Abstract
Aryl hydrocarbons such as 3-nitrobenzanthrone (NBA), 4-aminobiphenyl (ABP), acetylaminofluorene (AAF), benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), and 1-nitropyrene (NP) form bulky DNA adducts when absorbed by mammalian cells. These chemicals are metabolically activated to reactive forms in mammalian cells and preferentially get attached covalently to the N(2) or C8 positions of guanine or the N(6) position of adenine. The proportion of N(2) and C8 guanine adducts in DNA differs among chemicals. Although these adducts block DNA replication, cells have a mechanism allowing to continue replication by bypassing these adducts: translesion DNA synthesis (TLS). TLS is performed by translesion DNA polymerases-Pol η, κ, ι, and ζ and Rev1-in an error-free or error-prone manner. Regarding the NBA adducts, namely, 2-(2'-deoxyguanosin-N(2)-yl)-3-aminobenzanthrone (dG-N(2)-ABA) and N-(2'-deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-3-aminobenzanthrone (dG-C8-ABA), dG-N(2)-ABA is produced more often than dG-C8-ABA, whereas dG-C8-ABA blocks DNA replication more strongly than dG-N(2)-ABA. dG-N(2)-ABA allows for a less error-prone bypass than dG-C8-ABA does. Pol η and κ are stronger contributors to TLS over dG-C8-ABA, and Pol κ bypasses dG-C8-ABA in an error-prone manner. TLS efficiency and error-proneness are affected by the sequences surrounding the adduct, as demonstrated in our previous study on an ABP adduct, N-(2'-deoxyguanosine-8-yl)-4-aminobiphenyl (dG-C8-ABP). Elucidation of the general mechanisms determining efficiency, error-proneness, and the polymerases involved in TLS over various adducts is the next step in the research on TLS. These TLS studies will clarify the mechanisms underlying aryl hydrocarbon mutagenesis and carcinogenesis in more detail.