The use of an artificial nucleotide for polymerase-based recognition of carcinogenic O(6)-alkylguanine DNA adducts

Enzymatic approaches for locating alkylation adducts at single-base resolution in DNA could enable new technologies for understanding carcinogenesis and supporting personalized chemotherapy. Artificial nucleotides that specifically pair with alkylated bases offer a possible strategy for recognition and amplification of adducted DNA, and adduct-templated incorporation of an artificial nucleotide has been demonstrated for a model DNA adduct O(6)-benzylguanine by a DNA polymerase. In this study, DNA adducts of biological relevance, O(6)-methylguanine (O(6)-MeG) and O(6)-carboxymethylguanine (O(6)-CMG), were characterized to be effective templates for the incorporation of benzimidazole-derived 2′-deoxynucleoside-5′-O-triphosphates (BenziTP and BIMTP) by an engineered KlenTaq DNA polymerase. The enzyme catalyzed specific incorporation of the artificial nucleotide Benzi opposite adducts, with up to 150-fold higher catalytic efficiency for O(6)-MeG over guanine in the template. Furthermore, addition of artificial nucleotide Benzi was required for full-length DNA synthesis during bypass of O(6)-CMG. Selective incorporation of the artificial nucleotide opposite an O(6)-alkylguanine DNA adduct was verified using a novel 2′,3′-dideoxy derivative of BenziTP. The strategy was used to recognize adducts in the presence of excess unmodified DNA. The specific processing of BenziTP opposite biologically relevant O(6)-alkylguanine adducts is characterized herein as a basis for potential future DNA adduct sequencing technologies.