Excision by the human methylpurine DNA N‐glycosylase of cyanuric acid, a stable and mutagenic oxidation product of 8‐oxo‐7,8‐dihydroguanine

Abstract

Purpose: 1‐(2‐Deoxy‐β‐D‐erythro‐pentofuranosyl)‐cyanuric acid (cyanuric acid nucleoside or dCa) has been shown to be formed upon exposure of 8‐oxo‐7,8‐dihydroguanine‐ (8‐oxoG) containing oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODN) to oxidizing agents. When present in DNA, cyanuric acid (Ca) is readily bypassed by Escherichia coli DNA polymerases, which preferentially incorporate 2′‐deoxyadenosine‐5′‐monophosphate (dAMP) opposite to the lesion. Therefore, Ca could be a mutagenic DNA lesion yielding G.C to T.A transversions like 8‐oxoG. These results call attention to the potential importance of secondary oxidation products of 8‐oxoG. The present study investigates the capability of several DNA N‐glycosylases to remove the Ca lesion in DNA.

Materials and methods: A site‐specifically modified 22‐mer ODN containing a single Ca residue was hybridized with complementary sequences yielding four DNA duplexes harbouring Ca opposite each of the regular DNA bases. The four Ca.N duplexes were used as substrates for nine DNA N‐glycosylases from bacterial, yeast or human origin.

Results: The results show that the human methylpurine DNA N‐glycosylase (Mpg) can remove Ca from DNA duplexes. Interestingly, oxidized base‐specific DNA N‐glycosylases, Fpg, Nth, Ntg1, Ntg2, Ogg1, hNth1 and hOgg1, cannot repair Ca in DNA. Furthermore, the removal of Ca by Mpg varied markedly depending on the opposite DNA base, the rank being Ca.C=Ca.T>Ca.G=Ca.A.

Conclusions: 8‐OxoG‐derived lesions in DNA such as spiroiminodihydantoin (Sp), guanidinohydantoin (Gh), oxaluric acid (Oa), oxazolone (Oz) and Ca are substrates of base excision repair DNA N‐glycosylases. Most of them, Sp, Gh, Oa and Oz, are substrates of the oxidized bases‐specific enzymes such as Nth or Fpg. In contrast, Ca is substrate of the human methylpurine DNA N‐glycosylase (Mpg).