Alkylation of meseenger RNA by dimethylnitrosamine

Possible depletion of a DNA repair enzyme in human lymphoma cells by subversive repair

Mex+ human lymphoma cell lines contain O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase, a DNA repair enzyme that undergoes suicide inactivation on interaction with its substrate. The cells are therefore competent to remove the alkylation lesion O6-methylguanine from their DNA. However, several repair-deficient lymphoma cell lines (Mex-) are also known. It is shown here that Mex+ cells can be converted temporarily to a Mex- phenotype by growth in nontoxic concentrations of free O6-methylguanine. The depletion of methyltransferase activity is not a result of O6-methylguanine incorporation into DNA and subsequent demethylation by the enzyme. It is proposed that O6-methylguanine is mistakenly incorporated into tRNA molecules by means of a post-transcriptional ribosyl transfer reaction. The demethylation of such bases in tRNA has been demonstrated by using bacterial and human DNA repair enzymes. The existence of such a subversive repair of a methylated base in tRNA raises the possibility of competition between DNA and RNA for cellular DNA repair enzymes. Furthermore, it is proposed that the known aberrant methylation of tRNA in certain transformed cells, together with subversive tRNA repair, could account for the Mex- phenotype.

Early effects of dimethylnitrosamine on the initiation of protein synthesis in mouse liver

1. Dimethylnitrosamine (37.5 mg/kg body wt.) was administered to mice by a single intraperitoneal injection, and the early effects on protein synthesis and related functions were studied in a liver S-30 system. 2. The incorporation of [14C]leucine into protein decreased rapidly after dimethylnitrosamine administration. The effect was associated with a decreased ability of the system to utilize methionyl-tRNAfMet and formyl-methionyl-tRNAfMet for 80 S ribosomal initiation-complex formation (primary initiation), and a loss of poly(A)-containing RNA from the postmicrosomal fraction. All the three effects developed simultaneously, and were clearly demonstrable within 15 min. 3. Initiation-complex formation in the polyribosomal fraction (re-initiation) was decreased to the same extent as the primary initiation, indicating that the initiation defect was not a result of the decrease in free mRNA. 4. The inhibition of initiation was only manifest at the joining of the 40 S pre-initiation complex to 60 S ribosomal subunits. It was not a result of methionyl-tRNAfMet deacylation. The functions between the formation of the methionyl-tRNAfMet-containing 80 S ribosomal complex and the first translocation on the ribosome were not involved, since the incorporation of formylmethionine into N-terminal polypeptides decreased to the same extent as the 80 S initiation-complex formation. 5. Inhibitors of protein synthesis (cycloheximide and pactamycin) decreased poly(A)-containing RNA in the postmicrosomal fraction in a similar way to dimethylnitrosamine.

[On the carcinogenetic action of N-nitroso compounds. 7th communication: methyl-, trideuteromethyl-, ethyl-, n-propyl-, n-butyl-, acetoxymethyl-nitrosamine, and methyl-butyroxymethyl-nitrosamine (author's transl)]

The homologons alkyl-acetoxymethyl-nitrosamines were tested for carcinogenicity in SD rats. All compounds were found to be carcinogenic and induced within the same time carcinomas of the forestomach. The total doses necessary for induction of tumors are related to the length of the alkyl chain and hence to the watersolubility. These results are discussed.