title: The role of the carboxyl-terminal tail in human O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase substrate specificity and temperature sensitivity.
abstract: The human O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) repairs O6-methylguanine (O6-MG) in DNA at a much lower rate than the Escherichia coli Ada protein, and only MGMT repairs the altered base, O6-benzylguanine (O6-BG). The diversity in DNA repair properties between MGMT and Ada may be a result of divergent amino acid sequences outside their common proline-cysteine-histidine-arginine-valine (PCHRV) acceptor site. One notable sequence difference is an MGMT 28-amino acid carboxyl-terminal tail which is highly conserved among all mammalian alkyltransferases. The role of this tail sequence in substrate specificity was assessed by expressing full-length MGMT and Ada proteins, and mutant MGMT proteins lacking either 10 or 28 amino acids from the carboxyl terminus, as GST fusion proteins in alkyltransferase-deficient E. coli cells, and comparing rates of repair of O6-MG containing DNA and O6-BG by these fusion proteins at 4 degrees C and 37 degrees C. The MGMT carboxyl-terminal tail was not required for repair of O6-MG in DNA at 37 degrees C although the deletion of this tail sequence reversibly inhibited the ability of MGMT to repair O6-MG in DNA at 4 degrees C. Therefore, the absence of this region affects the ability of the protein to repair O6-MG in DNA at lower temperatures. Furthermore, removal of the tail sequence from MGMT decreased the rate of O6-BG repair 5-fold. We conclude that the 28-amino acid carboxyl-terminal MGMT tail, while not required for activity, modulates the rate of MGMT repair at reduced temperatures and plays a role in substrate specificity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois 60153.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: R O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Pieper
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D019853:O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D051381:Rats; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D008780:Methyltransferases; C045675:Ada protein, E coli; D019853:O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase