pyrimidinones and 8-hydroxyguanine

A better understanding of the effects that oxidative lesions have on RNA is of importance to understand their role in the development/progression of disease. 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine was incorporated into RNA to understand its structural and functional impact on RNA:RNA and RNA:DNA duplexes, hairpins and pseudoknots. One to three modifications were incorporated into dodecamers of RNA [AAGA GGG AUGAC] resulting in thermal destabilization (Δ T m - 10°C per lesion). Hairpins with tetraloops c-UUCG*-g* ( ), a-ACCG-g* ( ), c-UUG*G*-g* ( ) and c-ACG*G*-g* ( ) were modified and used to determine thermal stabilities, concluding that: (i) modifying the stem leads to destabilization unless adenosine is the opposing basepair of 8-oxoGua; (ii) modification at the loop is position- and sequence-dependent and varies from slight stabilization to large destabilization, in some cases leading to formation of other secondary structures (hairpin→duplex). Functional effects were established using the aptamer for preQ 1 as model. Modification at G5 disrupted the stem P1 and inhibited recognition of the target molecule 7-methylamino-7-deazaguanine (preQ 1 ). Modifying G11 results in increased thermal stability, albeit with a K d 4-fold larger than its canonical analog. These studies show the capability of 8-oxoG to affect structure and function of RNA, resulting in distinct outcomes as a function of number and position of the lesion.

Topics: Aptamers, Nucleotide; DNA; Guanine; Inverted Repeat Sequences; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Nucleic Acid Conformation; Oligoribonucleotides; Pyrimidinones; Pyrroles

Oxidative DNA lesions inhibit the transcription of RNA polymerase II, but in the presence of transcription elongation factors, the transcription can bypass the lesions. Single-subunit mitochondrial RNA polymerase (mtRNAP) catalyses the synthesis of essential transcripts in mitochondria where reactive oxidative species (ROS) are generated as by-products. The occurrence of RNA synthesis by mtRNAP at oxidative DNA lesions remains unknown. Purified mtRNAP and a complex of RNA primer/DNA template containing a single DNA lesion, such as ROS-induced 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG), two isomeric thymine glycols (5R-Tg or 5S-Tg), the UV-induced cis-syn cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) and the pyrimidine(6-4)pyrimidone photoproduct (6-4pp), or a spontaneous common DNA lesion, a base-loss-induced apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) site, were used for in vitro RNA synthesis assays. In this report, we show that mtRNAP bypassed the oxidative DNA lesions of non-bulky 8-oxoG and 5R-Tg and 5S-Tg with pausing sites but did not bypass the UV-induced DNA lesions and the AP site. The bacteriophage T7 phage RNA polymerase, which is homologous to mtRNAP, bypassed 8-oxoG but stalled at 5R-Tg and 5S-Tg. As expected, although translesion RNA synthesis in 8-oxoG on the DNA templates generated incorrect transcripts with a G:C to T:A transversion, the synthesis in Tg could lead to the correct transcripts with no transcriptional mutagenesis. Collectively, these data suggest that mtRNAP may tolerate the mitochondrial genome containing oxidative DNA lesions induced by ROS from the side effects of an ATP generation reaction.

Topics: DNA Damage; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; Guanine; Oxidation-Reduction; Pyrimidine Dimers; Pyrimidinones; Reactive Oxygen Species; RNA; RNA Polymerase II; Transcription, Genetic; Ultraviolet Rays; Viral Proteins