Higher inductions of twin and single sister chromatid exchanges by cross-linking agents in Fanconi's anemia cells

Abstract

Twin and single sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) induced by short treatments with mitomycin C (MC) and 4,5′,8-trimethylpsoralen (TMP)-plus-near ultraviolet light (NUV) were analyzed in colcemid-induced endoreduplicated normal human and typical Fanconi's anemia (FA) fibroblasts with diplochromosomes. The induction rate of twin SCEs that had occurred in the first cycle (S1) after the treatment was 1.7–2.4 times higher in FA cells than in normal cells. The induction rate of single SCEs that had arisen during the second cycle (S2) long after the treatment was also much higher, though less than the twin SCE rate, in FA cells than the almost neglible rate after repair of cross-links and monoadducts in normal cells. These results in FA cells, which specifically lack the first half-excision step of the two-step cross-link repair but retain the normal monoadduct repair, indicate that MC or TMP cross-links remaining unrepaired are indeed responsible for higher inductions of twin (S1 exchange) and single SCEs (S2 exchange). Thus, these findings indicate that Shafer's model of replication bypass for cross-link-induced SCE, which predicts greatly reduced twin SCE formation in FA cells due to half cancellation, is apparently inadequate as such. We present three plausible models, incorporating the ordinary replication model, random unilateral cross-link transfer, and chromatid breakage/reunion, that can account for the probabilistic inductions of single and twin SCEs and even for no SCE formation.