AID enzymatic activity is inversely proportional to the size of cytosine C5 orbital cloud

Activation induced deaminase (AID) deaminates cytosine to uracil, which is required for a functional humoral immune system. Previous work demonstrated, that AID also deaminates 5-methylcytosine (5 mC). Recently, a novel vertebrate modification (5-hydroxymethylcytosine - 5 hmC) has been implicated in functioning in epigenetic reprogramming, yet no molecular pathway explaining the removal of 5 hmC has been identified. AID has been suggested to deaminate 5 hmC, with the 5 hmU product being repaired by base excision repair pathways back to cytosine. Here we demonstrate that AID’s enzymatic activity is inversely proportional to the electron cloud size of C5-cytosine - H . F . methyl .. hydroxymethyl. This makes AID an unlikely candidate to be part of 5 hmC removal

DNA deaminases: AIDing hormones in immunity and cancer

It is well established that hormones can cause cancer, much less known is how they induce this change in our somatic cells. This review highlights the recent finding that estrogen can exert its DNA-damaging potential by directly activating DNA deaminases. This recently discovered class of proteins deaminate cytosine to uracil in DNA, and are essential enzymes in the immune system. The enhanced production of a given DNA deaminase, induced by estrogen, can lead not only to a more active immune response, but also to an increase in mutations and oncogenic translocations. Identifying the direct molecular link between estrogen and a mutation event provides us with new targets for studying and possibly inhibiting the pathological side-effects of estrogen

Estrogen directly activates AID transcription and function

The immunological targets of estrogen at the molecular, humoral, and cellular level have been well documented, as has estrogen's role in establishing a gender bias in autoimmunity and cancer. During a healthy immune response, activation-induced deaminase (AID) deaminates cytosines at immunoglobulin (Ig) loci, initiating somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR). Protein levels of nuclear AID are tightly controlled, as unregulated expression can lead to alterations in the immune response. Furthermore, hyperactivation of AID outside the immune system leads to oncogenesis. Here, we demonstrate that the estrogen–estrogen receptor complex binds to the AID promoter, enhancing AID messenger RNA expression, leading to a direct increase in AID protein production and alterations in SHM and CSR at the Ig locus. Enhanced translocations of the c-myc oncogene showed that the genotoxicity of estrogen via AID production was not limited to the Ig locus. Outside of the immune system (e.g., breast and ovaries), estrogen induced AID expression by >20-fold. The estrogen response was also partially conserved within the DNA deaminase family (APOBEC3B, -3F, and -3G), and could be inhibited by tamoxifen, an estrogen antagonist. We therefore suggest that estrogen-induced autoimmunity and oncogenesis may be derived through AID-dependent DNA instability

A symphony on C:orchestrating DNA repair for gene expression via cytosine modification The 2012 IMB Conference: DNA Demethylation, Repair and Beyond Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany, 18-21 October 2012

<p>Headline-grabbing attention has been given to DNA demethylation pathways as new epigenetic mechanisms, with reviews and hypotheses outnumbering research papers. As candidate proteins for DNA demethylation include well-known DNA repair enzymes, it was timely to join epigenetics and DNA repair experts at the first international meeting on DNA Demethylation, Repair and Beyond. New mechanistic insights were presented for known players orchestrating the symphony on cytosine - 'the symphony on C' (TET1, 2, 3; GADD45; AID; and TDG), while new instruments and classical themes were pulled into the amalgamation. What may appear as just an unintentional cacophony of random oxidative lesions and abasic sites in a bed of chromatin noise may turn out to be a gene-expressing regulatory melody.</p>

Simultaneous in vitro characterisation of DNA deaminase function and associated DNA repair pathways.

During immunoglobulin (Ig) diversification, activation-induced deaminase (AID) initiates somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination by catalysing the conversion of cytosine to uracil. The synergy between AID and DNA repair pathways is fundamental for the introduction of mutations, however the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying this process are not fully elucidated. We describe a novel method to efficiently decipher the composition and activity of DNA repair pathways that are activated by AID-induced lesions. The in vitro resolution (IVR) assay combines AID based deamination and DNA repair activities from a cellular milieu in a single assay, thus avoiding synthetically created DNA-lesions or genetic-based readouts. Recombinant GAL4-AID fusion protein is targeted to a plasmid containing GAL4 binding sites, allowing for controlled cytosine deamination within a substrate plasmid. Subsequently, the Xenopus laevis egg extract provides a source of DNA repair proteins and functional repair pathways. Our results demonstrated that DNA repair pathways which are in vitro activated by AID-induced lesions are reminiscent of those found during AID-induced in vivo Ig diversification. The comparative ease of manipulation of this in vitro systems provides a new approach to dissect the complex DNA repair pathways acting on defined physiologically lesions, can be adapted to use with other DNA damaging proteins (e.g. APOBECs), and provide a means to develop and characterise pharmacological agents to inhibit these potentially oncogenic processes

Oligonucleotides used.

<p>Oligonucleotides used.</p

Excess enzyme does not lead to 5

<p> <b>hmC deamination.</b> (<b>A</b>) The ssDNA oligonucleotide deamination assay was performed for 15 min at 37° C with increasing amounts of enzyme (0–11.5 pmol AID) and analysed as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043279#pone-0043279-g001" target="_blank">Figure 1</a>. Labels are as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043279#pone-0043279-g001" target="_blank">Figure 1</a>. Triangle indicates a nonspecific cleavage product excluded from quantitation. Each substrate oligo was tested at least 3 times, representative gels are shown. (<b>B</b>) The gels were quantitated, and analysed as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043279#pone-0043279-g001" target="_blank">Figure 1</a> F, with the resulting average 3′ target to 5′target ratio plotted against the inverse vdWv.</p