Cloning and characterization of an ascidian homolog of the human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (Ogg1) that is involved in the repair of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine in DNA in Ciona intestinalis

CiAPEX2 and CiP0, candidates of AP endonucleases in Ciona intestinalis, have 3'-5' exonuclease activity and contribute to protection against oxidative stress

Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites are one of the most frequent DNA lesions. AP sites inhibit transcription and DNA replication, and induce cell death. AP endonucleases are key enzymes in AP site repair. Several types of AP endonucleases have been reported, such as AP endonuclease 2 (APEX2) and ribosomal protein P0 (P0). However, it is not known how the functions and roles differ among AP endonucleases. To clarify the difference of roles among AP endonucleases, we conducted biochemical analysis focused on APEX2 and P0 homologues in Ciona intestinalis. Amino acid sequence analysis suggested that CiAPEX2 and CiP0 are AP endonuclease homologues. Although we could not detect AP endonuclease or 3'-phosphodiesterase activity, these two purified proteins exhibited 3'-5' exonuclease activity. This 3'-5' exonuclease activity was sensitive to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and the efficiency of this activity was influenced by the 3'-terminus of substrate DNA. Both CiAPEX2 and CiP0 degraded not only a 5'-protruding DNA end, but also nicked DNA, which is generated through AP endonuclease 1 (APEX1) cleavage. These two genes partially complemented the growth rate of AP endonuclease-deficient Escherichia coli treated with hydrogen peroxide. These results indicate that 3'-5' exonuclease activity is an evolutionarily conserved enzymatic activity of APEX2 and P0 homologues and this enzymatic activity may be important for AP endonucleases.

Structural and functional properties of CiNTH, an endonuclease III homologue of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis: critical role of N-terminal region

Oxidatively damaged bases in DNA can cause cell death, mutation and/or cancer induction. To overcome such deleterious effects of DNA base oxidation, cells are equipped with base excision repair (BER) initiated by DNA glycosylases. Endonuclease III (Nth), a major DNA glycosylase, mainly excises oxidatively damaged pyrimidines from DNA. The aims of this study were to obtain an overview of the repair mechanism of oxidatively damaged bases and to elucidate the function of BER in maintaining genome stability during embryogenesis and development. In this study, we used the ascidian Ciona intestinalis because at every developmental stage it is possible to observe the phenotype of individuals with DNA damage or mutations. Sequence alignment analysis revealed that the amino acid sequence of Ciona intestinalis Nth homologue (CiNTH) had high homology with those of Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Caenorhabditis elegans and human Nth homologues. It was evident that two domains, the Helix-hairpin-Helix and 4Fe-4S cluster domains that are critical regions for the Nth activity, are well conserved in CiNTH. CiNTH efficiently complemented the sensitivity of E. coli nth nei mutant to H(2)O(2). CiNTH was bifunctional, with DNA glycosylase and AP lyase activities. It removed thymine glycol, 5-formyluracil and 8-oxoguanine paired with G from DNA via a β-elimination reaction. Interestingly, the N-terminal 44 amino acids were essential for the DNA glycosylase activity of CiNTH.

Functional characterization of 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase of Trypanosoma cruzi

The oxidative lesion 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) is removed during base excision repair by the 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (Ogg1). This lesion can erroneously pair with adenine, and the excision of this damaged base by Ogg1 enables the insertion of a guanine and prevents DNA mutation. In this report, we identified and characterized Ogg1 from the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (TcOgg1), the causative agent of Chagas disease. Like most living organisms, T. cruzi is susceptible to oxidative stress, hence DNA repair is essential for its survival and improvement of infection. We verified that the TcOGG1 gene encodes an 8-oxoG DNA glycosylase by complementing an Ogg1-defective Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. Heterologous expression of TcOGG1 reestablished the mutation frequency of the yeast mutant ogg1(-/-) (CD138) to wild type levels. We also demonstrate that the overexpression of TcOGG1 increases T. cruzi sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). Analysis of DNA lesions using quantitative PCR suggests that the increased susceptibility to H(2)O(2) of TcOGG1-overexpressor could be a consequence of uncoupled BER in abasic sites and/or strand breaks generated after TcOgg1 removes 8-oxoG, which are not rapidly repaired by the subsequent BER enzymes. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that TcOGG1-overexpressors have reduced levels of 8-oxoG both in the nucleus and in the parasite mitochondrion. The localization of TcOgg1 was examined in parasite transfected with a TcOgg1-GFP fusion, which confirmed that this enzyme is in both organelles. Taken together, our data indicate that T. cruzi has a functional Ogg1 ortholog that participates in nuclear and mitochondrial BER.

8-Oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (OGG1) from the copepod Tigriopus japonicus: molecular characterization and its expression in response to UV-B and heavy metals

8-Oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (EC 3.2.2.23) is encoded by OGG1 gene and plays a key role in removing 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoG) base in DNA lesion by reactive oxygen species (ROS). To identify and characterize OGG1 gene (TJ-OGG1) in the copepod Tigriopus japonicus, the full-length cDNA sequence, genomic structure, and promoter region was analyzed. In addition, to investigate transcriptional change of TJ-OGG1 mRNA under oxidative stress conditions, T. japonicus were exposed to environmental oxidative inducers, H(2)O(2), UV-B, and heavy metals (Cd, Cu, and Zn), respectively. The full-length cDNA of TJ-OGG1 gene was 1708 bp in length, encoding 343 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequences of TJ-OGG1 showed a 56% similarity with human. Two conserved motifs (HhH and PVD loop) and two conserved residues (lysine and aspartic acid) in active sites were also observed. TJ-OGG1 genome structure contained six exons and five introns and putative transcription factor binding sites such as Nrf-2, p53, ERE-half sites, and XRE were detected on the promoter region. TJ-OGG1 mRNA level was increased at approximately three-fold (P<0.05) at 1mM and approximately 4-fold (P<0.01) at 10mM of H(2)O(2), respectively. UV-B enhanced the expression of TJ-OGG1 mRNA at 15kJ/m(2) (P<0.05) and more (P<0.001). In a time-course experiment, TJ-OGG1 gene was highly transcribed within 12h after exposure of 10 kJ/m(2) (P<0.01) and 20 kJ/m(2) (P<0.001). The expression of TJ-OGG1 mRNA after exposure to Cu and Cd for 96 h was significantly up-regulated at 0.1 μg/L and then remarkably reduced in a dose-dependent manner. Their transcript levels did not change at low dose (0.1 and 1 μg/L) but were dose-dependently down-regulated at high dose (10 and 100 μg/L). These findings suggest that H(2)O(2), UV-B, and heavy metals induce oxidative stress and generate oxidatively damaged DNA. Consequently, the enhanced TJ-OGG1 gene expression would be associated with active involvement of TJ-OGG1 gene in DNA repair process as a cellular protection mechanism. This is the first report on the cloning and characterization of OGG1 gene in aquatic animals. This study is helpful for a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cellular protection against various environmental oxidative stress inducers such as UV-B and heavy metals in aquatic invertebrates.

CiMutT, an asidian MutT homologue, has a 7, 8-dihydro-8-oxo-dGTP pyrophosphohydrolase activity responsible for sanitization of oxidized nucleotides in Ciona intestinalis

The oxidized nucleotide precursors 7, 8-dihydro-8-oxo-dGTP (8-oxo-dGTP) and 1, 2-dihydro-2-oxo-dATP (2-oxo-dATP) are readily incorporated into nascent DNA strands during replication, which would cause base substitution mutations. E. coli MutT and human homologue hMTH1 hydrolyze 8-oxo-dGTP, thereby preventing mutations. In this study, we searched for hMTH1 homologues in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis using the NCBI-BLAST database. Among several candidates, we focused on one open reading frame, designated as CiMutT, because of its high degree of identity (41.7%) and similarity (58.3%) to the overall amino acid sequence of hMTH1, including the Nudix box. CiMutT significantly suppressed the mutator activity of E. coli mutT mutant. Purified CiMutT had a pyrophosphohydrolase activity that hydrolyzed 8-oxo-dGTP to 8-oxo-dGMP and inorganic pyrophosphate. It had a pH optimum of 9.5 and Mg(++) requirement with optimal activity at 5 mM. The activity of CiMutT for 8-oxo-dGTP was comparable to that of hMTH1, while it was 100-fold lower for 2-oxo-dATP than that of hMTH1. These facts indicate that CiMutT is a functional homologue of E. coli MutT. In addition, the enzyme hydrolyzed all four of the unoxidized nucleoside triphosphates, with a preference for dATP. The specific activity for 8-oxo-dGTP was greater than that for unoxidized dATP and dGTP. These results suggest that CiMutT has the potential to prevent mutations by 8-oxo-dGTP in C. intestinalis.