DNA double strand break damage by radiation and behavioral imaging of DNA repair enzymes

The theme in the title is described mainly on authors' studies. Finding of a jellyfish GFP (green fluorescent protein) and its genomic recombination technique with a target protein have made it possible to investigate the behavior of the protein (the repair enzymes in this review) within a cell by fluorescent microscopy. Double strand breaks (DSBs), the most severe damage of DNA leading to cell death and carcinogenesis, are induced by irradiation of ionizing radiation and/or ultraviolet light, and repair mechanisms of non homologous end-joining and homologous recombinant repair are known major in mammalian cells and in lower eukaryotes, respectively. Authors used UVA for inducing DSBs under the presence of benzo[a]pyrene in mammalian cells like Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 and xrs-5, the behaviors of Ku70/80 repair molecules tagged by GFP were imaged by confocal laser microscopy, and one of findings was that Ku80 moved to the level most intensely irradiated. Fluorescent molecular imaging technique will be employed widely in clinical diagnosis and new drug development as well as in basic bioscience. (S.I.)