Small Rad51 and Dmc1 Complexes Often Co-occupy Both Ends of a Meiotic DNA Double Strand Break.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Brown MS
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4697796 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Homologous recombination (HR) is critical for DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair and genome stabilization. In yeast, HR is catalyzed by the Rad51 strand transferase and its "mediators," including the Rad52 single-strand DNA-annealing protein, two Rad51 paralogs (Rad55 and Rad57), and Rad54. A Rad51 homolog, Dmc1, is important for meiotic HR. In wild-type cells, most DSB repair results in gene conversion, a conservative HR outcome. Because Rad51 plays a central role in the homology search and strand invasion steps, DSBs either are not repaired or are repaired by nonconservative single-strand annealing or break-induced replication mechanisms in rad51Delta mutants. Although DSB repair by gene conversion in the absence of Rad51 has been reported for ectopic HR events (e.g., inverted repeats or between plasmids), Rad51 has been thought to be essential for DSB repair by conservative interchromosomal (allelic) gene conversion. Here, we demonstrate that DSBs stimulate gene conversion between homologous chromosomes (allelic conversion) by >30-fold in a rad51Delta mutant. We show that Rad51-independent allelic conversion and break-induced replication occur independently of Rad55, Rad57, and Dmc1 but require Rad52. Unlike DSB-induced events, spontaneous allelic conversion was detected in both rad51Delta and rad52Delta mutants, but not in a rad51Delta rad52Delta double mutant. The frequencies of crossovers associated with DSB-induced gene conversion were similar in the wild type and the rad51Delta mutant, but discontinuous conversion tracts were fivefold more frequent and tract lengths were more widely distributed in the rad51Delta mutant, indicating that heteroduplex DNA has an altered structure, or is processed differently, in the absence of Rad51.
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Project description:Mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) 2-9 proteins are related helicases. The first six, MCM2-7, are essential for DNA replication in all eukaryotes. In contrast, MCM8 is not always conserved in eukaryotes but is present in Arabidopsis thaliana. MCM8 is required for 95% of meiotic crossovers (COs) in Drosophila and is essential for meiosis completion in mouse, prompting us to study this gene in Arabidopsis meiosis. Three allelic Atmcm8 mutants showed a limited level of chromosome fragmentation at meiosis. This defect was dependent on programmed meiotic double-strand break (DSB) formation, revealing a role for AtMCM8 in meiotic DSB repair. In contrast, CO formation was not affected, as shown both genetically and cytologically. The Atmcm8 DSB repair defect was greatly amplified in the absence of the DMC1 recombinase or in mutants affected in DMC1 dynamics (sds, asy1). The Atmcm8 fragmentation defect was also amplified in plants heterozygous for a mutation in either recombinase, DMC1 or RAD51. Finally, in the context of absence of homologous chromosomes (i.e. haploid), mutation of AtMCM8 also provoked a low level of chromosome fragmentation. This fragmentation was amplified by the absence of DMC1 showing that both MCM8 and DMC1 can promote repair on the sister chromatid in Arabidopsis haploids. Altogether, this establishes a role for AtMCM8 in meiotic DSB repair, in parallel to DMC1. We propose that MCM8 is involved with RAD51 in a backup pathway that repairs meiotic DSB without giving CO when the major pathway, which relies on DMC1, fails.
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Project description:In many organisms, developmentally programmed double-strand breaks (DSBs) formed by the SPO11 transesterase initiate meiotic recombination, which promotes pairing and segregation of homologous chromosomes. Because every chromosome must receive a minimum number of DSBs, attention has focused on factors that support DSB formation. However, improperly repaired DSBs can cause meiotic arrest or mutation; thus, having too many DSBs is probably as deleterious as having too few. Only a small fraction of SPO11 protein ever makes a DSB in yeast or mouse and SPO11 and its accessory factors remain abundant long after most DSB formation ceases, implying the existence of mechanisms that restrain SPO11 activity to limit DSB numbers. Here we report that the number of meiotic DSBs in mouse is controlled by ATM, a kinase activated by DNA damage to trigger checkpoint signalling and promote DSB repair. Levels of SPO11-oligonucleotide complexes, by-products of meiotic DSB formation, are elevated at least tenfold in spermatocytes lacking ATM. Moreover, Atm mutation renders SPO11-oligonucleotide levels sensitive to genetic manipulations that modulate SPO11 protein levels. We propose that ATM restrains SPO11 via a negative feedback loop in which kinase activation by DSBs suppresses further DSB formation. Our findings explain previously puzzling phenotypes of Atm-null mice and provide a molecular basis for the gonadal dysgenesis observed in ataxia telangiectasia, the human syndrome caused by ATM deficiency.
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Project description:Assembly and disassembly of Rad51 and Rad52 complexes were monitored by immunofluorescence during homologous recombination initiated by an HO endonuclease-induced double-strand break (DSB) at the MAT locus. DSB-induced Rad51 and Rad52 foci colocalize with a TetR-GFP focus at tetO sequences adjacent to MAT. In strains in which HO cleaves three sites on chromosome III, we observe three distinct foci that colocalize with adjacent GFP chromosome marks. We compared the kinetics of focus formation with recombination intermediates and products when HO-cleaved MATalpha recombines with the donor, MATa. Rad51 assembly occurs 1 h after HO cleavage. Rad51 disassembly occurs at the same time that new DNA synthesis is initiated after single-stranded (ss) MAT DNA invades MATa. We present evidence for three distinct roles for Rad52 in recombination: a presynaptic role necessary for Rad51 assembly, a synaptic role with Rad51 filaments, and a postsynaptic role after Rad51 dissociates. Additional biochemical studies suggest the presence of an ssDNA complex containing both Rad51 and Rad52.
| S-EPMC380999 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Double-strand breaks (DSBs) are among the most deleterious lesions DNA can endure. Yet, DSBs are programmed at the onset of meiosis, and are required to facilitate appropriate reduction of ploidy in daughter cells. Repair of these breaks is tightly controlled to favor homologous recombination (HR)-the only repair pathway that can form crossovers. However, little is known about how the activities of alternative repair pathways are regulated at these stages. We discovered an unexpected synthetic interaction between the DSB machinery and strand-exchange proteins. Depleting the Caenorhabditis elegans DSB-promoting factors HIM-5 and DSB-2 suppresses the formation of chromosome fusions that arise in the absence of RAD-51 or other strand-exchange mediators. Our investigations reveal that nonhomologous and theta-mediated end joining (c-NHEJ and TMEJ, respectively) and single strand annealing (SSA) function redundantly to repair DSBs when HR is compromised, and that HIM-5 influences the utilization of TMEJ and SSA.
| S-EPMC6218235 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Rad52 is a key factor for homologous recombination (HR) in yeast. Rad52 helps assemble Rad51-ssDNA nucleoprotein filaments that catalyze DNA strand exchange, and it mediates single-strand DNA annealing. We find that Rad52 has an even earlier function in HR in restricting DNA double-stranded break ends resection that generates 3' single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) tails. In fission yeast, Exo1 is the primary resection nuclease, with the helicase Rqh1 playing a minor role. We demonstrate that the choice of two extensive resection pathways is regulated by Rad52. In rad52 cells, the resection rate increases from ∼3-5 kb/h up to ∼10-20 kb/h in an Rqh1-dependent manner, while Exo1 becomes dispensable. Budding yeast Rad52 similarly inhibits Sgs1-dependent resection. Single-molecule analysis with purified budding yeast proteins shows that Rad52 competes with Sgs1 for DNA end binding and inhibits Sgs1 translocation along DNA. These results identify a role for Rad52 in limiting ssDNA generated by end resection.
| S-EPMC6898758 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Microcephalin (MCPH1) is a BRCA1 COOH terminal (BRCT) domain containing protein involved in the cellular response to DNA damage that has been implicated in autosomal recessive primary microcephaly. MCPH1 is recruited to sites of DNA double-strand breaks by phosphorylated histone H2AX (gammaH2AX), but the mechanism by which MCPH1 contributes to the repair process remains to be determined. Here, we show that MCPH1 binds to BRCA2 and regulates the localization of BRCA2 and Rad51 at sites of DNA damage. The interaction occurs through the NH(2) terminus of BRCA2 and the COOH terminal BRCT domains of MCPH1. Disruption of the interaction between MCPH1 and BRCA2 has no effect on the ability of BRCA2 to form a complex with Rad51 but is associated with substantially reduced levels of both BRCA2 and Rad51 at sites of DNA double-strand breaks. Uncoupling of MCPH1 from BRCA2 also interferes with Rad51-dependent and BRCA2-dependent homologous recombination repair activity. These results suggest that the role of MCPH1 in the DNA damage response is in part associated with the ability to localize BRCA2 to sites of DNA double-stand breaks.
| S-EPMC2706938 | biostudies-literature
Project description:During meiosis, self-inflicted DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are created by the protein Spo11 and repaired by homologous recombination leading to gene conversions and crossovers. Crossover formation is vital for the segregation of homologous chromosomes during the first meiotic division and requires the RecA orthologue, Dmc1. We analyzed repair during meiosis of site-specific DSBs created by another nuclease, VMA1-derived endonuclease (VDE), in cells lacking Dmc1 strand-exchange protein. Turnover and resection of the VDE-DSBs was assessed in two different reporter cassettes that can repair using flanking direct repeat sequences, thereby obviating the need for a Dmc1-dependent DNA strand invasion step. Access of the single-strand binding complex replication protein A, which is normally used in all modes of DSB repair, was checked in chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments, using antibody against Rfa1. Repair of the VDE-DSBs was severely inhibited in dmc1Delta cells, a defect that was associated with a reduction in the long tract resection required to initiate single-strand annealing between the flanking repeat sequences. Mutants that either reduce Spo11-DSB formation or abolish resection at Spo11-DSBs rescued the repair block. We also found that a replication protein A component, Rfa1, does not accumulate to expected levels at unrepaired single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in dmc1Delta cells. The requirement of Dmc1 for VDE-DSB repair using flanking repeats appears to be caused by the accumulation of large quantities of ssDNA that accumulate at Spo11-DSBs when Dmc1 is absent. We propose that these resected DSBs sequester both resection machinery and ssDNA binding proteins, which in wild-type cells would normally be recycled as Spo11-DSBs repair. The implication is that repair proteins are in limited supply, and this could reflect an underlying mechanism for regulating DSB repair in wild-type cells, providing protection from potentially harmful effects of overabundant repair proteins.
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Project description:DNA double-strand breaks that initiate meiotic recombination are exonucleolytically processed. This 5'?3' resection is a central, conserved feature of recombination but remains poorly understood. To address this lack, we mapped resection endpoints genome-wide at high resolution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Full-length resection requires Exo1 exonuclease and the DSB-responsive kinase Tel1, but not Sgs1 helicase. Tel1 also promotes efficient and timely resection initiation. Resection endpoints display pronounced heterogeneity between genomic loci that reflects a tendency for nucleosomes to block Exo1, yet Exo1 also appears to digest chromatin with high processivity and at rates similar to naked DNA in vitro. This paradox points to nucleosome destabilization or eviction as a defining feature of the meiotic resection landscape.
| S-EPMC5234563 | biostudies-literature
Project description:During DNA double-strand-break (DSB) repair by recombination, the broken chromosome uses a homologous chromosome as a repair template. Early steps of recombination are well characterized: DSB ends assemble filaments of RecA-family proteins that catalyze homologous pairing and strand-invasion reactions. By contrast, the postinvasion steps of recombination are poorly characterized. Rad52 plays an essential role during early steps of recombination by mediating assembly of a RecA homolog, Rad51, into nucleoprotein filaments. The meiosis-specific RecA-homolog Dmc1 does not show this dependence, however. By exploiting the Rad52 independence of Dmc1, we reveal that Rad52 promotes postinvasion steps of both crossover and noncrossover pathways of meiotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This activity resides in the N-terminal region of Rad52, which can anneal complementary DNA strands, and is independent of its Rad51-assembly function. Our findings show that Rad52 functions in temporally and biochemically distinct reactions and suggest a general annealing mechanism for reuniting DSB ends during recombination.
| S-EPMC2351957 | biostudies-literature