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Telomeric DNA damage is irreparable and causes persistent DNA-damage-response activation.

ABSTRACT: The DNA-damage response (DDR) arrests cell-cycle progression until damage is removed. DNA-damage-induced cellular senescence is associated with persistent DDR. The molecular bases that distinguish transient from persistent DDR are unknown. Here we show that a large fraction of exogenously induced persistent DDR markers is associated with telomeric DNA in cultured cells and mammalian tissues. In yeast, a chromosomal DNA double-strand break next to a telomeric sequence resists repair and impairs DNA ligase 4 recruitment. In mammalian cells, ectopic localization of telomeric factor TRF2 next to a double-strand break induces persistent DNA damage and DDR. Linear, but not circular, telomeric DNA or scrambled DNA induces a prolonged checkpoint in normal cells. In terminally differentiated tissues of old primates, DDR markers accumulate at telomeres that are not critically short. We propose that linear genomes are not uniformly reparable and that telomeric DNA tracts, if damaged, are irreparable and trigger persistent DDR and cellular senescence.

SUBMITTER: Fumagalli M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3717580 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Telomeric DNA damage is irreparable and causes persistent DNA-damage-response activation.

Fumagalli Marzia M Rossiello Francesca F Clerici Michela M Barozzi Sara S Cittaro Davide D Kaplunov Jessica M JM Bucci Gabriele G Dobreva Miryana M Matti Valentina V Beausejour Christian M CM Herbig Utz U Longhese Maria Pia MP d'Adda di Fagagna Fabrizio F d'Adda di Fagagna Fabrizio F

Nature cell biology 20120318 4

The DNA-damage response (DDR) arrests cell-cycle progression until damage is removed. DNA-damage-induced cellular senescence is associated with persistent DDR. The molecular bases that distinguish transient from persistent DDR are unknown. Here we show that a large fraction of exogenously induced persistent DDR markers is associated with telomeric DNA in cultured cells and mammalian tissues. In yeast, a chromosomal DNA double-strand break next to a telomeric sequence resists repair and impairs D ...[more]

PMID: 22426077

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Cellular senescence is a state reached by normal mammalian cells after a finite number of cell divisions and is characterized by morphological and physiological changes including terminal cell-cycle arrest. The limits on cell division imposed by senescence may play an important role in both organismal aging and in preventing tumorigenesis. Cellular senescence and organismal aging are both accompanied by increased DNA damage, seen as the formation of gamma-H2AX foci (gamma-foci), which may be found on uncapped telomeres or at non-telomeric sites of DNA damage. However, the relative importance of telomere- and non-telomere-associated DNA damage to inducing senescence has never been demonstrated. Here we present a new approach to determine accurately the chromosomal location of gamma-foci and quantify the number of telomeric versus non-telomeric gamma-foci associated with senescence in both human and mouse cells. This approach enables researchers to obtain accurate values and to avoid various possible misestimates inherent in earlier methods. RESULTS: Using combined immunofluorescence and telomere fluorescence in situ hybridization on metaphase chromosomes, we show that human cellular senescence is not solely determined by telomeric DNA damage. In addition, mouse cellular senescence is not solely determined by non-telomeric DNA damage. By comparing cells from different generations of telomerase-null mice with human cells, we show that cells from late generation telomerase-null mice, which have substantially short telomeres, contain mostly telomeric gamma-foci. Most notably, we report that, as human and mouse cells approach senescence, all cells exhibit similar numbers of total gamma-foci per cell, irrespective of chromosomal locations. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the chromosome location of senescence-related gamma-foci is determined by the telomere length rather than species differences per se. In addition, our data indicate that both telomeric and non-telomeric DNA damage responses play equivalent roles in signaling the initiation of cellular senescence and organismal aging. These data have important implications in the study of mechanisms to induce or delay cellular senescence in different species.

Dataset Information

Telomeric DNA damage is irreparable and causes persistent DNA-damage-response activation.

Publications

Telomeric DNA damage is irreparable and causes persistent DNA-damage-response activation.

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