Molecular Mechanisms Associated with Clustered Lesion-Induced Impairment of 8-oxoG Recognition by the Human Glycosylase OGG1

The 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine, referred to as 8-oxoG, is a highly mutagenic DNA lesion that can provoke the appearance of mismatches if it escapes the DNA Damage Response. The specific recognition of its structural signature by the hOGG1 glycosylase is the first step along the Base Excision Repair pathway, which ensures the integrity of the genome by preventing the emergence of mutations. 8-oxoG formation, structural features, and repair have been matters of extensive research; more recently, this active field of research expended to the more complicated case of 8-oxoG within clustered lesions. Indeed, the presence of a second lesion within 1 or 2 helix turns can dramatically impact the repair yields of 8-oxoG by glycosylases. In this work, we use μs-range molecular dynamics simulations and machine-learning-based postanalysis to explore the molecular mechanisms associated with the recognition of 8-oxoG by hOGG1 when embedded in a multiple-lesion site with a mismatch in 5′ or 3′. We delineate the stiffening of the DNA–protein interactions upon the presence of the mismatches, and rationalize the much lower repair yields reported with a 5′ mismatch by describing the perturbation of 8-oxoG structural features upon addition of an adjacent lesion