A theoretical study of the effect of methylation or ethylation at O6-guanine in the structure and energy of DNA double strands

A quantum chemical study of repair of O6-methylguanine to guanine by tyrosine: evaluation of the winged helix-turn-helix model

The winged helix-turn-helix model for the repair of O6-MeG to guanine involving the reaction of O6-MeG with a tyrosine residue of the protein O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT) was examined by studying the reaction mechanism and barrier energies. Molecular geometries of the species and complexes involved in the reaction, i.e. the reactant, intermediate and product complexes as well as transition states, were optimized employing density functional theory in gas phase. It was followed by single point energy calculations using density functional theory along with a higher basis set and second order M(phi)ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) along with two different basis sets in gas phase and aqueous media. For the solvation calculations in aqueous media, the integral equation formalism of the polarizable continuum model (IEF-PCM) was employed. Vibrational frequency analysis was performed for each optimized structure and genuineness of transition states was ensured by visualizing the vibrational modes. It is found that tyrosine can repair O6-MeG to guanine by a two-step reaction. The present results have been compared with those obtained considering the helix-turn-helix model where the repair reaction primarily involves cysteine and occurs in a single-step. It is concluded that the repair through tyrosine envisaged in the winged helix-turn-helix model would be less efficient than that through cysteine envisaged in the helix-turn-helix model.

Ab initio GB study of methylation reaction of adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine by methanediazonium ion

Methylation reaction at ten nucleophilic sites in four DNA base molecules by methanediazonium ion (N(2)Me+) was examined by ab initio MO/GB calculation which includes the solvent effect with the continuum model using the generalized Born formula. The stabilization energy of the ion-dipole complex as well as the energy of the transition state are roughly consistent with the experimental fraction of methylation by N -methyl- N -nitrosourea. For the guanine N7 site, which is the principal site of methylation, the stabilization energy is the largest and the energy of the transition state is low. The reactions at the guanine O6 and N7 sites were analysed by drawing the potential energy surface with respect to two parameters, the O6-C(Me) distance and the N7-C(Me) distance. The methylation reactions of the guanine O6 and N7 sites begin from the common geometry, the global minimum in the two-dimensional potential energy surface.

Crystal and solution structures of d(CGC[e6G]AATTCGCG)-drug complexes reveal conformational polymorphism of O6-ethyl-guanine:cytosine base pair

O6-ethyl-guanine (e6G) is a relatively persistent alkylation lesion caused by the exposure of DNA to carcinogen N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea. We have studied the structural consequences of the e6G incorporation in DNA by X-ray crystallography and NMR. We have obtained crystals of the modified DNA dodecamer d(CGC[e6G]AATTCGCG) complexed to several minor groove binding drugs including Hoechst 33258, Hoechst 33342, netropsin, and SN6999. The space group of the crystals from those complexes is P2(1)2(1)2(1). However the crystal structure of the SN6999 complex is not isomorphous to that from the other three complexes. In all four refined crystal structures the drugs bind in the narrow minor groove at or close to the central AATT region of the dodecamer B-DNA duplex. The DNA conformation is influenced by the binding of drugs. The eight independent e6G:C base pairs have a conformation ranging from one with three-centered hydrogen bonds between the bases to a wobble conformation with two hydrogen bonds. The ethyl group of the eight e6G bases is mostly in the proximal orientation to N7. Our 1D and 2D-NMR studies of the same (free) dodecamer reveal that the e6G:C base pairs in the duplex are likely to adopt a wobble conformation in solution. Those results suggest that the e6G:C base pair has a dynamic equilibrium among various conformations, which may present an ambiguous signal to cells. In contrast, the e6G:T base pair adopts a Watson-Crick-like conformation. This may be a plausible explanation of why thymine is found preferentially incorporated across the e6G during replication.

DNA sequence dependence of guanine-O6 alkylation by the N-nitroso carcinogens N-methyl- and N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea

After intracellular in vitro exposure to the mutagenic and carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MeNU) or N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (EtNU), respectively, the average relative amounts of the premutational lesion O6-alkylguanine represent about 6% and 8% of all alkylation products formed in genomic DNA. At the level of individual DNA molecules guanine-O6 alkylation does not occur at random; rather, the probability of a substitution reaction at the nucleophilic O6 atom is influenced by nucleotide sequence, DNA conformation, and chromatin structure. In the present study, 5 different double-stranded polydeoxynucleotides and 15 double-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides (24-mers) were reacted with MeNU or EtNU in vitro under standardized conditions. Using a competitive radioimmunoassay in conjunction with an anti-(O6-alkyl-2'-deoxyguanosine) monoclonal antibody, the frequency of guanine-O6 alkylation was found to be strongly dependent on the nature of the nucleotides flanking guanine on the 5' and 3' sides. Thus, a 5' neighboring guanine, followed by 5' adenine and 5' cytosine, provided an up to 10-fold more 'permissive' condition for O6-alkylation of the central guanine than a 5' thymine (with a 5-methylcytosine in the 5' position being only slightly less inhibitory). Thymine and cytosine were more 'permissive' when placed 3' in comparison with their effects in the 5' flanking position.

High-resolution structure of a mutagenic lesion in DNA

The self-complementary dodecanucleotide d[CGC(m6G)AATTTGCG]2 (where m6G is O6-methylguanine), which contains two m6G.T base pairs, has been analyzed by x-ray diffraction methods and the structure has been refined to a residual error of R = 0.185 at 2.0-A resolution. The m6G.T mispair closely resembles a Watson-Crick base pair and there are very few structural differences between the m6G.T duplex and the native analogue. The similarity between the m6G.T base pair and a normal G.C base pair explains the failure of mismatch repair enzymes to recognize and remove this mutagenic lesion. A series of ultraviolet melting studies over a wide pH range on a related dodecamer indicate that the m6G.C mispair can exist in two conformations; one is a wobble pair and the other is a protonated Watson-Crick pair. The former, which predominates at physiological pH, will be removed by normal proofreading and repair enzymes, whereas the latter is likely to escape detection. Hence, the occasional occurrence of the protonated m6G.C base pair may explain why the presence of m6G in genomic DNA does not always give rise to a mutation.

Why do O6-alkylguanine and O4-alkylthymine miscode? The relationship between the structure of DNA containing O6-alkylguanine and O4-alkylthymine and the mutagenic properties of these bases

The carcinogenic and mutagenic N-nitroso compounds produce GC to AT and TA to GC transition mutations because they alkylate O6 of guanine and O4 of thymine. It has been generally assumed that these mutations occur because O6-alkylguanine forms a stable mispair with thymine and O4-alkylthymine forms a mispair with guanine. Recent studies have shown that this view is mistaken and that the alkylG.T and alkylT.G mispairs are not more stable than their alkylG.C or alkylT.A counterparts. Two possible explanations based on recent structural studies are put forward to account for the miscoding. The first possibility is that the DNA polymerase might mistake O6-alkylguanine for adenine, and O4-alkylthymine for cytosine, because of the physical similarity of these bases. O6-Methylguanine and adenine are similarly lipophilic and X-ray crystallography of the nucleosides has shown a close similarity in bond angles and lengths between O6-methylguanine and adenine, and between O4-methylthymine and cytosine. The second possible explanation is that the important factor in the miscoding is that the alkylG.T and alkylT.G mispairs retain the Watson-Crick alignment with N1 of the purine juxtaposed to N3 of the pyrimidine while the alkylG.C and alkylT.A pairs adopt a wobble conformation. 31P NMR of DNA duplexes show that the phosphodiester links both 3' and 5' to the C have to be distorted to accommodate the O6-ethylguanine:C pair, whereas there is less distortion of the phosphodiesters 3' and 5' to the T in an ethylG.T pair. Recent kinetic measurements show that the essential aspect of base selection in DNA synthesis is the ease of formation of the phosphodiester links on both the 3' and 5' side of the incoming base. The Watson-Crick alignment of the alkylG.T and alkylT.G mispairs may facilitate formation of these phosphodiester links, and this alignment rather than the strength of the base pairs and the extent of hydrogen bonding between them may be the crucial factor in the miscoding. If either hypothesis is correct it suggests that previously too much emphasis has been placed on the stability of the normal pairs in the replication of DNA.