Inosine induced mutations

Connecting dots between nucleotide biosynthesis and DNA lesion repair/bypass in cancer

Purine and pyrimidine nucleotides are crucial building blocks for the survival of cells, and there are layers of pathways to make sure a stable supply of them including de novo nucleotide biosynthesis. Fast-growing cells including cancer cells have high demand for nucleotide, and they highly utilize the nucleotide biosynthesis pathways. Due to the nature of the fast-growing cells, they tend to make more errors in replication compared with the normal cells. Naturally, DNA repair and DNA lesion bypass are heavily employed in cancer cells to ensure fidelity and completion of the replication without stalling. There have been a lot of drugs targeting cancer that mimic the chemical structures of the nucleobase, nucleoside, and nucleotides, and the resistance toward those drugs is a serious problem. Herein, we have reviewed some of the representative nucleotide analog anticancer agents such as 5-fluorouracil, specifically their mechanism of action and resistance is discussed. Also, we have chosen several enzymes in nucleotide biosynthesis, DNA repair, and DNA lesion bypass, and we have discussed the known and potential roles of these enzymes in maintaining genomic fidelity and cancer chemotherapy.

Structural insights into the bypass of the major deaminated purines by translesion synthesis DNA polymerase

The exocyclic amines of nucleobases can undergo deamination by various DNA damaging agents such as reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide, and water. The deamination of guanine and adenine generates the promutagenic xanthine and hypoxanthine, respectively. The exocyclic amines of bases in DNA are hydrogen bond donors, while the carbonyl moiety generated by the base deamination acts as hydrogen bond acceptors, which can alter base pairing properties of the purines. Xanthine is known to base pair with both cytosine and thymine, while hypoxanthine predominantly pairs with cytosine to promote A to G mutations. Despite the known promutagenicity of the major deaminated purines, structures of DNA polymerase bypassing these lesions have not been reported. To gain insights into the deaminated-induced mutagenesis, we solved crystal structures of human DNA polymerase η (polη) catalyzing across xanthine and hypoxanthine. In the catalytic site of polη, the deaminated guanine (i.e., xanthine) forms three Watson-Crick-like hydrogen bonds with an incoming dCTP, indicating the O2-enol tautomer of xanthine involves in the base pairing. The formation of the enol tautomer appears to be promoted by the minor groove contact by Gln38 of polη. When hypoxanthine is at the templating position, the deaminated adenine uses its O6-keto tautomer to form two Watson-Crick hydrogen bonds with an incoming dCTP, providing the structural basis for the high promutagenicity of hypoxanthine.

Unbiased PCR-free spatio-temporal mapping of the mtDNA mutation spectrum reveals brain region-specific responses to replication instability

Background

The accumulation of mtDNA mutations in different tissues from various mouse models has been widely studied especially in the context of mtDNA mutation-driven ageing but has been confounded by the inherent limitations of the most widely used approaches. By implementing a method to sequence mtDNA without PCR amplification prior to library preparation, we map the full unbiased mtDNA mutation spectrum across six distinct brain regions from mice.

Results

We demonstrate that ageing-induced levels of mtDNA mutations (single nucleotide variants and deletions) reach stable levels at 50 weeks of age but can be further elevated specifically in the cortex, nucleus accumbens (NAc), and paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) by expression of a proof-reading-deficient mitochondrial DNA polymerase, Polg^D181A. The increase in single nucleotide variants increases the fraction of shared SNVs as well as their frequency, while characteristics of deletions remain largely unaffected. In addition, Polg^D181A also induces an ageing-dependent accumulation of non-coding control-region multimers in NAc and PVT, a feature that appears almost non-existent in wild-type mice.

Conclusions

Our data provide a novel view of the spatio-temporal accumulation of mtDNA mutations using very limited tissue input. The differential response of brain regions to a state of replication instability provides insight into a possible heterogenic mitochondrial landscape across the brain that may be involved in the ageing phenotype and mitochondria-associated disorders.

Naturally occurring modified ribonucleosides

The chemical identity of RNA molecules beyond the four standard ribonucleosides has fascinated scientists since pseudouridine was characterized as the "fifth" ribonucleotide in 1951. Since then, the ever-increasing number and complexity of modified ribonucleosides have been found in viruses and throughout all three domains of life. Such modifications can be as simple as methylations, hydroxylations, or thiolations, complex as ring closures, glycosylations, acylations, or aminoacylations, or unusual as the incorporation of selenium. While initially found in transfer and ribosomal RNAs, modifications also exist in messenger RNAs and noncoding RNAs. Modifications have profound cellular outcomes at various levels, such as altering RNA structure or being essential for cell survival or organism viability. The aberrant presence or absence of RNA modifications can lead to human disease, ranging from cancer to various metabolic and developmental illnesses such as Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome, Bowen-Conradi syndrome, or Williams-Beuren syndrome. In this review article, we summarize the characterization of all 143 currently known modified ribonucleosides by describing their taxonomic distributions, the enzymes that generate the modifications, and any implications in cellular processes, RNA structure, and disease. We also highlight areas of active research, such as specific RNAs that contain a particular type of modification as well as methodologies used to identify novel RNA modifications. This article is categorized under: RNA Processing > RNA Editing and Modification.

Mitochondrial DNA Damage: Prevalence, Biological Consequence, and Emerging Pathways

Mitochondria have a plethora of functions within a eukaryotic cell, ranging from energy production, cell signaling, and protein cofactor synthesis to various aspects of metabolism. Mitochondrial dysfunction is known to cause over 200 named disorders and has been implicated in many human diseases and aging. Mitochondria have their own genetic material, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which encodes 13 protein subunits in the oxidative phosphorylation system and a full set of transfer and rRNAs. Although more than 99% of the proteins in mitochondria are nuclear DNA (nDNA)-encoded, the integrity of mtDNA is critical for mitochondrial functions, as evidenced by mitochondrial diseases sourced from mtDNA mutations and depletions and the vital role of fragmented mtDNA molecules in cell signaling pathways. Previous research has shown that mtDNA is an important target of genotoxic assaults by a variety of chemical and physical factors. This Perspective discusses the prevalence of mtDNA damage by comparing the abundance of lesions in mDNA and nDNA and summarizes current knowledge on the biological pathways to cope with mtDNA damage, including mtDNA repair, mtDNA degradation, and mitochondrial fission and fusion. Also, emerging roles of mtDNA damage in mutagenesis and immune responses are reviewed.

In vivo targeted single-nucleotide editing in zebrafish

To date, several genome editing technologies have been developed and are widely utilized in many fields of biology. Most of these technologies, if not all, use nucleases to create DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), raising the potential risk of cell death and/or oncogenic transformation. The risks hinder their therapeutic applications in humans. Here, we show that in vivo targeted single-nucleotide editing in zebrafish, a vertebrate model organism, can be successfully accomplished with the Target-AID system, which involves deamination of a targeted cytidine to create a nucleotide substitution from cytosine to thymine after replication. Application of the system to two zebrafish genes, chordin (chd) and one-eyed pinhead (oep), successfully introduced premature stop codons (TAG or TAA) in the targeted genomic loci. The modifications were heritable and faithfully produced phenocopies of well-known homozygous mutants of each gene. These results demonstrate for the first time that the Target-AID system can create heritable nucleotide substitutions in vivo in a programmable manner, in vertebrates, namely zebrafish.

In vivo measurements of interindividual differences in DNA glycosylases and APE1 activities

The integrity of our DNA is challenged with at least 100,000 lesions per cell on a daily basis. Failure to repair DNA damage efficiently can lead to cancer, immunodeficiency, and neurodegenerative disease. Base excision repair (BER) recognizes and repairs minimally helix-distorting DNA base lesions induced by both endogenous and exogenous DNA damaging agents. Levels of BER-initiating DNA glycosylases can vary between individuals, suggesting that quantitating and understanding interindividual differences in DNA repair capacity (DRC) may enable us to predict and prevent disease in a personalized manner. However, population studies of BER capacity have been limited because most methods used to measure BER activity are cumbersome, time consuming and, for the most part, only allow for the analysis of one DNA glycosylase at a time. We have developed a fluorescence-based multiplex flow-cytometric host cell reactivation assay wherein the activity of several enzymes [four BER-initiating DNA glycosylases and the downstream processing apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1)] can be tested simultaneously, at single-cell resolution, in vivo. Taking advantage of the transcriptional properties of several DNA lesions, we have engineered specific fluorescent reporter plasmids for quantitative measurements of 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase, alkyl-adenine DNA glycosylase, MutY DNA glycosylase, uracil DNA glycosylase, and APE1 activity. We have used these reporters to measure differences in BER capacity across a panel of cell lines collected from healthy individuals, and to generate mathematical models that predict cellular sensitivity to methylmethane sulfonate, H₂O₂, and 5-FU from DRC. Moreover, we demonstrate the suitability of these reporters to measure differences in DRC in multiple pathways using primary lymphocytes from two individuals.

Mutagenic potential of hypoxanthine in live human cells

Hypoxanthine (Hx) is a major DNA lesion generated by deamination of adenine during chronic inflammatory conditions, which is an underlying cause of various diseases including cancer of colon, liver, pancreas, bladder and stomach. There is evidence that deamination of DNA bases induces mutations, but no study has directly linked Hx accumulation to mutagenesis and strand-specific mutations yet in human cells. Using a site-specific mutagenesis approach, we report the first direct evidence of mutation potential and pattern of Hx in live human cells. We investigated Hx-induced mutations in human nonmalignant HEK293 and cancer HCT116 cell lines and found that Hx is mutagenic in both HEK293 and HCT116 cell lines. There is a strand bias for Hx-mediated mutations in both the cell lines; the Hx in lagging strand is more mutagenic than in leading strand. There is also some difference in cell types regarding the strand bias for mutation types; HEK293 cells showed largely deletion (>80%) mutations in both leading and lagging strand and the rest were insertions and A:T→G:C transition mutations in leading and lagging strands, respectively, whereas in HCT116 cells we observed 60% A:T→G:C transition mutations in the leading strand and 100% deletions in the lagging strand. Overall, Hx is a highly mutagenic lesion capable of generating A:T→G:C transitions and large deletions with a significant variation in leading and lagging strands in human cells. In recent meta-analysis study A→G (T→C) mutations were found to be a prominent signature in a variety of cancers, including a majority types that are induced by inflammation. The deletions are known to be a major cause of copy-number variations or CNVs, which is a major underlying cause of many human diseases including mental illness, developmental disorders and cancer. Thus, Hx, a major DNA lesion induced by different deamination mechanisms, has potential to initiate inflammation-driven carcinogenesis in addition to various human pathophysiological consequences.

Decreased Mitochondrial Mutagenesis during Transformation of Human Breast Stem Cells into Tumorigenic Cells

Rare stochastic mutations may accumulate during dormancy of stem-like cells, but technical limitations in DNA sequencing have limited exploring this possibility. In this study, we employed a recently established deep-sequencing method termed Duplex Sequencing to conduct a genome-wide analysis of mitochondrial (mt) DNA mutations in a human breast stem cell model that recapitulates the sequential stages of breast carcinogenesis. Using this method, we found significant differences in mtDNA among normal stem cells, immortal/preneoplastic cells, and tumorigenic cells. Putative cancer stem-like cell (CSC) populations and mtDNA copy numbers increased as normal stem cells become tumorigenic cells. Transformed cells exhibited lower rare mutation frequencies of whole mtDNA than did normal stem cells. The predicted mtDNA rare mutation pathogenicity was significantly lower in tumorigenic cells than normal stem cells. Major rare mutation types in normal stem cells are C>T/G>A and T>C/A>G transitions, while only C>T/G>A are major types in transformed cells. We detected a total of 1,220 rare point mutations, 678 of which were unreported previously. With only one possible exception (m10342T>C), we did not find specific mutations characterizing mtDNA in human breast CSCs; rather, the mitochondrial genome of CSCs displayed an overall decrease in rare mutations. On the basis of our work, we suggest that this decrease (in particular T>C/A>G transitions), rather than the presence of specific mitochondrial mutations, may constitute an early biomarker for breast cancer detection. Our findings support the hypothesis that the mitochondrial genome is altered greatly as a result of the transformation of normal stem cells to CSCs, and that mtDNA mutation signatures may aid in delineating normal stem cells from CSCs. Cancer Res; 76(15); 4569-78. ©2016 AACR.

Detection of Ultra-Rare Mitochondrial Mutations in Breast Stem Cells by Duplex Sequencing

Long-lived adult stem cells could accumulate non-repaired DNA damage or mutations that increase the risk of tumor formation. To date, studies on mutations in stem cells have concentrated on clonal (homoplasmic) mutations and have not focused on rarely occurring stochastic mutations that may accumulate during stem cell dormancy. A major challenge in investigating these rare mutations is that conventional next generation sequencing (NGS) methods have high error rates. We have established a new method termed Duplex Sequencing (DS), which detects mutations with unprecedented accuracy. We present a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial DNA mutations in human breast normal stem cells and non-stem cells using DS. The vast majority of mutations occur at low frequency and are not detectable by NGS. The most prevalent point mutation types are the C>T/G>A and A>G/T>C transitions. The mutations exhibit a strand bias with higher prevalence of G>A, T>C, and A>C mutations on the light strand of the mitochondrial genome. The overall rare mutation frequency is significantly lower in stem cells than in the corresponding non-stem cells. We have identified common and unique non-homoplasmic mutations between non-stem and stem cells that include new mutations which have not been reported previously. Four mutations found within the MT-ND5 gene (m.12684G>A, m.12705C>T, m.13095T>C, m.13105A>G) are present in all groups of stem and non-stem cells. Two mutations (m.8567T>C, m.10547C>G) are found only in non-stem cells. This first genome-wide analysis of mitochondrial DNA mutations may aid in characterizing human breast normal epithelial cells and serve as a reference for cancer stem cell mutation profiles.

Guanine to inosine substitution leads to large increases in the population of a transient G·C Hoogsteen base pair

We recently showed that Watson–Crick base pairs in canonical duplex DNA exist in dynamic equilibrium with G(syn)·C⁺ and A(syn)·T Hoogsteen base pairs that have minute populations of ∼1%. Here, using nuclear magnetic resonance R_1ρ relaxation dispersion, we show that substitution of guanine with the naturally occurring base inosine results in an ∼17-fold increase in the population of transient Hoogsteen base pairs, which can be rationalized by the loss of a Watson–Crick hydrogen bond. These results provide further support for transient Hoogsteen base pairs and demonstrate that their population can increase significantly upon damage or chemical modification of the base.

Ultra-sensitive sequencing reveals an age-related increase in somatic mitochondrial mutations that are inconsistent with oxidative damage

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is believed to be highly vulnerable to age-associated damage and mutagenesis by reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, somatic mtDNA mutations have historically been difficult to study because of technical limitations in accurately quantifying rare mtDNA mutations. We have applied the highly sensitive Duplex Sequencing methodology, which can detect a single mutation among >10⁷ wild type molecules, to sequence mtDNA purified from human brain tissue from both young and old individuals with unprecedented accuracy. We find that the frequency of point mutations increases ∼5-fold over the course of 80 years of life. Overall, the mutation spectra of both groups are comprised predominantly of transition mutations, consistent with misincorporation by DNA polymerase γ or deamination of cytidine and adenosine as the primary mutagenic events in mtDNA. Surprisingly, G→T mutations, considered the hallmark of oxidative damage to DNA, do not significantly increase with age. We observe a non-uniform, age-independent distribution of mutations in mtDNA, with the D-loop exhibiting a significantly higher mutation frequency than the rest of the genome. The coding regions, but not the D-loop, exhibit a pronounced asymmetric accumulation of mutations between the two strands, with G→A and T→C mutations occurring more often on the light strand than the heavy strand. The patterns and biases we observe in our data closely mirror the mutational spectrum which has been reported in studies of human populations and closely related species. Overall our results argue against oxidative damage being a major driver of aging and suggest that replication errors by DNA polymerase γ and/or spontaneous base hydrolysis are responsible for the bulk of accumulating point mutations in mtDNA.

Owing to their evolutionary history, mitochondria harbor independently replicating genomes. Failure to faithfully transmit the genetic information of mtDNA during replication can lead to the production of dysfunctional electron transport proteins and a subsequent decline in energy production. Cellularly-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) and environmental agents preferentially damage mtDNA compared to nuclear DNA. However, little is known about the consequences of mtDNA damage for mutagenesis. This lack of knowledge stems, in part, from an absence of methods capable of accurately detecting these mutations throughout the mitochondrial genome. Using a new, highly sensitive DNA sequencing strategy, we find that the frequency of point mutations is 10–100-fold lower than what has been previously reported using less precise means. Moreover, the frequency increases 5-fold over an 80 year lifespan. We also find that it is predominantly transition mutations, rather than mutations commonly associated with oxidative damage to mtDNA, that increase with age. This finding is inconsistent with free radical theories of aging. Finally, the mutagenic patterns and biases we observe in our data are similar to what is seen in population studies of mitochondrial polymorphisms and suggest a common mechanism by which somatic and germline mtDNA mutations arise.

ITPA (inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase): from surveillance of nucleotide pools to human disease and pharmacogenetics

Cellular nucleotide pools are often contaminated by base analog nucleotides which interfere with a plethora of biological reactions, from DNA and RNA synthesis to cellular signaling. An evolutionarily conserved inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase (ITPA) removes the non-canonical purine (d)NTPs inosine triphosphate and xanthosine triphosphate by hydrolyzing them into their monophosphate form and pyrophosphate. Mutations in the ITPA orthologs in model organisms lead to genetic instability and, in mice, to severe developmental anomalies. In humans there is genetic polymorphism in ITPA. One allele leads to a proline to threonine substitution at amino acid 32 and causes varying degrees of ITPA deficiency in tissues and plays a role in patients' response to drugs. Structural analysis of this mutant protein reveals that the protein is destabilized by the formation of a cavity in its hydrophobic core. The Pro32Thr allele is thought to cause the observed dominant negative effect because the resulting active enzyme monomer targets both homo- and heterodimers to degradation.

Hypoxanthine incorporation is nonmutagenic in Escherichia coli

Endonuclease V, encoded by the nfi gene, initiates removal of the base analogs hypoxanthine and xanthine from DNA, acting to prevent mutagenesis from purine base deamination within the DNA. On the other hand, the RdgB nucleotide hydrolase in Escherichia coli is proposed to prevent hypoxanthine and xanthine incorporation into DNA by intercepting the noncanonical DNA precursors dITP and dXTP. Because many base analogs are mutagenic when incorporated into DNA, it is intuitive to think of RdgB as acting to prevent similar mutagenesis from deaminated purines in the DNA precursor pools. To test this idea, we used a set of Claire Cupples' strains to detect changes in spontaneous mutagenesis spectra, as well as in nitrous acid-induced mutagenesis spectra, in wild-type cells and in rdgB single, nfi single, and rdgB nfi double mutants. We found neither a significant increase in spontaneous mutagenesis in rdgB and nfi single mutants or the double mutant nor any changes in nitrous acid-induced mutagenesis for rdgB mutant strains. We conclude that incorporation of deaminated purines into DNA is nonmutagenic.

Human 3-methyladenine-DNA glycosylase: effect of sequence context on excision, association with PCNA, and stimulation by AP endonuclease

Human 3-methyladenine-DNA glycosylase (MPG protein) is involved in the base excision repair (BER) pathway responsible mainly for the repair of small DNA base modifications. It initiates BER by recognizing DNA adducts and cleaving the glycosylic bond leaving an abasic site. Here, we explore several of the factors that could influence excision of adducts recognized by MPG, including sequence context, effect of APE1, and interaction with other proteins. To investigate sequence context, we used 13 different 25 bp oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing a unique hypoxanthine residue (Hx) and show that the steady-state specificity of Hx excision by MPG varied by 17-fold. If APE1 protein is used in the reaction for Hx removal by MPG, the steady-state kinetic parameters increase by between fivefold and 27-fold, depending on the oligodeoxyribonucleotide. Since MPG has a role in removing adducts such as 3-methyladenine that block DNA synthesis and there is a potential sequence for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) interaction, we hypothesized that MPG protein could interact with PCNA, a protein involved in repair and replication. We demonstrate that PCNA associates with MPG using immunoprecipitation with either purified proteins or whole cell extracts. Moreover, PCNA binds to both APE1 and MPG at different sites, and loading PCNA onto a nicked, closed circular substrate with a unique Hx residue enhances MPG catalyzed excision. These data are consistent with an interaction that facilitates repair by MPG or APE1 by association with PCNA. Thus, PCNA could have a role in short-patch BER as well as in long-patch BER. Overall, the data reported here show how multiple factors contribute to the activity of MPG in cells.

As to the clastogenic-, sister-chromatid exchange inducing-and cytotoxic activity of inosine triphosphate in cultures of human peripheral lymphocytes

The influence of commercial inosine triphosphate (ITP) on the chromosome aberration rate, the mitotic rate, sister-chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency, and the proportion of first (X1), second (X2) and third (X3) division metaphases was investigated in 72h cultures of human peripheral lymphocytes. The blood donors had mild inactive arthrosis and a normal health check-up. All cultures of each volunteer were set-up simultaneously. In contrast to a previous report [Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 278 (1990) 238-244], it was demonstrated in two preliminary studies (number of subjects, n=5 each) that ITP at a final concentration of 100 microM does not induce chromosomal aberrations and, furthermore, that not ITP concentrations higher than 100 microM but ITP doses higher than 3.8mM prohibit culture growth. Based on these results, cultures with a final ITP concentration of 3.6mM (max.) and 1.8mM (max./2) were compared with control cultures (number of subjects n=10; three males and seven females, mean age x=57.6 years). Whereas no increase in the chromosomal breakage rate was observed in cultures with an ITP concentration of 1.8mM and only a marginally significant one (P=0.048) for 3.6mM ITP cultures, a highly significant induction of SCEs, not only at an ITP concentration of 3.6mM (P<0.0001) but also at 1.8mM (P<0.0001) was seen. The increase in the SCE frequency was not linear, but steeper from 0 to 1.8mM than from 1.8 to 3.6mM. Nevertheless, the difference between 1.8 and 3.6mM cultures was significant (P=0.027). The distribution of the number of SCEs per metaphase as well as the distribution of SCEs per chromosome correspond to the expected Poisson values. The investigation of the cytotoxic effect of the studied ITP concentrations revealed a highly significant reduction of the mitotic rate from 0 to 1.8mM as well as from 1.8 to 3.6mM in the aberration studies (all P values are equal to smallest possible one for a sample size of 10, namely, 0.002), and in the SCE studies there is a significant decrease in the X3 frequency when ITP is increased (0-1.8mM: P=0.0061 and 1.8-3.6mM: P<0.0001). The proportion of X1 within all X1 and X2 metaphases changes significantly only at the second dose step (0-1.8mM ITP: P=0.22 and 1.8-3.6mM ITP: P<0.0001). The results are discussed.

Interaction of the recombinant human methylpurine-DNA glycosylase (MPG protein) with oligodeoxyribonucleotides containing either hypoxanthine or abasic sites

Methylpurine-DNA glycosylases (MPG proteins, 3-methyladenine-DNA glycosylases) excise numerous damaged bases from DNA during the first step of base excision repair. The damaged bases removed by these proteins include those induced by both alkylating agents and/or oxidizing agents. The intrinsic kinetic parameters (k(cat) and K(m)) for the excision of hypoxanthine by the recombinant human MPG protein from a 39 bp oligodeoxyribonucleotide harboring a unique hypoxanthine were determined. Comparison with other reactions catalyzed by the human MPG protein suggests that the differences in specificity are primarily in product release and not binding. Analysis of MPG protein binding to the 39 bp oligodeoxyribonucleotide revealed that the apparent dissociation constant is of the same order of magnitude as the K(m) and that a 1:1 complex is formed. The MPG protein also forms a strong complex with the product of excision, an abasic site, as well as with a reduced abasic site. DNase I footprinting experiments with the MPG protein on an oligodeoxyribonucleotide with a unique hypoxanthine at a defined position indicate that the protein protects 11 bases on the strand with the hypoxanthine and 12 bases on the complementary strand. Competition experiments with different length, double-stranded, hypoxanthine-containing oligodeoxyribonucleotides show that the footprinted region is relatively small. Despite the small footprint, however, oligodeoxyribonucleotides comprising <15 bp with a hypoxanthine have a 10-fold reduced binding capacity compared with hypoxanthine-containing oligodeoxyribonucleotides >20 bp in length. These results provide a basis for other structural studies of the MPG protein with its targets.

The organization of the outside end of transposon Tn5

The end sequences of the IS50 insertion sequence are known as the outside end (OE) and inside end. These complex ends are related but nonidentical 19-bp sequences that serve as substrates for the activity of the Tn5 transposase. Besides providing the binding site of the transposase, the end sequences of a transposon contain additional types of information necessary for transposition. These additional properties include but are not limited to host protein interaction sites and sites that program synapsis and cleavage events. In order to delineate the properties of the IS50 ends,the base pairs involved in the transposase binding site have been defined. This has been approached through performing a variety of in vitro analyses: a ++hydroxyl radical missing-nucleoside interference experiment, a dimethyl sulfate interference experiment, and an examination of the relative binding affinities of single-site end substitutions. These approaches have led to the conclusion that the transposase binds to two nonsymmetrical regions of the OE, including positions 6 to 9 and 13 to 19. Proper binding occurs along one face of the helix, over two major and minor grooves, and appears to result in a significant bending of the DNA centered approximately 3 bp from the donor DNA-OE junction.

Implications of Tn5-associated adjacent deletions

The prokaryotic transposable element Tn5 has been found to promote the formation of adjacent deletions. The frequency of adjacent deletion formation is much lower than that of normal transposition events. Like normal transposition, however, adjacent deletion formation requires the activity of the transposase protein. The deletions can be divided into two classes, as distinguished by their endpoints. The occurrence of one of the two deletion classes is increased when the frequency of normal transposition is reduced by the introduction of a deletion or a certain base substitution at one of the two outside ends (OEs). The nature of the base substitution at the mutant OE influences the class of deletion found adjacent to the wild-type OE, even though these two ends are about 12 kbp apart. By studying the formation of these deletions, we have gained some insight into the way in which the transposase interacts with the OEs. Our observations suggest that there is a protein-mediated interaction between the two ends, that different end base pairs are involved in different transposition-related processes, and that the adjacent deletions are the result of nonproductive attempts at transposition.

Synthesis of saporin gene probes from partial protein sequence data: use of inosine-oligonucleotides, genomic DNA and the polymerase chain reaction

A strategy employing the polymerase chain reaction to synthesize gene-specific probes suitable for genomic Southern analyses and for screening genomic libraries is described. The method utilizes partial amino acid sequence data from the protein of interest, genomic DNA and inosine-containing oligonucleotide primers. An example of its application for the isolation of plant gene sequences encoding saporin, a ribosome inactivating protein, is described.