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Nucleic Acids Research 2005 33(12):3837-3844; doi:10.1093/nar/gki696
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Published online 13 July 2005

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions{at}oupjournals.org

Article

Inhibition of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase by an alkyltransferase-like protein from Escherichia coli

Steven J. Pearson, Jennifer Ferguson, Mauro Santibanez-Koref1 and Geoffrey P. Margison*

Cancer Research-UK Carcinogenesis Group, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Christie Hospital NHS Trust Wilmslow Road, Manchester, UK 1Institute of Human Genetics, University of Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +44 161 446 3183; Fax: +44 161 446 3109; Email: GMargison{at}picr.man.ac.uk

Received April 29, 2005. Revised June 20, 2005. Accepted June 20, 2005.

The alkyltransferase-like (ATL) proteins contain primary sequence motifs resembling those found in DNA repair O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase proteins. However, in the putative active site of ATL proteins, a tryptophan (W83) residue replaces the cysteine at the known active site of alkyltransferases. The Escherichia coli atl gene was expressed as a fusion protein and purified. Neither ATL nor C83 or A83 mutants transferred [3H] from [3H]-methylated DNA to themselves, and the levels of O6-methyl guanine (O6-meG) in substrate DNA were not affected by ATL. However, ATL inhibited the transfer of methyl groups to human alkyltransferase (MGMT). Inhibition was reduced by prolonged incubation in the presence of MGMT, again suggesting that O6-meG in the substrate is not changed by ATL. Gel-shift assays show that ATL binds to short single- or double-stranded oligonucleotides containing O6-meG, but not to oligonucleotides containing 8-oxoguanine, ethenoadenine, 5-hydroxycytosine or O4-methylthymine. There was no evidence of demethylation of O6-meG or of glycosylase or endonuclease activity. Overexpression of ATL in E.coli increased, or did not affect, the toxicity of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine in an alklyltransferase-proficient and -deficient strain, respectively. These results suggest that ATL may act as a damage sensor that flags O6-meG and possibly other O6-alkylation lesions for processing by other repair pathways.


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