Abasic sites (apurinic/apyrimidinic, AP sites) are the most common DNA lesions generated by both spontaneous and induced base loss. In a previous study we have shown that circular plasmid molecules containing multiple AP sites are efficiently repaired by Chinese hamster extracts in an in vitro repair assay. An average patch size of 6.6 nucleotides for a single AP site was calculated. To define the exact repair patch, a circular DNA duplex with a single AP site was constructed. The repair synthesis carried out by hamster and human cell extracts was characterized by restriction endonuclease analysis of the area containing the lesion. The results indicate that, besides the repair events involving the incorporation of a single nucleotide at the lesion site, repair synthesis occurred also 3' to the AP site and involved a repair patch of approximately 7 nucleotides. This alternative repair pathway was completely inhibited by the presence in the repair reaction of a polyclonal antibody raised against human proliferating cell nuclear antigen. These data give the first evidence that mammalian cell extracts repair natural AP sites by two distinct pathways: a single nucleotide gap filling reaction targeted at the AP site and a proliferating cell nuclear antigen-dependent pathway that removes a short oligonucleotide containing the abasic site and 3'-flanking nucleotides.

We have shown that PCNA and the cell-cycle regulator p21WAF1 interact in vivo, and that this interaction requires the central loop of PCNA and an eight amino-acid motif from the carboxyl terminus of p21WAF1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Parks Road, Oxford OXI 3PS, UK Communicated by R. A.Laskey Nucleoplasmin is the most abundant protein in the Xenopus oocyte nucleus. It is involved in histone storage and chromatin assembly and it has been used extensively to study the transport of proteins into the cell nucleus. We have isolated X gtll phage containing nucleoplasmin cDNA and have determined the sequence of the entire protein coding region of 200 amino acids for one of the two genes. The translation product of the sp6 transcript of this cDNA has the same electrophoretic mobility as nucleoplasmin and is able to form pentamers. The protein sequence shows remarkable clusters of charged residues including a long polyglutamic acid tract which presumably constitutes the histone binding site. The short C-terminal domain which specifies nuclear entry contains four regions which are homologous to putative nuclear localization signals including two regions of homology to the nuclear migration signal of SV40 large T antigen.

The human tumour suppressor protein p53 is critical for regulation of the cell cycle on genotoxic insult. When DNA is damaged by radiation, chemicals or viral infection, cells respond rapidly by arresting the cell cycle. A G1 arrest requires the activity of wild-type p53, as it is not observed in cells lacking functionally wild-type protein, and at least some component of S phase and G2/M arrests is also thought to be p53-dependent. p53 functions as a transcription factor which binds specific DNA sequences, and recently major downstream targets have been identified, including p21Cip1, an inhibitor of the cell cycle kinases that also blocks the replicative but not the repair function of DNA polymerase delta auxiliary factor, PCNA. Current interest focuses on developing novel cancer therapies based on our knowledge of the activity of p53 and p21Cip1 in the cell cycle.

Following genomic damage, the cessation of DNA replication is co-ordinated with onset of DNA repair; this co-ordination is essential to avoid mutation and genomic instability. To investigate these phenomena, we have analysed proteins that interact with PCNA, which is required for both DNA replication and repair. One such protein is p21 Cip1 , which inhibits DNA replication through its interaction with PCNA, while allowing repair to continue. We have identi®ed an interaction between PCNA and the structure speci®c nuclease, Fen1, which is involved in DNA replication. Deletion analysis suggests that p21 Cip1 and Fen1 bind to the same region of PCNA. Within Fen1 and its homologues a small region (10 amino acids) is su cient for PCNA binding, which contains an 8 amino acid conserved PCNA-binding motif. This motif shares critical residues with the PCNA-binding region of p21 Cip1 . A PCNA binding peptide from p21 Cip1 competes with Fen1 peptides for binding to PCNA, disrupts the Fen1-PCNA complex in replicating cell extracts, and concomitantly inhibits DNA synthesis. Competition between homologous regions of Fen1 and p21 Cip1 for binding to the same site on PCNA may provide a mechanism to co-ordinate the functions of PCNA in DNA replication and repair.

SummaryHuman aging is associated with accumulation of cells that have undergone replicative senescence. The rare premature aging Werner's syndrome (WS) provides a phenocopy of normal human aging and WS patient cells recapitulate the aging phenotype in culture as they rapidly lose the ability to proliferate or replicate their DNA. WS is associated with loss of functional WRN protein.Although the biochemical properties of WRN protein, which possesses both helicase and exonuclease activities, suggest an involvement in DNA metabolism, its action in cells is not clear. Here, we provide experimental evidence for a role of the WRN protein in DNA replication in normally proliferating cells. Most importantly, we demonstrate that in the absence of functional WRN protein, replication forks from origins of bidirectional replication fail to progress normally, resulting in marked asymmetry of bidirectional forks. We propose that WRN acts in normal DNA replication to prevent collapse of replication forks or to resolve DNA junctions at stalled replication forks, and that loss of this capacity may be a contributory factor in premature aging.

The citizenship literature includes remarkably few empirical studies. In this article we report on how young people in a British city perceive citizenship and their own transitions as citizens. Of five models which emerged, the most dominant was 'universal status', followed by 'respectable economic independence ' and 'constructive social participation' and, less frequently, 'social-contractual' and '

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