Hydroxymethyluracil DNA glycosylase in mammalian cells.

An activity has been purified 350-fold from extracts of mouse plasmacytoma cells that forms 5-hydroxymethyluracil (alpha-hydroxythymine) and apyrimidinic sites with phage SPO1 DNA, which contains this base in place of thymine. This DNA glycosylase presumably functions to eliminate hydroxymethyluracil, a major thymine-derived DNA lesion produced by ionizing radiation and oxidative damage. The enzyme has no cofactor requirement and is active in EDTA. Neither intermediate formation nor hydrolysis of hydroxymethyl-deoxyuridine or hydroxymethyldeoxyuridine monophosphate was detected. The enzyme does not cleave apyrimidinic sites in DNA. It does release uracil from the uracil-containing DNA of phage PBS2, but this activity is less than 2% of the predominant uracil DNA glycosylase activity of the cell, which is separated by phosphocellulose chromatography. The major uracil DNA glycosylase does not release hydroxymethyluracil from SPO1 DNA. The hydroxymethyluracil glycosylase is also separated upon phosphocelluose chromatography from a thymine glycol DNA glycosylase activity that is accompanied by an apyrimidinic endonuclease activity.