Humans and chimpanzees differ in their cellular response to DNA damage and non-coding sequence elements of DNA repair-associated genes.

Compared to humans, chimpanzees appear to be less susceptible to many types of cancer. Because DNA repair defects lead to accumulation of gene and chromosomal mutations, species differences in DNA repair are one plausible explanation. Here we analyzed the repair kinetics of human and chimpanzee cells after cisplatin treatment and irradiation. Dot blots for the quantification of single-stranded (ss) DNA repair intermediates revealed a biphasic response of human and chimpanzee lymphoblasts to cisplatin-induced damage. The early phase of DNA repair was identical in both species with a peak of ssDNA intermediates at 1 h after DNA damage induction. However, the late phase differed between species. Human cells showed a second peak of ssDNA intermediates at 6 h, chimpanzee cells at 5 h. One of four analyzed DNA repair-associated genes, UBE2A, was differentially expressed in human and chimpanzee cells at 5 h after cisplatin treatment. Immunofluorescent staining of gammaH2AX foci demonstrated equally high numbers of DNA strand breaks in human and chimpanzee cells at 30 min after irradiation and equally low numbers at 2 h. However, at 1 h chimpanzee cells had significantly less DNA breaks than human cells. Comparative sequence analyses of approximately 100 DNA repair-associated genes in human and chimpanzee revealed 13% and 32% genes, respectively, with evidence for an accelerated evolution in promoter regions and introns. This is strikingly contrasting to the 3% of DNA repair-associated genes with positive selection in the coding sequence. Compared to the rhesus macaque as an outgroup, chimpanzees have a higher accelerated evolution in non-coding sequences than humans. The TRF1-interacting, ankyrin-related ADP-ribose polymerase (TNKS) gene showed an accelerated intraspecific evolution among humans. Our results are consistent with the view that chimpanzee cells repair different types of DNA damage faster than human cells, whereas the overall repair capacity is similar in both species. Genetic differences in non-coding sequence elements may affect gene regulation in the DNA repair network and thus contribute to species differences in DNA repair and cancer susceptibility. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.