E.A. Krasavin

Investigation of the SOS response of Escherichia coli after γ-irradiation by means of the SOS chromotest

The kinetics of SOS system induction in Escherichia coli PQ37 cells by gamma-irradiation has been studied by the SOS chromotest technique. It was shown that the synthesis of constitutive alkaline phosphatase is not immediately stopped in cells that suffered lethal damages from gamma-irradiation. The production of DNA damages inducing the SOS system was 0.021/Gy per genome. The SOS system was switched off approximately 200 min after gamma-irradiation. A correction is proposed to the calculation of the SOS system induction factor.

Function of chromatin structure and dynamics in DNA damage, repair and misrepair: γ-rays and protons in action.

According to their physical characteristics, protons and ion beams promise a revolution in cancer radiotherapy. Curing protocols however reflect rather the empirical knowledge than experimental data on DNA repair. This especially holds for the spatio-temporal organization of repair processes in the context of higher-order chromatin structure-the problematics addressed in this work. The consequences for the mechanism of chromosomal translocations are compared for gamma rays and proton beams.

Model of SOS-induced mutagenesis in bacteria Escherichia coli under ultraviolet irradiation

A mathematical model of the mutation process in bacteria Escherichia coli induced by ultraviolet radiation is developed. Our model is based on the experimental data characterizing the main processes of the bacterial SOS response. Here we have modeled a whole sequence of the events leading to the fixation of the primary DNA lesion as a point mutation. A quantitative analysis of the key ways of the SOS mutagenesis was performed in terms of modern system biology. The dynamic changes of the basic SOS protein concentrations and the process of the translesion synthesis by the modified replication complex are described quantitatively. We have also demonstrated the applicability of the developed model to the description of the mutagenesis in individual genes. As an example, an estimation of the mutation frequency in E. colis lacI gene is performed.

Mutagenic action of heavy ions on Escherichia coli cells

Induction of direct mutations in the lactose operon of E. coli cells by gamma-radiation and accelerated heavy ions with different LET was studied. The experiments were performed with the wild-type PolA and LexA strains. A quadratic dependence of the mutation rate on the dose of different radiations for the wild-type strain and the PolA mutant was observed. However, different types of radiation showed different relative genetic effectivenesses (RGE). The dependence of RGE on LET for the wild-type and PolA strain has a maximum. A LexA strain showed much reduced mutation rates and a linear dose response. The RGE decreased with increasing LET of ionizing radiation.

Radioprotective action of glycerol and cysteamine on inactivation and mutagenesis in Salmonella tester strains after γ- and heavy ion irradiation

Inactivation and mutagenesis were studied in Salmonella tester strains after gamma-irradiation and after heavy ion irradiation in the presence of glycerol and cysteamine. Ions from deuteron to carbon with residual energies of 2-9 MeV/n were used. Cell sensitivity slightly increased with LET before decreasing. In the presence of glycerol the maximum was shifted to higher values of LET. The radioprotective effect of glycerol for cell killing diminished gradually with increasing LET from 2.0 for gamma-radiation to 1.1 for carbon ions. Mutagenic effectiveness increased slightly for deuterium and helium ions. The protective effect of glycerol decreased with LET but could still be detected for helium ions. The radioprotective effect of cysteamine on mutagenesis was found to be very small in the case of gamma-radiation for the three strains examined.

The Role of Energy Distributions of Charged Particles in the Mutagenic Radiation Action

In addition to lethal effects, mutagenic effects of ionizing radiations are investigated in many centres. A very convenient object for these studies is Escherichia coli owing to the fact that the pathways of DNA repair are well known and that there are many mutants deficient in some repair. Both direct mutations and revertants could be used. Our preliminary results suggest that heavy ions can be both more and less effective in comparison with γ-rays.

Modeling nucleotide excision repair and its impact on UV-induced mutagenesis during SOS-response in bacterial cells

A model of the UV-induced mutation process in Escherichia coli bacteria has been developed taking into account the whole sequence of molecular events starting from initial photo-damage and finishing with the fixation of point mutations. The wild-type phenotype bacterial cells are compared with UV-sensitive repair-deficient mutant cells. Attention is mainly paid to excision repair system functioning as regards induced mutagenesis.

Chromosome instability of HPRT-mutant subclones induced by ionising radiation of various let

The induction of HPRT-mutations and survival of Chinese hamster cells (line B11ii-FAF28, clone 431) were studied after irradiation by 4He and 12C-ions of various LET (20-360 keV/micrometers), produced by the U-200 heavy ion accelerator. The RBE increases with LET up to the maximum at 100-200 keV/micrometers and then decreases. Cytogenetic analysis was performed on the HPRT-mutant subclones selected from unirradiated Chinese hamster V-79 cells and from HPRT-mutant subclones that arose after exposure to gamma-rays, 1 GeV protons and 14N-ions (LET-77 keV/micrometers), produced by the synchrophasotron and the U-400M heavy ion accelerator. Slow growing mutant subclones were observed. The cytogenetic properties of individual clones were highly heterogeneous and chromosome instability was observed in both spontaneous and radiation-induced mutants. Chromosome instability was highest among spontaneous mutants and decreased with increasing LET.

Local defects in the nanostructure of the membrane of erythrocytes upon ionizing radiation of blood

The purpose of the study is to investigate local topological defects in the erythrocyte membranes resulting from the ultraviolet (UV) radiation of blood in vitro. Biological effects in the erythrocytes after exposure to UV radiation at a wavelength of 254 nm are equivalent to those after γ radiation. It has been shown that oxidative processes developing in a suspension upon UV radiation result in the disruption of the nanostructure of the membranes of erythrocytes. In the experiments, typical topological defects in the membrane nanostructure were observed. The parameters of the defects differed from the characteristics of the nanostructure of the control cell membrane without irradiation. The characteristic dimensions of the topological defects are commensurate with the size of the spectrin matrix. As a result of the exposure to the UV radiation, polymorphism of the erythrocytes was observed.

Chromatin differentiation of white blood cells decreases DSB damage induction, prevents functional assembly of repair foci, but has no influence on protrusion of heterochromatic DSBs into the low-dense chromatin

Purpose: Higher order chromatin structure progressively changes with cell differentiation and seems to play an important role in DNA double-strand break (DSB) induction and repair (reviewed in [1]). We compared DNA damage in heterochromatin (Hc) upon the action of qualitatively different radiations. We also studied, how is the sensitivity to DSB induction, assembly of repair foci and processing of DSBs influenced by the differentiation-induced changes in chromatin structure and composition. Materials and methods: Formation, localization (relative to higher-order chromatin domains) and mutual colocalization of γH2AX and p53BP1 repair foci have been studied together with DSB repair kinetics in spatially fixed human skin fibroblast and differently differentiated white blood cells (WBC) irradiated with gamma rays, protons of different energies [2, 3], and 20Ne ions (submitted). Immunostaining and ImmunoFISH were used in combination with high-resolution confocal microscopy [2, 3] and living cell imaging [4]. Results: We found that less DSBs appear in Hc after irradiating cells with gamma rays and protons but not 20Ne ions (preliminary results). In addition, contrary to γ-irradiated human skin fibroblasts and lymphocytes, mature granulocytes neither express DSB repair proteins nor form functional repair foci [5]. At least some DSB repair proteins (e.g. 53BP1) are expressed and γH2AX foci still occur in immature granulocytes and monocytes [2, 5]; however, the colocalization of γH2AX with 53BP1 is low and the majority of DSBs are not repaired. Despite this fact, γH2AX foci protrude from Hc into nuclear subcompartments with low chromatin density. Our living cell observations suggest that 53BP1 can penetrate into the interior of dense Hc domains only after their decondensation [2]. Conclusions: We show that Hc is less sensitive to DSB induction by gamma rays but not heavy ions; lower Hc hydratation and higher protein density (when compared with euchromatin) probably reduce formation of free radicals and increase their sequestration, respectively. This mechanism can protect cells against the indirect effect of ionizing radiation (marked for gamma rays and protons but not heavy ions). Hc features, however, preclude DSB repair, which is best illustrated by its absence in differentiated WBC but not their immature precursors. The protrusion of Hc-DSBs into low-density chromatin nuclear subdomains, however, appears also in differentiated WBC, so the process might simply follow physical forces (e.g. as suggested by M Durantes group). There is no Clinical Trial Registration number.