Our genome, which may be considered as the program of each cell and organism, is constantly threatened by multiple endogenous and exogenous agents that damage the DNA biomolecule. These lesions, that show a wide array of structures, are particularly involved in cell aging, carcinogenesis and cell death. To thwart these negative effects, organisms have developed various DNA repair pathways that take in charge the alterations in a specific manner. Among them, the base excision repair (BER) removes every day dozens of thousands of damages, including alkylated, oxidized or deaminated bases, abasic sites or single strand breaks. In this study, we present the development of a new biosensor for the detection of BER enzymatic activities. The tool is characterized by a set of (pro)fluorescent hairpin-shaped DNA probes, immobilized on paramagnetic beads. Each probe is modified by the selective insertion of a lesion, substrate for the targeted repair enzyme (DNA glycosylase, AP-endonuclease). The excision/incision activity of the lesion leads to the cleavage of the probe together with the dehybridization of the structure. The analysis and quantification of the repair process is carried out by direct fluorescence measurements from the supernatant, or by analysis of the functionalized beads by flow cytometry. This device allows the multiplexed enzymatic activities detection of purified proteins or within nuclear extracts. Applications to the screening of DNA repair inhibitors have been successfully initiated. Finally, the adaptation of these in vitro tests to in cellulo detection of DNA repair activities was investigated in preliminary studies.
