Search results for "DNA and Chromosomes"
showing 2 items of 2 documents
Excision of Uracil from Transcribed DNA Negatively Affects Gene Expression
2014
Uracil is an unavoidable aberrant base in DNA, the repair of which takes place by a highly efficient base excision repair mechanism. The removal of uracil from the genome requires a succession of intermediate products, including an abasic site and a single strand break, before the original DNA structure can be reconstituted. These repair intermediates are harmful for DNA replication and also interfere with transcription under cell-free conditions. However, their relevance for cellular transcription has not been proved. Here we investigated the influence of uracil incorporated into a reporter vector on gene expression in human cells. The expression constructs contained a single uracil opposi…
Late Activation of Stress-activated Protein Kinases/c-Jun N-terminal Kinases Triggered by Cisplatin-induced DNA Damage in Repair-defective Cells
2011
Although stress-activated protein kinases/c-Jun N-terminal kinases (SAPK/JNK) are rapidly activated by genotoxins, the role of DNA damage in this response is not well defined. Here we show that the SEK1/MKK4-mediated dual phosphorylation of SAPK/JNK (Thr-183/Tyr-185) correlates with the level of cisplatin-DNA adducts at late times (16–24 h) after drug treatment in both human and mouse cells. Transfection of platinated plasmid DNA also caused SAPK/JNK activation. A defect in transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair resting on a mutation in Cockayne syndrome group B protein promoted the late SAPK/JNK activation following cisplatin exposure. Signaling to SAPK/JNK was accompanied by act…