Advancing small-molecule-based chemical biology with next-generation sequencing technologies

Next-generation-sequencing (NGS) technologies enable us to obtain extensive information by deciphering millions of individual DNA sequencing reactions simultaneously. The new DNA-sequencing strategies exceed their precursors in output by many orders of magnitude, resulting in a quantitative increase in valuable sequence information that could be harnessed for qualitative analysis. Sequencing on this scale has facilitated significant advances in diverse disciplines, ranging from the discovery, design, and evaluation of many small molecules and relevant biological mechanisms to maturation of personalized therapies. NGS technologies that have recently become affordable allow us to gain in-depth insight into small-molecule-triggered biological phenomena and empower researchers to develop advanced versions of small molecules. In this review we focus on the overlooked implications of NGS technologies in chemical biology, with a special emphasis on small-molecule development and screening

DNAエピジェネティック修飾に関するケミカルバイオロジー研究

京都大学0048新制・課程博士博士(理学)甲第20195号理博第4280号新制||理||1615(附属図書館)京都大学大学院理学研究科化学専攻(主査)教授 杉山 弘, 教授 三木 邦夫, 教授 秋山 芳展学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of ScienceKyoto UniversityDGA

CGmCGCG is a versatile substrate with which to evaluate Tet protein activity.

Tet family proteins have the ability to convert 5-methylcytosine (mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, and further to 5-formylcytosine and 5-carboxycytosine. We found that CGmCGCG can be the substrate of Tet protein, and observed iterative oxidation of mC by HPLC analysis. We also demonstrated that Tet protein favours single-stranded DNA over double-stranded DNA

AFM analysis of changes in nucleosome wrapping induced by DNA epigenetic modification

Accepted 13 Jun 2014.The wrapping and unwrapping of the nucleosome, which is a fundamental packing unit of chromatin, are tied to the regulation of gene expression. The accessibility of DNA within nucleosomes is controlled not only by chromatin-remodeling molecules, but also by chemical modifications of histones and DNA. Understanding the structural changes of a nucleosome during epigenetic modifications is a key to unravel the mechanisms of gene regulation. Here, we reconstituted nucleosomes using methylcytosine- or hydroxymethylcytosine-substituted DNA, and analyzed their morphological features by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Our results indicate that cytosine methylation induces overwrapping of the DNA around the histone octamer, whereas cytosine hydroxymethylation has a lesser effect on the overwrapping of the DNA. These results suggest that two types of DNA modification yield different wrapping states of nucleosomes, which may contribute to the compaction and relaxation of the chromatin structure

Locating the uracil-5-yl radical formed upon photoirradiation of 5-bromouracil-substituted DNA.

In a previous study, we found that 2-deoxyribonolactone is effectively generated in the specific 5-bromouracil ((Br)U)-substituted sequence 5'-(G/C)[A]n = 1,2 (Br)U(Br)U-3' and proposed that a formed uracil-5-yl radical mainly abstracts the C1' hydrogen from the 5'-side of (Br)U(Br)U under 302-nm irradiation condition. In the present work, we performed photoirradiation of (Br)U-substituted DNA in the presence of a hydrogen donor, tetrahydrofuran, to quench the uracil-5-yl radical to uracil and then subjected the sample to uracil DNA glycosylase digestion. Slab gel sequence analysis indicated that uracil residues were formed at the hot-spot sequence of 5'-(G/C)[A]n = 1,2 (Br)U(Br)U-3' in 302-nm irradiation of (Br)U-substituted DNA. Furthermore, we found that the uracil residue was also formed at the reverse sequence 5'-(Br)U(Br)U[A]n = 1,2(G/C)-3', which suggests that both 5'-(G/C)[A]n = 1,2 (Br)U(Br)U-3' and 5'-(Br)U(Br)U[A]n = 1,2(G/C)-3' are hot-spot sequences for the formation of the uracil-5-yl radical

UVA irradiation of BrU-substituted DNA in the presence of Hoechst 33258

Given that our knowledge of DNA repair is limited because of the complexity of the DNA system, a technique called UVA micro-irradiation has been developed that can be used to visualize the recruitment of DNA repair proteins at double-strand break (DSB) sites. Interestingly, Hoechst 33258 was used under micro-irradiation to sensitize 5-bromouracil (BrU)-labelled DNA, causing efficient DSBs. However, the molecular basis of DSB formation under UVA micro-irradiation remains unknown. Herein, we investigated the mechanism of DSB formation under UVA micro-irradiation conditions. Our results suggest that the generation of a uracil-5-yl radical through electron transfer from Hoechst 33258 to BrU caused DNA cleavage preferentially at self-complementary 5′-AABrUBrU-3′ sequences to induce DSB. We also investigated the DNA cleavage in the context of the nucleosome to gain a better understanding of UVA micro-irradiation in a cell-like model. We found that DNA cleavage occurred in both core and linker DNA regions although its efficiency reduced in core DNA

Sequence-specific electron injection into DNA from an intermolecular electron donor.

Electron transfer in DNA has been intensively studied to elucidate its biological roles and for applications in bottom-up DNA nanotechnology. Recently, mechanisms of electron transfer to DNA have been investigated; however, most of the systems designed are intramolecular. Here, we synthesized pyrene-conjugated pyrrole-imidazole polyamides (PPIs) to achieve sequence-specific electron injection into DNA in an intermolecular fashion. Electron injection from PPIs into DNA was detected using 5-bromouracil as an electron acceptor. Twelve different 5-bromouracil-containing oligomers were synthesized to examine the electron-injection ability of PPI. Product analysis demonstrated that the electron transfer from PPIs was localized in a range of 8 bp from the binding site of the PPIs. These results demonstrate that PPIs can be a useful tool for sequence-specific electron injection

Photoreactivities of 5-Bromouracil-containing RNAs.

5-Bromouracil ((Br)U) was incorporated into three types of synthetic RNA and the products of the photoirradiated (Br)U-containing RNAs were investigated using HPLC and MS analysis. The photoirradiation of r(GCA(Br)UGC)(2) and r(CGAA(Br)UUGC)/r(GCAAUUCG) in A-form RNA produced the corresponding 2'-keto adenosine ((keto)A) product at the 5'-neighboring nucleotide, such as r(GC(keto)AUGC) and r(CGA(keto)AUUGC), respectively. The photoirradiation of r(CGCG(Br)UGCG)/r(C(m)GCAC(m)GCG) in Z-form RNA produced the 2'-keto guanosine ((keto)G) product r(CGC(keto)GUGCG), whereas almost no products were observed from the photoirradiation of r(CGCG(Br)UGCG)/r(C(m)GCAC(m)GCG) in A-form RNA. The present results indicate clearly that hydrogen (H) abstraction by the photochemically generated uracil-5-yl radical selectively occurs at the C2' position to provide a 2'-keto RNA product

Sequence-specific DNA alkylation and transcriptional inhibition by long-chain hairpin pyrrole-imidazole polyamide-chlorambucil conjugates targeting CAG/CTG trinucleotide repeats.

Introducing novel building blocks to solid-phase peptide synthesis, we readily synthesized long-chain hairpin pyrrole-imidazole (PI) polyamide-chlorambucil conjugates 3 and 4 via the introduction of an amino group into a GABA (γ-turn) contained in 3, to target CAG/CTG repeat sequences, which are associated with various hereditary disorders. A high-resolution denaturing polyacrylamide sequencing gel revealed sequence-specific alkylation both strands at the N3 of adenines or guanines in CAG/CTG repeats by conjugates 3 and 4, with 11bp recognition. In vitro transcription assays using conjugate 4 revealed that specific alkylation inhibited the progression of RNA polymerase at the alkylating sites. Chiral substitution of the γ-turn with an amino group resulted in higher binding affinity observed in SPR assays. These assays suggest that conjugates 4 with 11bp recognition has the potential to cause specific DNA damage and transcriptional inhibition at the alkylating sites