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Crucilla SJ, Ding D, Lozano GG, Szostak JW, Sasselov DD, Kufner CL. UV-driven self-repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers in RNA. Chem Commun (Camb) 2023; 59:13603-13606. [PMID: 37899697 DOI: 10.1039/d3cc04013e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2023]
Abstract
Nucleic acids can be damaged by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, forming structural photolesions such as cyclobutane-pyrimidine-dimers (CPD). In modern organisms, sophisticated enzymes repair CPD lesions in DNA, but to our knowledge, no RNA-specific enzymes exist for CPD repair. Here, we show for the first time that RNA can protect itself from photolesions by an intrinsic UV-induced self-repair mechanism. This mechanism, prior to this study, has exclusively been observed in DNA and is based on charge transfer from CPD-adjacent bases. In a comparative study, we determined the quantum yields of the self-repair of the CPD-containing RNA sequence, GAU = U to GAUU (0.23%), and DNA sequence, d(GAT = T) to d(GATT) (0.44%), upon 285 nm irradiation via UV/Vis spectroscopy and HPLC analysis. After several hours of irradiation, a maximum conversion yield of ∼16% for GAU = U and ∼33% for d(GAT = T) was reached. We examined the dynamics of the intermediate charge transfer (CT) state responsible for the self-repair with ultrafast UV pump - IR probe spectroscopy. In the dinucleotides GA and d(GA), we found comparable quantum yields of the CT state of ∼50% and lifetimes on the order of several hundred picoseconds. Charge transfer in RNA strands might lead to reactions currently not considered in RNA photochemistry and may help understanding RNA damage formation and repair in modern organisms and viruses. On the UV-rich surface of the early Earth, these self-stabilizing mechanisms likely affected the selection of the earliest nucleotide sequences from which the first organisms may have developed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J Crucilla
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - Dian Ding
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - Gabriella G Lozano
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
| | - Jack W Szostak
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
| | - Dimitar D Sasselov
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
| | - Corinna L Kufner
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard University, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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Ekert B, Latarjet MF. [Inactivation of E. coli transfer RNA (phenylalanine and lysine) by gamma-radiation]. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RADIATION BIOLOGY AND RELATED STUDIES IN PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MEDICINE 1971; 20:521-40. [PMID: 4945951 DOI: 10.1080/09553007114551431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
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[8] Photochemical reactions in nucleic acids. Methods Enzymol 1969. [DOI: 10.1016/s0076-6879(69)16011-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2023]
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The Genetic Code After The Excitement. ADVANCES IN GENETICS 1968. [DOI: 10.1016/s0065-2660(08)60429-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
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