Structural basis for the recognition and processing of DNA containing bulky lesions by the mammalian nucleotide excision repair system

Methods for Assessment of Nucleotide Excision Repair Efficiency

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is responsible for removing a wide variety of bulky adducts from DNA, thus contributing to the maintenance of genome stability. The efficiency with which proteins of the NER system recognize and remove bulky adducts depends on many factors and is of great clinical and diagnostic significance. The review examines current concepts of the NER system molecular basis in eukaryotic cells and analyzes methods for the assessment of the NER-mediated DNA repair efficiency both in vitro and ex vivo.

Bulky Adducts in Clustered DNA Lesions: Causes of Resistance to the NER System

The nucleotide excision repair (NER) system removes a wide range of bulky DNA lesions that cause significant distortions of the regular double helix structure. These lesions, mainly bulky covalent DNA adducts, are induced by ultraviolet and ionizing radiation or the interaction between exogenous/endogenous chemically active substances and nitrogenous DNA bases. As the number of DNA lesions increases, e.g., due to intensive chemotherapy and combination therapy of various diseases or DNA repair impairment, clustered lesions containing bulky adducts may occur. Clustered lesions are two or more lesions located within one or two turns of the DNA helix. Despite the fact that repair of single DNA lesions by the NER system in eukaryotic cells has been studied quite thoroughly, the repair mechanism of these lesions in clusters remains obscure. Identification of the structural features of the DNA regions containing irreparable clustered lesions is of considerable interest, in particular due to a relationship between the efficiency of some antitumor drugs and the activity of cellular repair systems. In this review, we analyzed data on the induction of clustered lesions containing bulky adducts, the potential biological significance of these lesions, and methods for quantification of DNA lesions and considered the causes for the inhibition of NER-catalyzed excision of clustered bulky lesions.

Recognition and removal of clustered DNA lesions via nucleotide excision repair

Clustered damage of DNA consists of two or more lesions located within one or two turns of the DNA helix. Clusters consisting of lesions of various structures can arise under the influence of strong damaging factors, especially if the cells have a compromised repair status. In this work, we analyzed how the presence of an analog of the apurinic/apyrimidinic site - a non-nucleoside residue consisting of diethylene glycol phosphodiester (DEG) - affects the recognition and removal of a bulky lesion (a non-nucleoside site of the modified DNA strand containing a fluorescein residue, nFlu) from DNA by a mammalian nucleotide excision repair system. Here we demonstrated that the efficiency of nFlu removal decreases in the presence of DEG in the complementary strand and is completely suppressed when the DEG is located opposite the nFlu. By contrast, protein factor XPC-RAD23B, which initiates global genomic nucleotide excision repair, has higher affinity for DNA containing clustered damage as compared to DNA containing a single bulky lesion; the affinity of XPC strengthens as the positions of DEG and nFlu become closer. The changes in the double-stranded DNA's geometry caused by the presence of clustered damage were also assessed. The obtained experimental data together with the results of molecular dynamics simulations make it possible to get insight into the structural features of DNA containing clustered lesions that determine the efficiency of repair. Speaking more broadly, this study should help to understand the probable fate of bulky adduct-containing clusters of various topologies in the mammalian cell.

The Interaction Efficiency of XPD-p44 With Bulky DNA Damages Depends on the Structure of the Damage

The successful elimination of bulky DNA damages via the nucleotide excision repair (NER) system is largely determined by the damage recognition step. This step consists of primary recognition and verification of the damage. The TFIIH helicase XPD plays a key role in the verification step during NER. To date, the mechanism of damage verification is not sufficiently understood and requires further detailed research. This study is a systematic investigation of the interaction of ctXPD (Chaetomium thermophilum) as well as ctXPD-ctp44 with model DNAs, which contain structurally different bulky lesions with previously estimated NER repair efficiencies. We have used ATPase and DNA binding studies to assess the interaction of ctXPD with damaged DNA. The result of the analysis of ctXPD-ctp44 binding to DNA containing fluorescent and photoactivatable lesions demonstrates the relationship between the affinity of XPD for DNAs containing bulky damages and the ability of the NER system to eliminate the damage. Photo-cross-linking of ctXPD with DNA probes containing repairable and unrepairable photoactivatable damages reveals differences in the DNA interaction efficiency in the presence and absence of ctp44. In general, the results obtained indicate the ability of ctXPD-ctp44 to interact with a damage and suggest a significant role for ctp44 subunit in the verification process.

Naked mole rat cells display more efficient excision repair than mouse cells

Naked mole rat (NMR) is the long-lived and tumor-resistant rodent. NMRs possess multiple adaptations that may contribute to longevity and cancer-resistance. However, whether NMRs have more efficient DNA repair have not been directly tested. Here we compared base excision repair (BER) and nucleotide excision repair (NER) systems in extracts from NMR and mouse fibroblasts after UVC irradiation. Transcript levels of the key repair enzymes demonstrated in most cases higher inducibility in the mouse vs the NMR cells. Ratios of repair enzymes activities in the extracts somewhat varied depending on post-irradiation time. NMR cell extracts were 2–3-fold more efficient at removing the bulky lesions, 1.5–3-fold more efficient at removing uracil, and about 1.4-fold more efficient at cleaving the AP-site than the mouse cells, while DNA polymerase activities being as a whole higher in the mouse demonstrate different patterns of product distribution. The level of poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis was 1.4–1.8-fold higher in the NMR cells. Furthermore, NMR cell extracts displayed higher binding of PARP1 to DNA probes containing apurinic/apyrimidinic site or photo-reactive DNA lesions. Cumulatively, our results suggest that the NMR has more efficient excision repair systems than the mouse, which may contribute to longevity and cancer resistance of this species.

Double-Stranded DNA Fragments Bearing Unrepairable Lesions and Their Internalization into Mouse Krebs-2 Carcinoma Cells

Murine Krebs-2 tumor-initiating stem cells are known to natively internalize extracellular double-stranded DNA fragments. Being internalized, these fragments interfere in the repair of chemically induced interstrand cross-links. In the current investigation, 756 bp polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product containing bulky photoreactive dC adduct was used as extracellular DNA. This adduct was shown to inhibit the cellular system of nucleotide excision repair while being resistant to excision by this DNA repair system. The basic parameters for this DNA probe internalization by the murine Krebs-2 tumor cells were characterized. Being incubated under regular conditions (60 min, 24°C, 500 μL of the incubation medium, in the dark), 0.35% ± 0.18% of the Krebs-2 ascites cells were shown to natively internalize modified DNA. The saturating amount of the modified DNA was detected to be 0.37 μg per 10⁶ cells. For the similar unmodified DNA fragments, this ratio is 0.73 μg per 10⁶ cells. Krebs-2 tumor cells were shown to be saturated internalizing either (190 ± 40) × 10³ molecules of modified DNA or (1,000 ± 100) × 10³ molecules of native DNA. On internalization, the fragments of DNA undergo partial and nonuniform hydrolysis of 3' ends followed by circularization. The degree of hydrolysis, assessed by sequencing of several clones with the insertion of specific PCR product, was 30-60 nucleotides.