32P-postlabeling detection of thymine glycols: evaluation of adduct recoveries after enhancement with affinity chromatography, nuclease P1, nuclease S1, and polynucleotide kinase.

Thymine glycol (Tg) is a product of DNA damage by oxygen radicals generated by oxidative mutagens and carcinogens and ionizing radiation. The highly sensitive 32P-postlabeling assay was validated and optimized for the measurement of Tg generated in vitro by the reaction of dTp or calf thymus DNA with osmium tetroxide (OsO4). Adduct detection was enhanced by purification of Tg adducts using phenylboronate affinity chromatography or by preferential dephosphorylation of unmodified 3'-nucleotides with nuclease P1, nuclease S1, or polynucleotide kinase; Tg nucleotides were found to be resistant to limited enzymatic 3'-dephosphorylation. Two adducts were seen with OsO4-modified dTp, which may have been cis-Tg adducts, because they were retained on a phenylboronate column, and because OsO4 selectively forms cis-Tg adducts. With OsO4-modified DNA, several adducts were detected, two major derivatives of which coincided chromatographically with those seen in OsO4-modified dTp. The recoveries of major adducts were similar before and after enrichment by different methods, indicating that Tg adducts were resistant to enzymatic dephosphorylation. The efficacy of labeling of the two major Tg adducts by polynucleotide kinase was optimal at 60 microM ATP and higher, whereas it was about 3%, 50%, and 80% of the optimal rate at 2, 10, and 30 microM, respectively. This was in contrast to our previous finding that only 0.25 microM ATP was needed for optimal labeling of benzoquinone-DNA adducts.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)