The formation of acetylaminofluorene adducts in poly(dC-dG) and poly(dA-dT) on reaction with N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene and the effect of such modification upon the polymers as templates for DNA polymerases

Genotoxic C8-Arylamino-2'-deoxyadenosines Act as Latent Alkylating Agents to Induce DNA Interstrand Cross-Links

DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs) are extremely deleterious and structurally diverse, driving the evolution of ICL repair pathways. Discovering ICL-inducing agents is, thus, crucial for the characterization of ICL repair pathways and Fanconi anemia, a genetic disease caused by mutations in ICL repair genes. Although several studies point to oxidative stress as a cause of ICLs, oxidative stress-induced cross-linking events remain poorly characterized. Also, polycyclic aromatic amines, potent environmental carcinogens, have been implicated in producing ICLs, but their identities and sequences are unknown. To close this knowledge gap, we tested whether ICLs arise by the oxidation of 8-arylamino-2'-deoxyadenosine (ArNHdA) lesions, adducts produced by arylamino carcinogens. Herein, we report that ArNHdA acts as a latent cross-linking agent to generate ICLs under oxidative conditions. The formation of an ICL from 8-aminoadenine, but not from 8-aminoguanine, highlights the specificity of 8-aminopurine-mediated ICL production. Under the influence of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) nitrosoperoxycarbonate, ArNHdA (Ar = biphenyl, fluorenyl) lesions were selectively oxidized to generate ICLs. The cross-linking reaction may occur between the C2-ArNHdA and N2-dG, presumably via oxidation of ArNHdA into a reactive diiminoadenine intermediate followed by the nucleophilic attack of the N2-dG on the diiminoadenine. Overall, ArNHdA-mediated ICLs represent rare examples of ROS-induced ICLs and polycyclic aromatic amine-mediated ICLs. These results reveal novel cross-linking chemistry and the genotoxic effects of arylamino carcinogens and support the hypothesis that C8-modified adenines with low redox potential can cause ICLs in oxidative stress.

Synthesis of C8-arylamine-modified 2'-deoxyadenosine phosphoramidites and their site-specific incorporation into oligonucleotides

Adducts of C8-(N-acetyl)-arylamines and 2'-deoxyadenosine were synthesised by palladium-catalysed C--N cross-coupling chemistry. These 2'-dA adducts were converted into the corresponding 3'-phosphoramidites and site-specifically incorporated into DNA oligonucleotides, which were characterised by mass spectrometry, UV thermal-stability assays and circular dichroism. These modified oligonucleotides were also used in EcoRI restriction assays and in primer-extension studies with three different DNA polymerases. The incorporation of the 2'-dA lesion close to the EcoRI restriction site dramatically reduced the susceptibility of the DNA strand to cleavage; this indicates a significant local distortion of the DNA double helix. The incorporation of the acetylated C8-2'-dA-phosphoramidites into 20-mer oligonucleotides failed, however, because the N-acetyl group was lost during the deprotection process. Instead the corresponding C8-NH-2'-dA-modified oligonucleotides were obtained. The effect of the C8-NH-arylamine-dA lesion on the replication by DNA polymerases was clearly dependent both on the polymerase used and on the arylamine-dA damage.

Genetic toxicity of 2-acetylaminofluorene, 2-aminofluorene and some of their metabolites and model metabolites

2-Acetylaminofluorene and 2-aminofluorene are among the most intensively studied of all chemical mutagens and carcinogens. Fundamental research findings concerning the metabolism of 2-acetylaminofluorene to electrophilic derivatives, the interaction of these derivatives with DNA, and the carcinogenic and mutagenic responses that are associated with the resulting DNA damage have formed the foundation upon which much of genetic toxicity testing is based. The parent compounds and their proximate and ultimate mutagenic and carcinogenic derivatives have been evaluated in a variety of prokaryotic and eukaryotic assays for mutagenesis and DNA damage. The reactive derivatives are active in virtually all systems, while 2-acetylaminofluorene and 2-aminofluorene are active in most systems that provide adequate metabolic activation. Knowledge of the structures of the DNA adducts formed by 2-acetylaminofluorene and 2-aminofluorene, the effects of the adducts on DNA conformation and synthesis, adduct distribution in tissues, cells and DNA, and adduct repair have been used to develop hypotheses to understand the genotoxic and carcinogenic effects of these compounds. Molecular analysis of mutations produced in cell-free, bacterial, in vitro mammalian, and intact animal systems have recently been used to extend these hypotheses.

Promutagenic alkyl lesions are induced in the tissue DNA of animals treated with isoniazid

Further studies have been carried out to determine mechanisms for the toxic and carcinogenic properties of isoniazid (INH) in laboratory animals. 1. Single doses of INH (1.1 mg per mouse), which if given continuously to Swiss mice result in a 50% incidence of lung tumours, lead to the formation of approximately 0.5 and approximately 0.3 mumol O6-methylguanine per mol/guanine in the DNA of liver and lung, respectively. 2. Repeated doses of INH result in a progressive decrease in the levels of O6-methylguanine in lung DNA and relatively constant levels in hepatic DNA. Treatment with equimolar doses of hydrazine result in higher levels of alkylation in the DNA of liver than of lung. 3. Comparable experiments in Wistar rats show that treatment with hydrazine is very much more effective than INH in inducing the alkylation of liver and lung DNA. 4. Immunocytochemical staining of cryostat sections of liver has been used to show that the formation of O6-methylguanine occurs mainly in the nuclei of hepatocytes. 5. These results demonstrate that treatment with INH leads to the alkylation of tissue DNA and suggest that this may arise via a hydrazine intermediate. The implications of the formation of highly promutagenic lesions in tissue DNA for INH induced toxicity and carcinogenicity are discussed.

Formation and persistence of isoniazid-DNA adducts in mouse tissues

Further confirmation is provided to support the identity of the product formed by the in vitro reaction of isoniazid (INH) with cytosine as 4-deamino-4-isoniazidocytosine (INH-cytosine). Use of INH-treated mice, in which the tissue DNA is prelabelled by the neonatal administration of [3H]-deoxycytidine, has revealed the presence of two other DNA products in addition to INH-cytosine. Tissue differences in the persistence of these three DNA products suggest the presence of repair reactions for certain adducts. These processes and the effects of hepatotoxicity lead to a selective retention of adducts in the DNA of lung which is the target tissue for INH-carcinogenicity in mice. INH-modified DNA templates are weakly promutagenic during in vitro DNA synthesis. The implications of these observations for the role of INH as an initiating agent and for the species differences in its carcinogenicity are discussed.

The competitive miscoding of O6-methylguanine and O6-ethylguanine and the possible importance of cellular deoxynucleoside 5'-triphosphate pool sizes in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis

Using initiated poly(dG,O6-RdG) and poly(dA,O6-RdG) polynucleotides as templates for DNA polymerase I in vitro the promutagenic potential of O6-MeG and O6-EtG has been confirmed, together with the possibility of minor miscoding pathways for O6-RG. These lead to the incorporation of dAMP and dGMP, which could give rise to some of the limited number of transversions that have been observed arising from the action of alkylating agents. The results are compatible with the current knowledge of oncogenes, explaining the changes in base sequence that have been observed. The competition for the miscoding of O6-RG which leads to the incorporation of dCMP in addition to the expected dTMP is also shown. The relative amounts of these two nucleotides incorporated depend upon the concentrations of the dCTP and dTTP in the assay. The mutagenic efficiency of O6-MeG is constant at approx. 0.4 over a wide range of dTTP and dCTP concentrations and only increases when the dCTP in the assay ceases to saturate the polymerizing enzyme, indicating that the DNA polymerase I plays a role in determining the mutagenic efficiency of a modified base. Although the mutagenic efficiency of both O6-MeG and O6-EtG depends upon the relative concentrations. of dTTP and dCTP in the assay, a reduction in the concentration of dCTP can be more effective at increasing the mutagenic efficiency than a corresponding increase in the concentration of dTTP. These results indicate the importance of cellular dNTP pools in determining the cellular response to agents.

IgG binding enhances DNAase I sensitivity of N-acetoxy-N-2-acetylaminofluorene-modified phi X-174 RF DNA

DNA restriction fragments of phi X-174 RF were modified with the carcinogen, N-acetoxy-N-2-acetylaminofluorene (N-Aco-AAF). Immune complexes of 5'-32P-labeled AAF-modified DNA and rabbit immunoglobulin (IgG) against AAF-guanosine were specifically bound by surface membranes of Cowan I strain micrococci whose protein A binds the Fc portion of IgG. DNAase I sensitivity of the bound DNA was 20-fold greater than in solution, but the normal pattern of hydrolysis was not altered, as determined in sequencing gels. Nonadducted DNA ligated to AAF-modified DNA acquired the enhanced sensitivity to DNAase I hydrolysis when the ligation hybrid was immunobound.

In vitro miscoding of alkylthymines with DNA and RNA polymerases

A series of poly(dT,RdT) polynucleotides containing O2-, 3- and O4-methyl- or ethyldeoxythymines have been prepared and used as templates for Pol I, Pol alpha and Pol R to investigate the miscoding properties of these modified bases with the different nucleotide polymerising enzymes. Only O4-alkylthymine (O4-RT) leads to a large number of errors (incorporation of dGMP with a mutagenic efficiency approaching unity). O2-RT has a very much lower, but none-the-less significant, mutagenic efficiency and 3-RT does not lead to errors with the DNA polymerases. All alkylthymines lead to significant errors with the RNA polymerase. The results confirm conclusions concerning the promutagenic nature of the alkylthymines and that the reported differences in their promutagenicity with the various polymerases reflect different specificities of the nucleotide polymerising enzymes used.

Mutational and recombinational events in carcinogen-modified plasmid DNA. Influence of host-cell repair genes

A plasmid containing the STR operon has been modified in vitro (i) by irradiation with UV light, (ii) by reaction with ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS), (iii) by reaction with N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (AcO-AAF), (iv) by reaction with (+/-)trans-benzo[a]pyrene-7, 8-dihydrodiol-9,10-epoxide (BPDE), and (v) by heating at 70 degrees C to produce apurinic sites. Suitably modified plasmid DNA was then used to transform both repair-proficient and repair-deficient strains of Escherichia coli, and the mutation frequency in the plasmid-encoded rspL+ gene measured. The influence of host mutations in the uvrB+, recA+, umuC+ and lexA+, genes on the mutation frequency have been investigated. Transformation into a uvrB strain significantly decreased survival and increased the level of mutations observed for UV- and AcO-AAF-modified plasmid DNA, while only a small increase in mutation frequency was seen with EMS-modified DNA and no increase in mutation frequency with plasmid DNA containing apurinic sites. Mutagenesis in UV- and BPDE-modified DNA (and probably also DNA containing apurinic sites) was totally dependent on he recA+ gene product, while EMS and AcO-AAF induced mutagenesis was only partially independent on the recA+ gene. Transformation of UV- or BPDE-modified DNA into a umuC or lexA strain, on the other hand, showed no change in mutation frequency from that observed with wild-type strain. Pre-irradiation of the wild-type host with UV light before transformation led to a significant increase in mutation frequency for UV- and BPDE-modified plasmid DNA. These results are discussed in terms of mutational or recombinational pathways which may be available to act on modified plasmid DNA, and suggest that the majority of the mutational events measured in this system are due to recombination between homologous regions on the plasmid and chromosomal DNA.

A role for DNA polymerase in the specificity of nucleotide incorporation opposite N-acetyl-2-aminofluorene adducts

Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment), DNA polymerase alpha from both calf thymus and human lymphoma cells and DNA polymerase beta from calf thymus and Novikoff hepatoma cells can incorporate nucleotides opposite N-guanin-8-yl-acetyl-2-aminofluorene in DNA. The polymerases incorporate dCTP opposite some AAF-dG lesions when Mg2+ is the divalent cation. Substitution of Mn2+ for Mg2+ broadens the specificity of insertion: E. coli DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment) also inserts A, and at specific sites G or T; DNA polymerase alpha inserts any of the four dNTPs with A and C incorporated preferentially to G and T. Polymerase beta is specific, inserting mainly C even in the presence of Mn2+. The Km for addition of dATP opposite a lesion by E. coli polymerase I (Klenow fragment) in the presence of Mn2+ is about 0.5 mM. dNMPs increase the insertion of nucleotides opposite AAF-dG in the presence of Mg2+ and increase both the rate and number of sites at which incorporation occurs in the presence of Mn2+. dNTP alpha S and recA protein increase only the insertion of C. We suppose that the incorporation of dCTP reflects normal base-pairing with the AAF-deoxyguanine in the anti conformation, whereas insertion of the other nucleotides (including some of the C) reflects insertion opposite the AAF adduct in its preferred syn conformation. The fact that the DNA polymerase plays a role in determining the specificity of insertion opposite a lesion terminating DNA synthesis suggests that the spectrum of base substitution mutagenesis seen in vivo may reflect the properties of the protein components, including the polymerase, involved in bypass synthesis.