Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.

Heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and nickel are classified as carcinogens. Although the precise mechanism of carcinogenesis is undefined, heavy metal exposure can contribute to genetic damage by inducing double strand breaks (DSBs) as well as inhibiting critical proteins from different DNA repa...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maria E Morales, Rebecca S Derbes, Catherine M Ade, Jonathan C Ortego, Jeremy Stark, Prescott L Deininger, Astrid M Roy-Engel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4788447?pdf=render
_version_ 1818145083524907008
author Maria E Morales
Rebecca S Derbes
Catherine M Ade
Jonathan C Ortego
Jeremy Stark
Prescott L Deininger
Astrid M Roy-Engel
author_facet Maria E Morales
Rebecca S Derbes
Catherine M Ade
Jonathan C Ortego
Jeremy Stark
Prescott L Deininger
Astrid M Roy-Engel
author_sort Maria E Morales
collection DOAJ
description Heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and nickel are classified as carcinogens. Although the precise mechanism of carcinogenesis is undefined, heavy metal exposure can contribute to genetic damage by inducing double strand breaks (DSBs) as well as inhibiting critical proteins from different DNA repair pathways. Here we take advantage of two previously published culture assay systems developed to address mechanistic aspects of DNA repair to evaluate the effects of heavy metal exposures on competing DNA repair outcomes. Our results demonstrate that exposure to heavy metals significantly alters how cells repair double strand breaks. The effects observed are both specific to the particular metal and dose dependent. Low doses of NiCl2 favored resolution of DSBs through homologous recombination (HR) and single strand annealing (SSA), which were inhibited by higher NiCl2 doses. In contrast, cells exposed to arsenic trioxide preferentially repaired using the "error prone" non-homologous end joining (alt-NHEJ) while inhibiting repair by HR. In addition, we determined that low doses of nickel and cadmium contributed to an increase in mutagenic recombination-mediated by Alu elements, the most numerous family of repetitive elements in humans. Sequence verification confirmed that the majority of the genetic deletions were the result of Alu-mediated non-allelic recombination events that predominantly arose from repair by SSA. All heavy metals showed a shift in the outcomes of alt-NHEJ repair with a significant increase of non-templated sequence insertions at the DSB repair site. Our data suggest that exposure to heavy metals will alter the choice of DNA repair pathway changing the genetic outcome of DSBs repair.
first_indexed 2024-12-11T11:57:49Z
format Article
id doaj.art-ce64774b590a4e46a73be50b323b154d
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1932-6203
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-11T11:57:49Z
publishDate 2016-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj.art-ce64774b590a4e46a73be50b323b154d2022-12-22T01:08:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01113e015136710.1371/journal.pone.0151367Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.Maria E MoralesRebecca S DerbesCatherine M AdeJonathan C OrtegoJeremy StarkPrescott L DeiningerAstrid M Roy-EngelHeavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic and nickel are classified as carcinogens. Although the precise mechanism of carcinogenesis is undefined, heavy metal exposure can contribute to genetic damage by inducing double strand breaks (DSBs) as well as inhibiting critical proteins from different DNA repair pathways. Here we take advantage of two previously published culture assay systems developed to address mechanistic aspects of DNA repair to evaluate the effects of heavy metal exposures on competing DNA repair outcomes. Our results demonstrate that exposure to heavy metals significantly alters how cells repair double strand breaks. The effects observed are both specific to the particular metal and dose dependent. Low doses of NiCl2 favored resolution of DSBs through homologous recombination (HR) and single strand annealing (SSA), which were inhibited by higher NiCl2 doses. In contrast, cells exposed to arsenic trioxide preferentially repaired using the "error prone" non-homologous end joining (alt-NHEJ) while inhibiting repair by HR. In addition, we determined that low doses of nickel and cadmium contributed to an increase in mutagenic recombination-mediated by Alu elements, the most numerous family of repetitive elements in humans. Sequence verification confirmed that the majority of the genetic deletions were the result of Alu-mediated non-allelic recombination events that predominantly arose from repair by SSA. All heavy metals showed a shift in the outcomes of alt-NHEJ repair with a significant increase of non-templated sequence insertions at the DSB repair site. Our data suggest that exposure to heavy metals will alter the choice of DNA repair pathway changing the genetic outcome of DSBs repair.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4788447?pdf=render
spellingShingle Maria E Morales
Rebecca S Derbes
Catherine M Ade
Jonathan C Ortego
Jeremy Stark
Prescott L Deininger
Astrid M Roy-Engel
Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.
PLoS ONE
title Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.
title_full Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.
title_fullStr Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.
title_full_unstemmed Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.
title_short Heavy Metal Exposure Influences Double Strand Break DNA Repair Outcomes.
title_sort heavy metal exposure influences double strand break dna repair outcomes
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4788447?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT mariaemorales heavymetalexposureinfluencesdoublestrandbreakdnarepairoutcomes
AT rebeccasderbes heavymetalexposureinfluencesdoublestrandbreakdnarepairoutcomes
AT catherinemade heavymetalexposureinfluencesdoublestrandbreakdnarepairoutcomes
AT jonathancortego heavymetalexposureinfluencesdoublestrandbreakdnarepairoutcomes
AT jeremystark heavymetalexposureinfluencesdoublestrandbreakdnarepairoutcomes
AT prescottldeininger heavymetalexposureinfluencesdoublestrandbreakdnarepairoutcomes
AT astridmroyengel heavymetalexposureinfluencesdoublestrandbreakdnarepairoutcomes