Human topoisomerase I has been suggested to be implicated in the maintenance of genomic stability via its ability to regulate genome topology during transcription and replication. In the present study, we demonstrate by whole-genome array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) analysis that topoisomerase I deficiency results in chromosome 5p gain ...

Topoisomerase V is a type I topoisomerase without structural or sequence similarities to other topoisomerases. Although it belongs to the type I subfamily of topoisomerases, it is unrelated to either type IA or IB enzymes. We used real-time single-molecule micromechanical experiments to show that topoisomerase V relaxes DNA via events that release multiple DNA turns, employing a constrained swi...

Cultured human lymphocytes have been treated with a number of topoisomerase inhibitors, to see whether topoisomerase II is involved in the process of chromosome segregation at anaphase. Results were assessed by examination of cytogenetical preparations of spread chromosomes. Four effects were observed, although no inhibitor produced all four effects. These effects were: inhibition of entry into...

Saccharomyces cerevisiae top2 mutants deficient in topoisomerase II activity are defective in chromosome segregation during both mitotic and meiotic cell divisions. To identify proteins that act in concert with topoisomerase II during chromosome segregation in S.cerevisiae, we have used a two-hybrid cloning approach. We report the isolation of the PAT1 gene (for protein associated with topoisom...

Amsacrine and demethylepipodophyllotoxins (etoposide and teniposide) are potent topoisomerase II inhibitors which have optimum activity in different cancers. To investigate whether these differences are due to different activity on cellular oncogenes, drug-induced topoisomerase II cleavage sites were mapped and sequenced in the human c-myc protooncogene. In the presence of purified murine L1210...

CFS-1686 (chemical name (E)-N-(2-(diethylamino)ethyl)-4-(2-(2-(5-nitrofuran-2-yl)vinyl)quinolin-4-ylamino)benzamide) inhibits cell proliferation and triggers late apoptosis in prostate cancer cell lines. Comparing the effect of CFS-1686 on cell cycle progression with the topoisomerase 1 inhibitor camptothecin revealed that CFS-1686 and camptothecin reduced DNA synthesis in S-phase, resulting in...

Psorospermin is a plant natural product that shows significant in vivo activity against P388 mouse leukemia. The molecular basis for this selectivity is unknown, although psorospermin has been demonstrated to intercalate into DNA and alkylate N7 of guanine. Significantly, the alkylation reactivity of psorospermin at specific sites on DNA increased 25-fold in the presence of topoisomerase II. In...

Chromosome segregation requires sister chromatid resolution. Condensins are essential for this process since they organize an axial structure where topoisomerase II can work. How sister chromatid separation is coordinated with chromosome condensation and decatenation activity remains unknown. We combined four-dimensional (4D) microscopy, RNA interference (RNAi), and biochemical analyses to show...

Topoisomerase V (Topo-V) is the only topoisomerase with both topoisomerase and DNA repair activities. The topoisomerase activity is conferred by a small alpha-helical domain, whereas the AP lyase activity is found in a region formed by 12 tandem helix-hairpin-helix ((HhH)2) domains. Although it was known that Topo-V has multiple repair sites, only one had been mapped. Here, we show that Topo-V ...

Based on the use of equilibrium centrifugation in CsCl to separate covalent complexes between topoisomerase I and DNA from protein-free DNA, it was concluded previously that the topoisomerase is preferentially associated with replicating SV40 DNA (Champoux, J. J. 1988. J. Virol. 62:3675-3683). One explanation for the failure to find the enzyme associated with nonreplicating viral DNA is that mo...