Nucleic Acids Research, Vol 25, Issue 12 2359-2364, Copyright © 1997 by Oxford University Press
MD Wyatt, M Lee and JA Hartley
The covalent sequence specificity of a series of nitrogen mustard and
imidazole-containing analogues of distamycin was determined using modified
sequencing techniques. The analogues tether benzoic acid mustard (BAM) and
possess either one, two or three imidazole units. Examination of the
alkylation specificity revealed that BAM produced guanine-N7 lesions in a
pattern similar to conventional nitrogen mustards. The monoimidazole-BAM
conjugate also produced guanine-N7 alkylation in a similar pattern to BAM,
but at a 100-fold lower dose. The diimidazole and triimidazole conjugates
did not produce detectable guanine-N7 alkylation but only alkylated at
selected sites in the minor groove. Unexpectedly, the alkylation
specificity at equivalent doses was nearly identical to that found for the
previously reported pyrrole- BAM conjugates. The consensus sequence,
5'-TTTTGPuwas strongly alkylated by the triimidazole conjugate in
preference to other similar sites including three occurrences of 5'-TTTTAA.
Footprinting studies were carried out to examine the non-covalent DNA
binding interactions. These studies revealed that the tripyrrole- BAM
conjugate bound non- covalently to the same AT-rich sites as distamycin. In
contrast, whereas the Im3lexitropsin bound non-covalently to GC-rich
sequences, the triimidazole-BAM conjugate did not detectably footprint to
either GC- or AT-rich regions at equivalent doses. The results indicate
that the alkylation event is not solely dictated by the non-covalent
binding and might be influenced by a unique sequence dependent
conformational feature of the consensus sequence 5'-TTTTGPu.
ARTICLES
The sequence specificity of alkylation for a series of benzoic acid mustard and imidazole-containing distamycin analogues: the importance of local sequence conformation
CRC Drug-DNA Interactions Research Group, Department of Oncology, University College London Medical School, London W1P 8BT, UK.
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