The Escherichia coli AlkB protein and human homologs hABH2 and hABH3 are 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)/Fe(II)-dependent DNA/RNA demethylases that repair 1-methyladenine and 3-methylcytosine residues. Surprisingly, hABH1, which displays the strongest homology to AlkB, failed to show repair activity in two independent studies. Here, we show that hABH1 is a mitochondrial protein, as demonstrated using fluorescent fusion protein expression, immunocytochemistry, and Western blot analysis. A fraction is apparently nuclear and this fraction increases strongly if the fluorescent tag is placed at the N-terminal end of the protein, thus interfering with mitochondrial targeting. Molecular modeling of hABH1 based upon the sequence and known structures of AlkB and hABH3 suggested an active site almost identical to these enzymes. hABH1 decarboxylates 2OG in the absence of a prime substrate, and the activity is stimulated by methylated nucleotides. Employing three different methods we demonstrate that hABH1 demethylates 3-methylcytosine in single-stranded DNA and RNA in vitro. Site-specific mutagenesis confirmed that the putative Fe(II) and 2OG binding residues are essential for activity. In conclusion, hABH1 is a functional mitochondrial AlkB homolog that repairs 3-methylcytosine in single-stranded DNA and RNA.

Human AlkB homologues ABH2 and ABH3 repair 1-methyladenine and 3-methylcytosine in DNA/RNA by oxidative demethylation. The enzymes have similar overall folds and active sites, but are functionally divergent. ABH2 efficiently demethylates both single- and double-stranded (ds) DNA, whereas ABH3 has a strong preference for single-stranded DNA and RNA. We find that divergent F1 β-hairpins in proximity of the active sites of ABH2 and ABH3 are central for substrate specificities. Swapping F1 hairpins between the enzymes resulted in hybrid proteins resembling the donor proteins. Surprisingly, mutation of the intercalating residue F102 had little effect on activity, while the double mutant V101A/F102A was catalytically impaired. These residues form part of an important hydrophobic network only present in ABH2. In this functionally important network, F124 stacks with the flipped out base while L157 apparently functions as a buffer stop to position the lesion in the catalytic pocket for repair. F1 in ABH3 contains charged and polar residues preventing use of dsDNA substrate. Thus, E123 in ABH3 corresponds to F102 in ABH2 and the E123F-variant gained capacity to repair dsDNA with no loss in single strand repair capacity. In conclusion, divergent sequences outside of the active site determine substrate specificities of ABH2 and ABH3.

Elaborate repair pathways counteract the deleterious effects of DNA damage by mechanisms that are understood in reasonable detail. In contrast, repair of damaged RNA has not been widely explored. This may be because aberrant RNAs are generally assumed to be degraded rather than repaired. The reason for this view is well founded, since conserved surveillance mechanisms that degrade abnormal RNAs are thoroughly documented. Numerous proteins and protein-RNA complexes are involved in the metabolism of different RNA species, assuring correct transcription, splicing, posttranscriptional modifications, transport, translation and timely degradation of the molecule. However, like DNA, RNA is under constant attack of various environmental and endogenous agents that damage the molecule, such as alkylating agents, radiation and free radicals. Importantly, many DNA damaging drugs used in cancer therapy also modify RNA, presumably causing delayed or faulty translation. This may result in generation of inactive proteins, dominant negative proteins or toxic protein aggregates. Several lines of evidence indicate RNA repair as a possible cellular defence mechanism to cope with RNA damage. Thus, there are convincing examples of tRNA repair by elongation of truncated forms, and repair of cleaved tRNA by T4 phage proteins. In addition, in vitro repair of aberrant tRNA methylation by a methyl transferase has been reported. Finally, recent reports on repair of chemically methylated RNA by AlkB and a human homologue (hABH3) in vitro and in vivo strengthen the idea of RNA base repair as a cellular defence mechanism.

Single-strand DNA binding proteins protect DNA from nucleolytic damage, prevent formation of secondary structures and prevent premature reannealing of DNA in DNA metabolic transactions. In eukaryotes, the nuclear single-strand DNA binding protein RPA is essential for chromosomal DNA replication and transcription and directly participates in several DNA repair processes by binding to and modulating the activity of repair factors. Much less is known about the involvement of the only mitochondrial single-strand binding protein mtSSB in the context of DNA repair. Here we demonstrate that mtSSB impedes excision of uracil and oxidative demethylation of 3meC in single-stranded DNA by UNG1 and ABH1, respectively, whereas excision by NEIL1 was partially inhibited. mtSSB also effectively inhibited nicking of single-stranded DNA by APE1 and ABH1 and partially inhibited the lyase activity of NEIL1. Finally we identified a putative surface motif in mtSSB that may recruit UNG1 to DNA-bound mtSSB. We suggest that the massive amount of mtSSB in mitochondria effectively prevents processing of uracil and other types of damaged bases to avoid introduction of nicks in single-stranded mtDNA formed during replication. Local enrichment of UNG1 at DNA-bound mtSSB may furthermore facilitate rapid access to- and processing of the damage once the dsDNA conformation is restored. This could be of potential biological importance, since mitochondria have no or limited capacity for homologous recombination to process nicks at the replication fork.