Global DNA hypomethylation promoting genomic instability leads to cancer and deterioration of human health with age. Aim: To invent a biotechnology that can reprogram this process. Methods: We used Alu siRNA to direct Alu interspersed repetitive sequences methylation in human cells. We evaluated the correlation between DNA damage and Alu methylation levels. Results: We observed an inverse correlation between Alu element methylation and endogenous DNA damage in white blood cells. Cells transfected with Alu siRNA exhibited high Alu methylation levels, increased proliferation, reduced endogenous DNA damage and improved resistance to DNA damaging agents. Conclusion: Alu methylation stabilizes the genome by preventing accumulation of DNA damage. Alu siRNA could be useful for evaluating reprograming of the global hypomethylation phenotype in cancer and aging cells. DNA methylation at interspersed repetitive sequences (IRSs) plays an important role in maintaining genome stability. Cells with IRS hypomethylation exhibit increased mutation rates [1,2]. Here, we tested whether DNA damage, an alteration in the chemical structure of DNA and a precursor to mutation [3], plays a role in mediating how global hypomethylation promotes genomic instability. Our recent study found that global hypomethylation is associated with plasma 8-hydroxy-2 -deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in biliary atresia patients [4]. Moreover, urinary 8-OHdG, DNA strand breaks and global DNA hypomethylation are associated with low serum folate [5] and oxidative stress [6]. Therefore, we hypothesized that the human genome may use DNA methylation in IRSs to prevent DNA damage.This study developed a technology to add DNA methylation at Alu elements. The human genome contains greater than one million Alu elements [7]. Several reports demonstrated de novo methylation by siRNA in plants [8][9][10]. In human cells, small RNA was used to promote DNA methylation, shRNA for long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1) and hepatitis B virus, and siRNA for HIV-1 promoter region [11][12][13]. There are many types of IRS such as Alu elements, LINE-1, and human endogenous retrovirus [14][15][16][17]. To increase DNA methylation, we tested siRNA to unique sequences and several IRS sequences. Our preliminary trial demonstrated that only Alu siRNA could increase methylation of the target sequences. Here, we evaluated whether Alu siRNA is a useful tool to explore the role of global hypomethylation in genomic instability [18].Alu hypomethylation may play a role in causing genomic instability in cancer and aging cells. Genomic instability, the main enabling characteristic of cancer and aging processes [18,19], may mainly be promoted by IRS hypomethylation. IRS hypomethylation is commonly observed both in aging [14,20] and cancer cells [21]. IRS
The mechanism that causes genomic instability in nondividing aging cells is unknown. Our previous study of mutant yeast suggested that 2 types of replication-independent endogenous DNA double-strand breaks (RIND-EDSBs) exist and that they play opposing roles. The first type, known as physiologic RIND-EDSBs, were ubiquitous in the G phase of both yeast and human cells in certain genomic locations and may act as epigenetic markers. Low RIND-EDSB levels were found in mutants that lacked chromatin-condensing proteins, such as the high-mobility group box (HMGB) proteins and Sir2. The second type is referred to as pathologic RIND-EDSBs. High pathological RIND-EDSB levels were found in DSB repair mutants. Under normal physiologic conditions, these excess RIND-EDSBs are repaired in much the same way as DNA lesions. Here, chronological aging in yeast reduced physiological RIND-EDSBs and cell viability. A strong correlation was observed between the reduction in RIND-EDSBs and viability in aging yeast cells ( r = 0.94, P < 0.0001). We used galactose-inducible HO endonuclease (HO) and nhp6a∆, an HMGB protein mutant, to evaluate the consequences of reduced physiological RIND-EDSB levels. The HO-induced cells exhibited a sustained reduction in RIND-EDSBs at various levels for several days. Interestingly, we found that lower physiologic RIND-EDSB levels resulted in decreased cell viability ( r = 0.69, P < 0.0001). Treatment with caffeine, a DSB repair inhibitor, increased pathological RIND-EDSBs, which were distinguished from physiologic RIND-EDSBs by their lack of sequences prior to DSB in untreated cells [odds ratio (OR) ≤1]. Caffeine treatment in both the HO-induced and nhp6a∆ cells markedly increased OR ≤1 breaks. Therefore, physiological RIND-EDSBs play an epigenetic role in preventing pathological RIND-EDSBs, a type of DNA damage. In summary, the reduction of physiological RIND-EDSB level is a genomic instability mechanism in chronologically aging cells.-Thongsroy, J., Patchsung, M., Pongpanich, M., Settayanon, S., Mutirangura, A. Reduction in replication-independent endogenous DNA double-strand breaks promotes genomic instability during chronological aging in yeast.
The endogenous DNA damage triggering an aging progression in the elderly is prevented in the youth, probably by naturally occurring DNA gaps. DecreasedThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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