Proximity Ligand Assay to Localize Proteins in DNA Damage Sites

Summary

Here, we present a simple and rapid protocol for the detection of protein interaction at DNA damage sites.

Abstract

The DNA damage response is a genetic information safeguard that protects cells from perpetuating damaged DNA. The characterization of the proteins that cooperate in this process allows the identification of alternative targets for therapeutic intervention in several diseases, such as cancer, aging-related diseases, and chronic inflammation. The Proximity Ligand Assay (PLA) emerged as a tool for estimating interaction between proteins as well as spatial proximity among organelles or cellular structures and allows the temporal localization and co-localization analysis under stress conditions, for instance. The method is simple because it is similar to conventional immunofluorescence and allows the staining of an organelle, cellular structure, or a specific marker such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, PML bodies, or DNA double-strand marker, yH2AX simultaneously. The phosphorylation of the S139 at Histone 2A variant, H2AX, then referred to as yH2AX, is widely used as a very sensitive and specific marker of DNA double-strand breaks. Each focus of yH2AX staining corresponds to one break in DNA that occurs a few minutes after the damage. The analysis of changes in yH2AX foci is the most common assay for studying if the protein of interest is implicated in DNA damage response (DDR). Whether a direct role in the DNA damage site is expected, fluorescence microscopy is used to verify the colocalization of the protein of interest with yH2AX foci. However, except for the new super-resolution fluorescence methods, to conclude, the local interaction with DNA damage sites can be a little subjective. Here, we show an assay to evaluate the localization of proteins in the DDR pathway using yH2AX as a marker of the damage site. This assay can be used to characterize the temporal localization under different insults that cause DNA damage.

Introduction

Cellular DNA damage occurs daily because of the spontaneous chemical reactions and is also increased by exogenous factors such as genotoxic agents (radiation and chemicals such as etoposide) and oxidative stress^1,2,3. The cells have a complex machinery that corrects a myriad of different types of DNA damage, from removal of bases to replicative fork torsion or interruption to the most deleterious lesion: the DNA double-strand break^4,5.

Several proteins that participate in the DDR have alrea....

Protocol

1. Cell plating

NOTE: Cells can be seeded in microscopic fluorescence slides, chambers, or plates. The use of small coverslips or 96/ 384 well plates is recommended for testing multiple conditions and spare reagents. The use of coverslips is advisable for cell lines that detach easily, like HEK293 cells. The coverslips can be previously coated with a poly-L-lysine solution to improve the attachment.

1. Plate cells considering a vehicle, technical controls, and biologi.......

Discussion

The data show that the use of PLA concomitantly to a DNA-damaged marker can provide the most information in a DNA damage response profiling, showing the spatial and temporal behavior of the interaction after the insult. PLA is a versatile method that has been used for dimerization identification, organelles contact determination, protein-nucleic acid interaction, and mainly protein-protein interaction^10,11,19,

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Black 384-well plates	Perkin Elmer Cell carrier plates
Donkey  anti- Rabbit Alexa Fluor 488	Invitrogen	A21206	1:300
Duo link Donkey anti Mouse Minus	Sigma	DUO92004
Duolink antibody diluent	Sigma	DUO82008
Duolink blocking solution 1X	Sigma	DUO82007
Duolink Detection reagent Far red	Sigma	DUO92013
Duolink Donkey anti goat plus	Sigma	DUO92003
Duolink Donkey anti rabbit plus	Sigma	DUO92002
Etoposide	Sigma	E1383
Goat anti Nek4	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC-5517	goat anti Nek4 was used at 1:50 dilution
Hoechst 33342	Thermo	H1399	0.6 µg/mL
Leica DMI microscope	Leica
Mouse anti Ku70	Thermo	MA5-13110	mouse anti Ku70 was used at 1:100 dilution
Mouse anti TOPIIβ	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC-365071	1:25
Rabbit anti Nek5	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC-84527	1:25
Rabbit anti Y H2AX	Cell Signalling	9718S	1:100 dilution
U2OS cell line	ATCC	HTB-96