DNA repair activity of Fe(II)/2OG-dependent dioxygenases affected by low iron level in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Iron deprivation induces transcription of genes required for iron uptake, and transcription factor Aft1 and Aft2 mediate this by regulating transcriptional program in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Iron-dependent Fe(II) and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase family proteins are involved in various cellular pathways including DNA alkylation damage repair. Whether Aft1/Aft2 are required for DNA alkylation repair is currently unknown. In this report, we have analyzed DNA alkylation repair under iron-deprived condition. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Tpa1 is a member of Fe(II) and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase family, and we show that deletion of AFT1 and AFT2 genes affects Tpa1 function resulting in sensitivity to alkylating agent methyl methane sulfonate (MMS). Deletion of AFT1 and AFT2 along with base excision repair pathway DNA glycosylase MAG1 renders the aft1Δaft2Δmag1Δ mutant highly sensitive to MMS. We have further studied effect of iron depletion by replacing S. cerevisiae Tpa1 with Escherichia coli AlkB and human AlkBH3. We observed that the activity of AlkB and AlkBH3 is also diminished similarly when present in aft1Δaft2Δ background as evident by sensitivity to MMS.