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Inhibition of DNA Methylation by S-Adenosylethionine with the Production of Methyl-deficient DNA in Regenerating Rat Liver¹

Veterans Administration Hospital and Departments of Biochemistry [R. C.] and Urology [R. C., C. C. I.], University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences, Memphis, Tennessee 38104

Ethionine, a liver carcinogen, was administered p.o. (300 mg/kg) to rats 17 hr after partial hepatectomy. At 6 hr after administration of the ethionine, hepatic S-adenosylethionine levels were 30- to 40-fold greater than the hepatic level of S-adenosylethionine. A 10-fold ratio of S-adenosylethionine to S-adenosylmethionine still persisted at 24 hr after ethionine adminstration.

When given at 17 hr after partial hepatectomy, ethionine produced a 30% inhibition of DNA synthesis, measured by the incorporation of [methyl-³H]thymidine at 23 to 24 hr after partial hepatectomy (6 to 7 hr after ethionine administration). DNA synthesized during this interval was methyl deficient as judged by the reduced incorporation of radioactivity from L-[methyl-³H]methionine into 5-methylcytosine residues of DNA.

In an assay for DNA methylation in vitro using whole nuclei, the methyl-deficient DNA was methylated by S-adenosylmethionine 8 times more than was control DNA; the DNA methylation was competitively inhibited by S-adenosylethionine.

These data suggest that S-adenosylethionine, formed in vivo from ethionine, competitively inhibits the methylation of DNA in vivo by S-adenosylmethionine, resulting in the production of methyl-deficient DNA.

¹ This investigation was supported by the United States Veterans Administration (4323-01) and by USPHS Research Grant CA-15189 from the National Cancer Institute.

Received 6/16/76. Accepted 10/13/76.

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