The DNA repair enzyme MUTYH potentiates cytotoxicity of the alkylating agent MNNG by interacting with abasic sites.

Higher expression of the human DNA repair enzyme MUTYH has previously been shown to be strongly associated with reduced survival in a panel of 24 human lymphoblastoid cell lines exposed to the alkylating agent N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). The molecular mechanism of MUTYH-enhanced MNNG cytotoxicity is unclear, because MUTYH has a well-established role in the repair of oxidative DNA lesions. Here, we show in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) that this MNNG-dependent phenotype does not involve oxidative DNA damage and occurs independently of both O6-methyl guanine adduct cytotoxicity and MUTYH-dependent glycosylase activity. We found that blocking of abasic (AP) sites abolishes higher survival of Mutyh-deficient (Mutyh-/-) MEFs, but this blockade had no additive cytotoxicity in WT MEFs, suggesting the cytotoxicity is due to MUTYH interactions with MNNG-induced AP sites. We found that recombinant mouse MUTYH tightly binds AP sites opposite all four canonical undamaged bases and stimulated apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1)-mediated DNA incision. Consistent with these observations, we found that stable expression of WT, but not catalytically-inactive MUTYH, enhances MNNG cytotoxicity in Mutyh-/- MEFs and that MUTYH expression enhances MNNG-induced genomic strand breaks. Taken together, these results suggest that MUTYH enhances the rapid accumulation of AP-site intermediates by interacting with APE1, implicating MUTYH as a factor that modulates the delicate process of base-excision repair independently of its glycosylase activity.

Base Excision Repair of N6-Deoxyadenosine Adducts of 1,3-Butadiene.

The important industrial and environmental carcinogen 1,3-butadiene (BD) forms a range of adenine adducts in DNA, including N6-(2-hydroxy-3-buten-1-yl)-2'-deoxyadenosine (N6-HB-dA), 1,N6-(2-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethylpropan-1,3-diyl)-2'-deoxyadenosine (1,N6-HMHP-dA), and N6,N6-(2,3-dihydroxybutan-1,4-diyl)-2'-deoxyadenosine (N6,N6-DHB-dA). If not removed prior to DNA replication, these lesions can contribute to A → T and A → G mutations commonly observed following exposure to BD and its metabolites. In this study, base excision repair of BD-induced 2'-deoxyadenosine (BD-dA) lesions was investigated. Synthetic DNA duplexes containing site-specific and stereospecific (S)-N6-HB-dA, (R,S)-1,N6-HMHP-dA, and (R,R)-N6,N6-DHB-dA adducts were prepared by a postoligomerization strategy. Incision assays with nuclear extracts from human fibrosarcoma (HT1080) cells have revealed that BD-dA adducts were recognized and cleaved by a BER mechanism, with the relative excision efficiency decreasing in the following order: (S)-N6-HB-dA > (R,R)-N6,N6-DHB-dA > (R,S)-1,N6-HMHP-dA. The extent of strand cleavage at the adduct site was decreased in the presence of BER inhibitor methoxyamine and by competitor duplexes containing known BER substrates. Similar strand cleavage assays conducted using several eukaryotic DNA glycosylases/lyases (AAG, Mutyh, hNEIL1, and hOGG1) have failed to observe correct incision products at the BD-dA lesion sites, suggesting that a different BER enzyme may be involved in the removal of BD-dA adducts in human cells.

A Bacterial Form I' Rubisco Has a Smaller Carbon Isotope Fractionation than Its Form I Counterpart.

Form I rubiscos evolved in Cyanobacteria ≥ 2.5 billion years ago and are enzymatically unique due to the presence of small subunits (RbcS) capping both ends of an octameric large subunit (RbcL) rubisco assembly to form a hexadecameric (L8S8) holoenzyme. Although RbcS was previously thought to be integral to Form I rubisco stability, the recent discovery of a closely related sister clade of octameric rubiscos (Form I'; L8) demonstrates that the L8 complex can assemble without small subunits (Banda et al. 2020). Rubisco also displays a kinetic isotope effect (KIE) where the 3PG product is depleted in 13C relative to 12C. In Cyanobacteria, only two Form I KIE measurements exist, making interpretation of bacterial carbon isotope data difficult. To aid comparison, we measured in vitro the KIEs of Form I' (Candidatus Promineofilum breve) and Form I (Synechococcus elongatus PCC 6301) rubiscos and found the KIE to be smaller in the L8 rubisco (16.25 ± 1.36‱ vs. 22.42 ± 2.37‱, respectively). Therefore, while small subunits may not be necessary for protein stability, they may affect the KIE. Our findings may provide insight into the function of RbcS and allow more refined interpretation of environmental carbon isotope data.

Structural plasticity enables evolution and innovation of RuBisCO assemblies.

Oligomerization is a core structural feature that defines the form and function of many proteins. Most proteins form molecular complexes; however, there remains a dearth of diversity-driven structural studies investigating the evolutionary trajectory of these assemblies. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RuBisCO) is one such enzyme that adopts multiple assemblies, although the origins and distribution of its different oligomeric states remain cryptic. Here, we retrace the evolution of ancestral and extant form II RuBisCOs, revealing a complex and diverse history of oligomerization. We structurally characterize a newly discovered tetrameric RuBisCO, elucidating how solvent-exposed surfaces can readily adopt new interactions to interconvert or give rise to new oligomeric states. We further use these principles to engineer and demonstrate how changes in oligomerization can be mediated by relatively few mutations. Our findings yield insight into how structural plasticity may give rise to new oligomeric states.

Novel bacterial clade reveals origin of form I Rubisco.

Rubisco sustains the biosphere through the fixation of CO2 into biomass. In plants and cyanobacteria, form I Rubisco is structurally comprised of large and small subunits, whereas all other Rubisco forms lack small subunits. The rise of the form I complex through the innovation of small subunits represents a key, yet poorly understood, transition in Rubisco's evolution. Through metagenomic analyses, we discovered a previously uncharacterized clade sister to form I Rubisco that evolved without small subunits. This clade diverged before the evolution of cyanobacteria and the origin of the small subunit; thus, it provides a unique reference point to advance our understanding of form I Rubisco evolution. Structural and kinetic data presented here reveal how a proto-form I Rubisco assembled and functioned without the structural stability imparted from small subunits. Our findings provide insight into a key evolutionary transition of the most abundant enzyme on Earth and the predominant entry point for nearly all global organic carbon.

Repair of 8-oxoG:A mismatches by the MUTYH glycosylase: Mechanism, metals and medicine.

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) may infringe on the passing of pristine genetic information by inducing DNA inter- and intra-strand crosslinks, protein-DNA crosslinks, and chemical alterations to the sugar or base moieties of DNA. 8-Oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoG) is one of the most prevalent DNA lesions formed by RONS and is repaired through the base excision repair (BER) pathway involving the DNA repair glycosylases OGG1 and MUTYH in eukaryotes. MUTYH removes adenine (A) from 8-oxoG:A mispairs, thus mitigating the potential of G:C to T:A transversion mutations from occurring in the genome. The paramount role of MUTYH in guarding the genome is well established in the etiology of a colorectal cancer predisposition syndrome involving variants of MUTYH, referred to as MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP). In this review, we highlight recent advances in understanding how MUTYH structure and related function participate in the manifestation of human disease such as MAP. Here we focus on the importance of MUTYH's metal cofactor sites, including a recently discovered "Zinc linchpin" motif, as well as updates to the catalytic mechanism. Finally, we touch on the insight gleaned from studies with MAP-associated MUTYH variants and recent advances in understanding the multifaceted roles of MUTYH in the cell, both in the prevention of mutagenesis and tumorigenesis.

Molecular epidemiology and a loop-mediated isothermal amplification method for diagnosis of infection with rabies virus in Zambia.

The National Livestock Epidemiology and Information Center (NALEIC) in Zambia reported over 132 cases of canine rabies diagnosed by the direct fluorescent antibody test (DFAT) from 2004 to 2009. In this study, the lineage of rabies virus (RABV) in Zambia was determined by phylogenetic analysis of the nucleoprotein (N) and glycoprotein (G) gene sequences. Total RNA was extracted from 87-DFAT brain specimens out of which only 35 (40%) were positive on nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for each gene, and 26 being positive for both genes. Positive specimens for the N (n=33) and G (n=35) genes were used for phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic analysis of the N gene showed two phylogenetic clusters in Zambia belonging to the Africa 1b lineage present in eastern and southern Africa. While one cluster exclusively comprised Zambian strains, the other was more heterogeneous regarding the RABV origins and included strains from Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. Phylogenetic analysis of the G gene revealed similar RABV strains in different hosts and regions of Zambia. We designed primers for reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay from the consensus sequence of the N gene in an attempt to improve the molecular diagnosis of RABV in Zambia. The specificity and reproducibility of the RT-LAMP assay was confirmed with actual clinical specimens. Therefore, the RT-LAMP assay presented in this study may prove to be useful for routine diagnosis of rabies in Zambia.