroxyurea and 1-β- D-arabinofuranosylcytosine, undergoes an apparent decline concomitant with spontaneous transformation of mouse cells in vitro. This decline is seen in preneoplastic transformed cells as well as tumorigenic cells, suggesting that it is an early event in transformation. The difference between nontransformed and transformed mouse cells in apparent incision rates is greatest at short times after irradiation when nontransformed cells show a transient phase of rapid incision. No gross differences in the effects of UV on replicative DNA synthesis, bulk RNA synthesis, cell proliferation or clonal survival in nontransformed and transformed cells were seen, in spite of the reduced incision capacity of the latter. Taken together the results suggest that transformed cells are capable of growth in the presence of significantly increased amounts of DNA damage. A decreased ability of nontumorigenic cells to remove DNA lesions, coupled with unrestricted growth, may be responsible for genetic alterations which increase the probability of a cell becoming tumorigenic.

Novobiocin inhibition of DNA excision repair may occur through effects on mitochondrial structure and ATP metabolism, not on repair topoisomerases

Novobiocin inhibits DNA topoisomerases. It also inhibits excision repair of DNA photodamage, blocking both repair synthesis and the earlier step of incision at u.v. damage sites (as measured by the accumulation of DNA strand breaks in u.v.-irradiated interphase cells treated with DNA synthesis inhibitors such as hydroxyurea or cytosine arabinoside). It has been supposed, therefore, that novobiocin affects repair by blocking a putative topoisomerase step prior to incision. But we find that novobiocin also has a marked dose- and time-dependent effect on mitochondria: in cells exposed to novobiocin, mitochondria swell and their cristae become disrupted, and the intracellular ATP:ADP ratio is lowered, though the membrane potential is maintained as judged by rhodamine 123 fluorescence. Mitotic cells are more resistant to mitochondrial disruption by novobiocin than are interphase cells. This correlates with a relative resistance of u.v.-irradiated mitotic cells to the inhibition of incision by novobiocin. The chromosomal decondensation that results from the accumulation of DNA breaks due to incision when u.v.-irradiated mitotic cells are treated with hydroxyurea and cytosine arabinoside is largely suppressed by novobiocin. Furthermore, the suppression of induced strand break accumulation is partly due to a suppression by novobiocin of the uptake and phosphorylation of cytosine arabinoside; breaks accumulated in u.v.-irradiated cells in the presence of aphidicolin, an inhibitor of DNA polymerase alpha that does not require phosphorylation, are less novobiocin-sensitive. We conclude that the effects of novobiocin on excision repair are more likely to be due to a non-specific effect on ATP metabolism than to a specific effect on a repair-related topoisomerase.

DNA ligase activities during hepatocarcinogenesis induced by N-2-acetylaminofluorene.

A progressive accumulation of DNA breaks has been reported to occur in nuclear DNA obtained from putative premalignant hepatic lesions induced by carcinogens. To determine if this alteration resulted from a defect in the level of, or functional activity of DNA ligases, we compared these enzymes in normal rat liver, 24-h regenerating liver, and hepatic nodules at intervals after cessation of N-2-acetylaminofluorene (AAF) treatment. Nuclear extracts of hepatocytes were separated into soluble and chromatin fractions, and multiple forms of DNA ligase activity were obtained by AcA34 gel filtration chromatography. In activities of the two largest species, DNA ligase Ia (480 kd) and DNA ligase Ib (240 kd), were present exclusively in soluble, nuclear fractions and were increased 4-fold and 2-fold, respectively, in 24-h regenerating livers. In AAF-induced nodules, these species were increased 3-fold and 1.5-fold, respectively, above those of normal rat liver, somewhat higher than predicted from the rate of cell division. In all of the test tissues, these ligase species demonstrated identical sensitivity to inhibition with 0.1 M NaCl or heating at 50 degrees C. DNA ligase II (80 kd) was found in both soluble nuclear fractions and chromatin at approximately identical levels in all tissues tested. Ligase II from all tissues also demonstrated identical responses to salt and heat. These data support the concept that DNA ligases Ia and Ib are related to DNA replication and suggest that ligase II may be a repair enzyme. The failure to detect significant alterations from expected values in the hepatic nodules and the lack of alteration in sensitivity to salt and heat indicate that the accumulation of DNA damage (presumably breaks) previously observed in carcinogen-induced altered hepatocytes is not due to an alteration in the level or the biochemical properties of DNA ligase.

Effect of mercaptoethylamine on DNA degradation in thermophilic bacteria bac. Stearothermophilus exposed to gamma-, UV-radiation or methylnitrosourea.

The effect of mercaptoethylamine (MEA) on degradation of DNA in thermophilic bacteria Bac. stear. exposed to gamma-, UV-rays or methylnitrosourea (MNU) was studied. Using centrifugation on alkaline and neutral sucrose gradients, it was shown that MEA inhibits the accumulation of breaks in the DNA of Bac. stear. It also lowers the level of DNA degradation in toluene-treated cells of Bac. stear. under the action of the intrinsic nuclease, reduces the activity of the endonuclease specific for apurinic DNA, as well as that of S1-nuclease and DNase-I in vitro. The inhibition in the accumulation of DNA breaks is assumed to be due to a decrease of the endonuclease activity in the cells of thermophilic bacteria.

U.v. induces long-lived DNA breaks in Cockayne's syndrome and cells from an immunodeficient individual (46BR): defects and disturbance in post incision steps of excision repair.

In normal cells exposed to low u.v. doses the several enzymic steps of the excision repair process are closely coupled with the result that DNA gaps are transient and present at such low frequency that it is very difficult to detect them. Cells from a u.v.-sensitive human genetic disorder, Cockayne's Syndrome (CS) and from an immunodeficient individual 46BR, have been examined with respect to their incision capacity after u.v. in the presence and absence of inhibitors of DNA synthesis. We have measured the initial rates of DNA break accumulation in the presence of hydroxyurea and 1-beta-D arabinofuranosylcytosine and find that in both these groups the rate is only slightly lower than in normal cells. However, there is a marked difference between u.v. sensitive cells and normal in the accumulation of long-lived DNA breaks in the absence of inhibitors. While in normal cells practically no breaks could be detected, the u.v. sensitive cells accumulated significant numbers of DNA breaks within 15 min of incubation; 46BR cells showed almost the same level of DNA breaks without the inhibitors as with them. In CS break accumulation can be detected in the absence of inhibitors for only a short time after irradiation (approximately 30 min), but less so when deoxyribonucleosides are provided. The spontaneous break accumulation is related to the time elapsed since proteolytic detachment of the cells from monolayer; 24 h after replating CS breaks no longer accumulate in response to u.v. 46BR cells, on the other hand, accumulate breaks even 1 day after replating and express unligated gaps 2 h after irradiation with a relatively low u.v. dose such as 4 Jm-2. Provision of DNA precursors does not greatly reduce break accumulation. The extremely slow rate of gap sealing in 46BR cells is consistent with the hypothesis that a ligase defect is expressed in these cells. In the absence of inhibitors break accumulation in CS cells often fluctuates between experiments for unaccounted reasons; though 11961 fluctuates less than other CS strains this phenotypic trait helps to confirm its assignation as a Cockayne Syndrome. Spontaneous conditional break accumulation is not restricted to CS cells; fibroblasts from a normal individual also express similar behaviour though their ability to seal repair sites is considerably greater.

Cell cycle‐related variations in UV damage and repair capacity in chinese hamster (CHO‐K1) cells

UV damage to CHO cell DNA, measured by formation of thymine-containing dimers, increases from mitosis to early S phase. Computer simulation of UV absorption by the DNA of an idealized CHO cell at different stages in the cell cycle resembles the cycle dependence of UV damage. Incision at UV damage sites, measured by the accumulation of breaks in preexisting DNA during 30 minutes' post-irradiation incubation with the DNA synthesis inhibitors 1-beta-D arabinofuranosylcytosine and hydroxyurea, increases from mitosis to interphase. Analysis of the dose dependence of DNA break accumulation indicates that both the affinity of the endonuclease for dimer sites and the maximum enzyme activity at saturating levels of dimers are significantly lower in mitosis than in interphase. The killing of CHO cells by UV is enhanced if repair is temporarily inhibited by are C. The DNA gyrase inhibitor novobiocin prevents UV-induced incision.