An unexpectedly high excision capacity for mispaired 5-hydroxymethyluracil in human cell extracts

Valaiporn Rusmintratip, Lawrence C. Sowers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

67 Scopus citations

Abstract

The oxidation of thymine in DNA can generate a base pair between 5-hydroxymethyluracil (HmU) and adenine, whereas the oxidation and deamination of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in DNA can generate a base pair between HmU and guanine. Using synthetic oligonucleotides containing HmU at a defined site, HmU-DNA glycosylase activities in HeLa cell and human fibroblast cell extracts have been observed. An HmU-DNA glycosylase activity that removes HmU mispaired with guanine has been measured. Surprisingly, the HmU:G excision activity is 60 times greater than the corresponding HmU:A activity, even though the expected rate of formation of the HmU:A base pair exceeds that of the HmU:G base pair by a factor of 107. The HmU:G mispair would arise from the 5mC:G base pair, and, if unrepaired, would give rise to a transition mutation. The observation of an unexpectedly high HmU:G glycosylase activity suggests that human cells may encounter the HmU:G mispair much more frequently than expected. The conversion of 5mC to HmU must be considered as a potential pathway for the generation of 5mC to T transition mutations, which are often found in human tumors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)14183-14187
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume97
Issue number26
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 19 2000
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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