Ultraviolet irradiation of monkey cells enhances the repair of DNA adducts in alpha DNA.

Excision repair of bulky adducts in alpha DNA of African green monkey cells has previously been shown to be deficient relative to that in the overall genome. We have found that u.v. irradiation of these cells results in the enhanced removal of both aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and acetylaminofluorene (AAF) adducts from the alpha DNA sequences without affecting repair in the bulk of the DNA. The degree of enhanced removal of AFB1 is dependent upon the u.v. dose and the time interval between irradiation and AFB1 treatment. The u.v. enhancement is not inhibited by cycloheximide. Exposure of the cells to dimethylsulfate or gamma-rays does not affect AFB1 adduct repair. The formation and removal of N-acetoxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (NA-AAF) adducts from alpha and bulk DNA was studied in detail. A higher initial level of the acetylated C8 adduct of guanine was found in alpha DNA than in bulk DNA. Although both the acetylated and deacetylated C8 adducts were removed from the two DNA species, the level of repair was significantly greater in the bulk DNA. Irradiation of cells with u.v. prior to treatment with NA-AAF enhanced the removal of both adducts from alpha DNA with little or no effect on repair in bulk DNA. We conclude that the presence of u.v. photoproducts or some intermediate in their processing alters the chromatin structure of alpha DNA thereby rendering bulky adducts accessible to repair enzymes. In addition, the differential formation and repair of AAF adducts in alpha DNA compared with that in the bulk of the genome supports the hypothesis of an altered chromatin structure for alpha domains.