title: Ultraviolet-induced dimerization of non-adjacent pyrimidines in poly[d(A-T)].
abstract: The DNA photoproduct responsible for the ultraviolet (UV) light-induced -1 frameshift mutation remains unknown. We recently identified a UV photoproduct consisting of a cyclobutane dimer occurring between non-adjacent thymine residues in the same strand, [sequence: see text] and proposed that replication across this unrepaired photoproduct might result in a -1 frameshift mutation since the intervening base is extrahelical. Until now this novel photoproduct has only been identified in single-stranded DNA polymers and does not occur in UV-irradiated double-stranded polymers due to conformational restraint. This observation suggested that this photoproduct could only occur in vivo in chromosomal sites that were single-stranded. In the current work the cis-syn dithymine cyclobutane dimer has been identified in the self-complementary polymer poly[d(A-T)] when UV irradiated in solution conditions (concentrated manganese chloride or 60% ethanol plus trace salts) wherein this polymer remains double-stranded but the double-helix is partially destabilized. Taken together, the current findings suggest that dipyrimidine photoproducts between non-adjacent residues on the same strand could occur in vivo in double-stranded, but partially destabilized, DNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, F. E. Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-4799.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Love
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Minton
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004249:DNA Damage; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D016368:Frameshift Mutation; D007536:Isomerism; D011067:Poly dA-dT / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011740:Pyrimidine Dimers; D011743:Pyrimidines; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D011740:Pyrimidine Dimers; D011743:Pyrimidines; D011067:Poly dA-dT