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PubMed2000

SOS mutator activity: unequal mutagenesis on leading and lagging strands.

A major pathway of mutagenesis in Escherichia coli is mediated by the inducible SOS response. Current models of SOS mutagenesis invoke the interaction of RecA and UmuD'(2)C proteins with a stalled DNA replication complex at sites of DNA lesions or poorly extendable terminal mismatches, resulting in an (error-prone) continuation of DNA synthesis. The precise mechanisms of SOS-mediated lesion bypass or mismatch extension are not known. Here, we have studied mutagenesis on the E. coli chromosome in recA730 strains. In recA730 strains, the SOS system is expressed constitutively, resulting in a spontaneous mutator effect (SOS mutator) because of reduced replication fidelity. We investigated whether during SOS mutator activity replication fidelity might be altered differentially in the leading and lagging strand of replication. Pairs of recA730 strains were constructed differing in the orientation of the lac operon relative to the origin of replication. The strains were also mismatch-repair defective (mutL) to facilitate scoring of replication errors. Within each pair, a given lac sequence is replicated by the leading-strand machinery in one orientation and by the lagging-strand machinery in the other orientation. Measurements of defined lac mutant frequencies in such pairs revealed large differences between the two orientations. Furthermore, in all cases, the frequency bias was the opposite of that seen in normal cells. We suggest that, for the lacZ target used in this study, SOS mutator activity operates with very different efficiency in the two strands. Specifically, the lagging strand of replication appears most susceptible to the SOS mutator effect.

Alleles↗
PubMed1996

Patterns of mutation in cancer cells.

The discovery of powerful mutator phenotypes in a subset of colon cancers provides direct support for the hypothesis that destabilization of replication fidelity and repair drive the accumulation of mutations in tumour suppressor or proto-oncogenes. Nevertheless, many important questions remain. The tumour cell lines in which these mutator genes were characterized have many other mutations that may contribute to the mutator phenotype and the characteristic pattern of mutations found in these cells. Thus, mismatch repair deficiency may be necessary for the mutator phenotype, but is it sufficient? Certainly, changes in DNA replication fidelity or cell cycle checkpoint controls may contribute to the mutator phenotype. This question also has important implications for the effect of mismatch repair deficiency on tumour development. Does the mutator phenotype in HNPCC patients arise as a very early event resulting from the loss of the wild type allele or does it arise in later stages only after alterations of cell cycle controls or replication fidelity? Given that eukaryotic cells have numerous homologues of the mismatch repair genes, what are the roles of all these genes? Are these involved in the repair of very specific types of replication errors or do they have other roles in cells? Finally, what mechanisms underlie the accumulation of mutations in other types of tumours? Given the rapid progress made since the isolation of the human homologues of the E coli mismatch repair genes less than 3 years ago, we can look forward to the answers to many of these questions in the near future.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Mismatch repair ensures fidelity of replication and recombination in the radioresistant organism Deinococcus radiodurans.

We have characterized the mismatch repair system (MMR) of the highly radiation-resistant type strain of Deinococcus radiodurans, ATCC 13939. We show that the MMR system is functional in this organism, where it participates in ensuring the fidelity of DNA replication and recombination. The system relies on the activity of two key proteins, MutS1 and MutL, which constitute a conserved core involved in mismatch recognition. Inactivation of MutS1 or MutL resulted in a seven-fold increase in the frequency of spontaneous RifR mutagenesis and a ten-fold increase in the efficiency of integration of a donor point-mutation marker during bacterial transformation. Inactivation of the mismatch repair-associated UvrD helicase increased the level of spontaneous mutagenesis, but had no effect on marker integration--suggesting that binding of MutS1 and MutL proteins to a mismatched heteroduplex suffices to inhibit recombination between non identical (homeologous) DNAs. In contrast, inactivation of MutS2, encoded by the second mutS -related gene present in D. radiodurans, had no effect on mutagenesis or recombination. Cells devoid of MutS1 or MutL proteins were as resistant to gamma-rays, mitomycin C and UV-irradiation as wild-type bacteria, suggesting that the mismatch repair system is not essential for the reconstitution of a functional genome after DNA damage.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Four letters in the genetic alphabet: a frozen evolutionary optimum?

Piccirilli et al. (Nature, Lond. 343, 33-37 (1990)) have shown experimentally that the replicatable introduction of new base pairs into the genetic alphabet is chemically feasible. The fact that our current genetic alphabet uses only two base pairs can be explained provided that this basic feature of organisms became fixed in an RNA world utilizing ribozymes rather than protein enzymes. The fitness of such ribo-organisms is determined by two factors: replication fidelity and overall catalytic efficiency (basic metabolic or growth rate). Replication fidelity is shown to decrease roughly exponentially, and catalytic efficiency is shown to increase with diminishing returns, with the number of letters for a fixed genome length; hence their product, i.e. fitness, gives rise to a set of values with an optimum. Under a wide range of parameter values the optimum rests at two base pairs. The chemical identity of the particular choice in our genetic alphabet can also be rationalized. This optimum is considered frozen, as currently the dominant catalysts are proteins rather than RNAs.

Base Composition↗
PubMed1992

Fidelity of replication of the leading and the lagging DNA strands opposite N-methyl-N-nitrosourea-induced DNA damage in human cells.

Semi-conservative replication of double-stranded DNA in eukaryotic cells is an asymmetric process involving leading and lagging strand synthesis and different DNA polymerases. We report a study to analyze the effect of these asymmetries when the replication machinery encounters alkylation-induced DNA adducts. The model system is an EBV-derived shuttle vector which replicates in synchrony with the host human cells and carries as marker gene the bacterial gpt gene. A preferential distribution of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced mutations in the non transcribed DNA strand of the shuttle vector pF1-EBV was previously reported. The hypermutated strand was the leading strand. To test whether the different fidelity of DNA polymerases synthesizing the leading and the lagging strands might contribute to MNU-induced mutation distribution the mutagenesis study was repeated on the shuttle vector pTF-EBV which contains the gpt gene in the inverted orientation. We show that the base substitution error rates on an alkylated substrate are similar for the replication of the leading and lagging strands. Moreover, we present evidence that the fidelity of replication opposite O6-methylguanine adducts of both the leading and lagging strands is not affected by the 3' flanking base. The preferential targeting of mutations after replication of alkylated DNA is mainly driven by the base at the 5' side of the G residues.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Evading the proofreading machinery of a replicative DNA polymerase: induction of a mutation by an environmental carcinogen.

DNA replication fidelity is dictated by DNA polymerase enzymes and associated proteins. When the template DNA is damaged by a carcinogen, the fidelity of DNA replication is sometimes compromized, allowing mispaired bases to persist and be incorporated into the DNA, resulting in a mutation. A key question in chemical carcinogenesis by metabolically activated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is the nature of the interactions between the carcinogen-damaged DNA and the replicating polymerase protein that permits the mutagenic misincorporation to occur. PAHs are environmental carcinogens that, upon metabolic activation, can react with DNA to form bulky covalently linked combination molecules known as carcinogen-DNA adducts. Benzo[a]pyrene (BP) is a common PAH found in a wide range of material ingested by humans, including cigarette smoke, car exhaust, broiled meats and fish, and as a contaminant in other foods. BP is metabolically activated into several highly reactive intermediates, including the highly tumorigenic (+)-anti-benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide (BPDE). The primary product of the reaction of (+)-anti-BPDE with DNA, the (+)-trans-anti-benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide-N(2)-dG ((+)-ta-[BP]G) adduct, is the most mutagenic BP adduct in mammalian systems and primarily causes G-to-T transversion mutations, resulting from the mismatch of adenine with BP-damaged guanine during replication. In order to elucidate the structural characteristics and interactions between the DNA polymerase and carcinogen-damaged DNA that allow a misincorporation opposite a DNA lesion, we have modeled a (+)-ta-[BP]G adduct at a primer-template junction within the replicative phage T7 DNA polymerase containing an incoming dATP, the nucleotide most commonly mismatched with the (+)-ta-[BP]G adduct during replication. A one nanosecond molecular dynamics simulation, using AMBER 5.0, has been carried out, and the resultant trajectory analyzed. The modeling and simulation have revealed that a (+)-ta-[BP]G:A mismatch can be accommodated stably in the active site so that the fidelity mechanisms of the polymerase are evaded and the polymerase accepts the incoming mutagenic base. In this structure, the modified guanine base is in the syn conformation, with the BP moiety positioned in the major groove, without interfering with the normal protein-DNA interactions required for faithful polymerase function. This structure is stabilized by a hydrogen bond between the modified guanine base and dATP partner, hydrophobic interactions between the BP moiety and the polymerase, a hydrogen bond between the modified guanine base and the polymerase, and several hydrogen bonds between the BP moiety and polymerase side-chains. Moreover, the G:A mismatch in this system closely resembles the size and shape of a normal Watson-Crick pair. These features reveal how the polymerase proofreading machinery may be evaded in the presence of a mutagenic carcinogen-damaged DNA, so that a mismatch can be accommodated readily, allowing bypass of the adduct by the replicative T7 DNA polymerase.

7,8-Dihydro-7,8-dihydroxybenzo(a)pyrene 9,10-oxide↗
PubMed2005

Mutations in the RNase H primer grip domain of murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase decrease efficiency and accuracy of plus-strand DNA transfer.

The RNase H primer grip of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) contacts the DNA primer strand and positions the template strand near the RNase H active site, influencing RNase H cleavage efficiency and specificity. Sequence alignments show that 6 of the 11 residues that constitute the RNase H primer grip have functional equivalents in murine leukemia virus (MLV) RT. We previously showed that a Y586F substitution in the MLV RNase H primer grip resulted in a 17-fold increase in substitutions within 18 nucleotides of adenine-thymine tracts, which are associated with a bent DNA conformation. To further determine the effects of the MLV RNase H primer grip on replication fidelity and viral replication, we performed additional mutational analysis. Using either beta-galactosidase (lacZ) or green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter genes, we found that S557A, A558V, and Q559L substitutions resulted in statistically significant increases in viral mutation rates, ranging from 2.1- to 3.8-fold. DNA sequencing analysis of nonfluorescent GFP clones indicated that the mutations in RNase H primer grip significantly increased the frequency of deletions between the primer-binding site (PBS) and sequences downstream of the PBS. In addition, quantitative real-time PCR analysis of reverse transcription products revealed that the mutant RTs were substantially inefficient in plus-strand DNA transfer relative to the wild-type control. These results indicate that the MLV RNase H primer grip is an important determinant of in vivo fidelity of DNA synthesis and suggest that the mutant RT was unable to copy through the DNA-RNA junction of the minus-strand DNA and the tRNA because of its bent conformation resulting in error-prone plus-strand DNA transfer.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

How variable is a spontaneous mutation rate in cultured mammalian cells?

The Luria-Delbrück fluctuation analysis provides a method to estimate mutation rates and is commonly applied in somatic cell genetics and in cancer biology. We developed an assay for a Luria-Delbrück fluctuation analysis using the mouse lymphoma cell line, GRSL13. As these cells grow in suspension, one can handle hundreds of parallel cultures using multiwell dishes and dispensers. This assay thereby allows not only an accurate determination of the mutation rate per cell generation but also makes it possible to determine at which time after seeding mutations take place. Using approx. 8000 parallel cultures it has been possible to test whether the mutation rate is constant during the assay. It has been found that the spontaneous mutation rate of GRSL13 cells decreases in the course of a fluctuation test from 2 x 10(-6) to about 2 x 10(-7)/cell/generation. It was shown that this increased replication fidelity may partly be caused by cell density: maintenance of cells at high cell density resulted in a spontaneous mutation rate of 0.7 +/- 4.0 x 10(-7) compared to 4.0 +/- 3.1 x 10(-7) for the standard protocol. In contrast, growing the cells at extremely low cell density resulted in an enhanced mutation rate of 7.7 +/- 1.3 x 10(-7). Thus altogether the mutation rate can vary from 2 x 10(-6) to 0.7 x 10(-7) (approx. 30-fold). These results show that the spontaneous mutation rate is not constant, but highly dependent on experimental conditions. As incomplete expression and metabolic cooperation cannot explain the findings, the data suggest that the fidelity of DNA replication is not fixed but open to variation. Hence, determination of replication infidelity in cultured cells needs rigorous standardization or/and application of controlled variation in culture conditions.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of chromium(III) on DNA replication in vitro.

A number of metal compounds are important environmental carcinogens; however, the molecular mechanisms of metal-induced genotoxicity are not yet understood. Chromium, for example, is substantially mutagenic in vivo and has been shown to decrease the DNA replication fidelity in vitro. But the mechanism of chromium-induced mutagenesis is unknown and the role of replication fidelity in chromium-induced carcinogenesis is unclear. We have used in vitro DNA replication assays to investigate the effects of chromium ions on DNA polymerase activity preliminary to studying their role in chromium-induced mutagenesis. Biologically active M13mp2 DNA was replicated with purified DNA polymerases in the presence of micromolar amounts of chromium with or without the normal divalent cation, magnesium. Nucleotide incorporation kinetics were determined and sequence specific pausing was analyzed by primer-extension. Our results have demonstrated an unexpected polymerase activation by low (0.5-5.0 microns) concentrations of chromium (III), although higher concentrations of chromium are increasingly inhibitory. The increased incorporation seem at low chromium(III) concentrations is the result of increased enzyme processivity and is not polymerase specific. The possible relationship between processivity and metal-ion mutagenesis is discussed.

Chromium↗
PubMed1993

Frameshift fidelity during replication of double-stranded DNA in HeLa cell extracts.

The processes by which minus-one frameshifts arise during replication of double-stranded DNA by a human replication apparatus were examined. Using M13mp2 DNA containing the simian virus 40 (SV40) origin of replication and a plus-one frameshift mutation in the lacZ alpha reporter gene, we performed replication reactions using a HeLa cell extract and the SV40 large T antigen. Frameshifts that restore the reading frame to give a blue-plaque phenotype include the loss of one of five consecutive A.T base pairs or any one of 36 non-reiterated base pairs. Although both types of deletions were generated at rates substantially above the background mutant frequency of unreplicated DNA, the rate was highest at the A.T run, suggesting the involvement of a misaligned replication intermediate at this homopolymeric sequence. The error rate for both types of deletions increased as the concentration of dNTPs was increased. A small increase in error rate at the run of A.T base pairs was also observed when a dNMP was added to the replication reaction. These results are consistent with the correction of frameshift intermediates during replication by exonucleolytic proofreading. To examine frameshift error rates on the leading and lagging strands, we compared reversion frequencies for two vectors containing the origin of replication close to, but on opposite sides of, the mutational target. To generate strand-specific errors, nucleotide substrate imbalances were used in replication reactions with these vectors. The results suggest that there is less than a 2-fold difference in the fidelity of leading- and lagging-strand synthesis for deletions at the run of A.T base pairs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adenine↗
PubMed1985

Reduced in vivo mutagenesis by mutant herpes simplex DNA polymerase involves improved nucleotide selection.

We present evidence that mutation frequencies in a mammalian system can vary according to the replication fidelity of the DNA polymerase. We demonstrated previously that several derivatives of herpes simplex virus type 1 that encode polymerases resistant to various antiviral drugs (e.g., nucleotide analogues) also produce reduced numbers of spontaneous mutants. Here we show that the DNA polymerase from one antimutator virus exhibits enhanced replication fidelity. First, the antimutator virus showed a reduced response to known mutagens that promote base mispairing during DNA replication (N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, 5-bromo-deoxyuridine). Second, purified DNA polymerase from the antimutator produced fewer replication errors in vitro, based on incorporation of mispaired nucleotides or analogues with abnormal sugar rings. We have investigated possible mechanisms for the enhanced fidelity of the antimutator polymerase. We show that the mutant enzyme has altered interactions with nucleoside triphosphates, as indicated by its resistance to nucleotide analogues and elevated Km values for normal nucleoside triphosphates. We present evidence against increased proofreading by an associated 3',5' exonuclease (as seen for T4 bacteriophage antimutator polymerases), based on nuclease levels in the mutant polymerase. We propose that reduced affinity of the polymerase for nucleoside triphosphates accounts for the antimutator phenotype by accentuating differences in base-pair stability, thus facilitating selection of correct nucleotides.

Alkylation↗
PubMed1983

Products of bacteriophage T4 genes 32 and 45 improve the accuracy of DNA replication in vitro.

The six "accessory" proteins of the bacteriophage T4 specified by replication genes 32, 41, 44, 45, 61, and 62 were studied for their ability to enhance the accuracy with which phage T4 DNA polymerase (product of gene 43) replicates synthetic homopolymer duplexes in vitro. Two of these proteins, gene 32-protein (helix-destabilizing protein) and gene 45-protein, inhibited the selection of incorrect, but not correct, precursors, at the growing strand end. Gene 32-protein is shown to enhance replication fidelity by interacting with the DNA, whereas gene 45-protein exerts its fidelity-enhancing effect by interacting with the DNA polymerase. This is the first example to our knowledge of a DNA polymerase's accuracy being altered through interaction with another protein. Possible mechanisms by which gene 32- and gene 45-protein act to enhance replication fidelity are discussed.

DNA Replication↗
PubMed2001

Exonucleolytic proofreading by p53 protein.

The tumour suppressor p53 protein plays an important role in maintaining genetic integrity. Recently, p53 was shown to have an intrinsic 3'-->5' exonuclease activity. The current study has extended the characterization of purified wild-type recombinant p53-associated 3'-->5' exonuclease function to demonstrate proofreading activity. p53-associated 3'-->5' exonuclease shows clear preference for degradation of ssDNA over dsDNA substrate. On partial duplex structures, this exonucleolytic activity displays a marked preference for excision of a mismatched vs. a correctly paired 3' terminus which enables the p53 protein to act as a proofreader. However, p53 displays variation in excision of mismatched base pairs. The results demonstrate that p53 exhibits mispair excision with a specificity of A:A > A:G > A:C opposite the template adenine residue and with a specificity of G:A > G:G > G:T opposite the template guanine residue. Hence, the observed specificity of mismatch excision shows that p53 exonucleolytic proofreading preferentially repairs transversion mutations. As part of an investigation of the functional interaction between p53 and DNA polymerase, the influence of p53 on the accuracy of DNA synthesis was determined with exonuclease-deficient murine leukemia virus (MLV) reverse transcriptase (RT), representing a relatively low fidelity enzyme. Using an in vitro biochemical assay with 3'-terminal mismatch-containing DNA template primers, it was shown that wild-type recombinant p53 protein enhanced the DNA replication fidelity of MLV RT. A functional interaction between the exonuclease (p53) and polymerase (MLV RT) activities was observed; excision of mispairs by p53 was followed by further elongation onto correctly base-paired 3'-termini by MLV RT. Furthermore, the formation of 3'-mispair and subsequent mispair extension by the enzyme were decreased substantially in the presence of p53. The fact that the exonuclease-deficient MLV RT is more accurate in the presence of p53, suggests that p53 protein may function as an external proofreading exonuclease for viral enzyme. The observed decrease in initial nucleotide misincorporation and 3'-terminal mispair extension by MLV RT in the presence of p53, indicates the mechanism by which p53 affects the DNA replication fidelity of exonuclease-deficient DNA polymerase.

Baculoviridae↗
PubMed1998

Human breast cancer cells contain an error-prone DNA replication apparatus.

The mechanisms responsible for creating genetic errors and genomic instability in cancer cells have not been fully defined. Recently, it has been shown that human cells contain a highly organized complex of proteins, termed the DNA synthesome, that is fully competent to carry out all phases of SV40 in vitro DNA replication (J. M. Coll et al, Oncol. Res., 8: 435-447, 1996; L. H. Malkas et al., Biochemistry, 29: 6362-6374, 1990; Y. Wu et al., J. Cell. Biochem., 54: 32-46, 1994; N. Applegren et al., J. Cell. Biochem., 54: 32-46, 1994). DNA replication fidelity analyses of the DNA synthesome derived from malignant and nonmalignant human breast cells demonstrate that the malignant cell synthesome is mutagenic. The decrease in tumor cell replication fidelity was not due to an increased proliferative capacity of the tumor cells or an increase in the synthetic activity of their DNA synthesome. The ratios of insertions, deletions, and mismatches created by the synthesome from malignant and nonmalignant breast cells were essentially identical, despite the greater overall number of mutations made by the breast cancer cell synthesome. These data define, for the first time, a mechanism unique to cancer cells that contributes to the observed increase in genetic mutation in cancer cells.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

26th Lauriston S. Taylor Lecture: developing mechanistic data for incorporation into cancer and genetic risk assessments: old problems and new approaches.

The theme that runs through this 26th Taylor Lecture is the question of how can data on the mechanism of induction of genetic alterations by radiations and chemicals be used to support the development of risk estimates, particularly at low exposure levels. The premise is that chromosomal alterations are involved in the development of tumors and birth defects, and that data generated for genetic alterations can be interpreted in terms of these adverse health outcomes. The general conclusions are that chromosomal alterations can be induced by ionizing radiations by a single energy loss event in a target of the size of a DNA molecule and that aberrations generally result from misrepair or failure to repair the induced lesions (generally assumed to be double-strand breaks). Chromosomal alterations induced by chemicals are produced almost exclusively by replication errors on a damaged DNA template. Thus, cell cycle stage and DNA repair and replication fidelity will be influential on overall sensitivity to aberration induction. These same features are also important in considerations of genetic susceptibility-alterations in cell cycle control or DNA repair or replication fidelity can alter sensitivity. The differences in mechanism of induction of chromosomal aberrations by ionizing radiation and chemicals is most important when considering cells at risk and comparative sensitivities among species and cell types. Models of cancer induction have gradually evolved from initiation, promotion, and progression models to multistep genetic models to the most recent one of six acquired characteristics. This evolution has passed the level of concentration of research from single gene, single cell to multiple genes (pathways), and whole tissues. The latter areas of concentration are ideal for addressing with the new genomics, proteomics, and computational modeling approaches. The attention is still on the role of genetic alterations in cancer and hereditary effects and the mechanism of their formation--it is the approaches to address these that are changing.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Effect of hMSH6 cDNA expression on the phenotype of mismatch repair-deficient colon cancer cell line HCT15.

Mismatch recognition in human cells is mediated primarily by a heterodimer of hMSH2 and hMSH6. Cells mutated in both alleles of the hMSH6 gene are deficient in the correction of base/base mispairs and insertion/deletion loops of one nucleotide and thus exhibit a strong mutator phenotype, evidenced by elevated mutation rates and microsatellite instability, as well as by tolerance to methylating agents. The decrease in replication fidelity associated with a loss of mismatch correction implies that with each division, these cells are likely to acquire new mutations throughout their genomes. Should such secondary mutations occur in genes linked to replication fidelity or involved in the maintenance of genomic stability, they might contribute to the observed mutator phenotype. The human colon tumour line HCT15 represents one such case. Although it carries inactivating mutations in both hMSH6 alleles, it has also been shown to contain a missense mutation in the coding sequence of the proofreading domain of the polymerase-delta gene. In an attempt to find out whether the phenotype of HCT15 cells was indeed brought about solely by the lack of hMSH6, we stably transfected them with a vector carrying the wild-type hMSH6 cDNA. Our results show that although the levels of transgenic hMSH6 were low, expression of the wild-type protein resulted in a substantial restoration of mismatch binding, mismatch repair capacity and the stability of mononucleotide repeats, as well as in the reduction of mutation rates. Although methylation tolerance of the hMSH6-expressing cells was not markedly affected, the G2 cell cycle checkpoint, absent in N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine-treated control cells, was restored.

Base Pair Mismatch↗
PubMed1993

Effects of nickel ions on polymerase activity and fidelity during DNA replication in vitro.

Nickel is a genotoxic carcinogen. However, the mechanisms of nickel-induced genotoxicity are not well understood. We have investigated the effects of Ni2+ ions on DNA polymerase activity and the fidelity of DNA replication in vitro. The effect of Ni2+ on different DNA polymerases is quite variable. The amount of enzyme inhibition and degree of alteration in replication fidelity induced by Ni2+ are dependent both on the polymerase and its associated 3'-5' exonuclease activity. Some polymerases, such as E. coli DNA polymerase I, AMV reverse transcriptase and human DNA polymerase alpha, can utilize Ni2+ as a weak substitute for Mg2+ during DNA replication. Other polymerases are very sensitive to inhibition by Ni2+ and the IC50 can vary by an order of magnitude. T4 polymerase is relatively insensitive to inhibition by Ni2+, although the sensitivity is enhanced in the absence of added Mg2+, and Ni preferentially inhibits the 3'-5' exonuclease function of T7 DNA polymerase. The fidelity and processivity of DNA polymerases may be either increased or decreased by Ni ions in a polymerase dependent manner. The inhibition DNA polymerase activity and altered replication fidelity may contribute significantly to Ni-induced mutagenesis and genotoxicity in vivo.

DNA Primers↗
PubMed2006

Getting from an RNA world to modern cells just got a little easier.

Our understanding of the early steps in the evolution of life is hampered by a Catch-22: Darwinian selection leading to longer genomes requires as prerequisite increased replicative fidelity. Yet a genome at capacity cannot increase in size; it will be catastrophically mutated out of existence if fidelity has not already increased. Traditionally the problem has been considered for genotypes but can be down-sized if multiple genotypes specify the same phenotype. Kun and colleagues put empirical meat on theoretical bone by analysing ribozyme mutagenesis data, concluding that modest replication fidelities could permit a primordial genome with up to 100 genes.

Biological Evolution↗