Anti-RFC3 monoclonal antibody, clone FQS25325

Small looped mispairs are corrected by DNA mismatch repair (MMR). In addition, a distinct process called large loop repair (LLR) corrects loops up to several hundred nucleotides in extracts of bacteria, yeast or human cells. Although LLR activity can be readily demonstrated, there has been little progress in identifying its protein components. This study identified some of the yeast proteins responsible for DNA repair synthesis during LLR. Polyclonal antisera to either Pol31 or Pol32 subunits of polymerase delta efficiently inhibited LLR in extracts by blocking repair just prior to gap filling. Gap filling was inhibited regardless of whether the loop was retained or removed. These experiments suggest polymerase delta is uniquely required in yeast extracts for LLR-associated synthesis. Similar results were obtained with antisera to the clamp loader proteins Rfc3 and Rfc4, and to PCNA, i.e. LLR was inhibited just prior to gap filling for both loop removal and loop retention. Thus PCNA and RFC seem to act in LLR only during repair synthesis, in contrast to their roles at both pre- and post-excision steps of MMR. These biochemical experiments support the idea that yeast polymerase delta, RFC and PCNA are required for large loop DNA repair synthesis.

Organophosphate pesticides are a major source of occupational exposure in the United States. Moreover, malathion has been sprayed over major urban populations in an effort to control mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus. Previous research, reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on the genotoxicity and carcinogenicity of malathion has been inconclusive, although malathion is a known endocrine disruptor. Here, interindividual variations and commonality of gene expression signatures have been studied in normal human mammary epithelial cells from four women undergoing reduction mammoplasty. The cell strains were obtained from the discarded tissues through the Cooperative Human Tissue Network (sponsors: National Cancer Institute and National Disease Research Interchange). Interindividual variation of gene expression patterns in response to malathion was observed in various clustering patterns for the four cell strains. Further clustering identified three genes with increased expression after treatment in all four cell strains. These genes were two aldo-keto reductases; (AKR1C1 and AKR1C2) and an estrogen-responsive gene (EBBP) Decreased expression of six RNA species was seen at various time points in all cell strains analyzed: plasminogen activator (PLAT), centromere protein F (CPF), replication factor C (RFC3), thymidylate synthetase (TYMS), a putative mitotic checkpoint kinase (BUB1), and a gene of unknown function (GenBank accession no. A1859865). Expression changes in all these genes, detected by DNA microarrays, have been verified by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Differential changes in expression of these genes may yield biomarkers that provide insight into interindividual variation in malathion toxicity.