Download MendeleyMethylation of cytosine at C5 in a CpG sequence context causes a conformational switch of a benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide-N2-guanine adduct in DNA from a minor groove alignment to intercalation with base displacement.
Zhang, N., Lin, C., Huang, X., Kolbanovskiy, A., Hingerty, B.E., Amin, S., Broyde, S., Geacintov, N.E., Patel, D.J.(2005) J Mol Biol 346: 951-965
- PubMed: 15701509
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2004.12.027
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
1Y9H - PubMed Abstract:
It is well known that CpG dinucleotide steps in DNA, which are highly methylated at the 5-position of cytosine (meC) in human tissues, exhibit a disproportionate number of mutations within certain codons of the p53 gene. There is ample published evidence indicating that the reactivity of guanine with anti-B[a]PDE (a metabolite of the environmental carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene) at CpG mutation hot spots is enhanced by the methylation of the cytosine residue flanking the target guanine residue on the 5'-side. In this work we demonstrate that such a methylation can also dramatically affect the conformational characteristics of an adduct derived from the reaction of one of the two enantiomers of anti-B[a]PDE with the exocyclic amino group of guanine ([BP]G adduct). A detailed NMR study indicates that the 10R (-)-trans-anti-[BP]G adduct undergoes a transition from a minor groove-binding alignment of the aromatic BP ring system in the unmethylated C-[BP]G sequence context, to an intercalative BP alignment with a concomitant displacement of the modified guanine residue into the minor groove in the methylated meC-[BP]G sequence context. By contrast, a minor groove-binding alignment was observed for the stereoisomeric 10S (+)-trans-anti-[BP]G adduct in both the C-[BP]G and meC-[BP]G sequence contexts. This remarkable conformational switch resulting from the presence of a single methyl group at the 5-position of the cytosine residue flanking the lesion on the 5'-side, is attributed to the hydrophobic effect of the methyl group that can stabilize intercalated adduct conformations in an adduct stereochemistry-dependent manner. Such conformational differences in methylated and unmethylated CpG sequences may be significant because of potential alterations in the cellular processing of the [BP]G adducts by DNA transcription, replication, and repair enzymes.
Organizational Affiliation:
Program in Cellular Biochemistry and Biophysics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021, USA.
