Hot spots of DNA double-strand breaks in human rDNA units are produced in vivo.
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ABSTRACT: Endogenous hot spots of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are tightly linked with transcription patterns and cancer genomics(1,2). There are nine hot spots of DSBs located in human rDNA units(3-6). Here we describe that the profiles of these hot spots coincide with the profiles of γ-H2AX or H2AX, strongly suggesting a high level of in vivo breakage inside rDNA genes. The data were confirmed by microscopic observation of the largest γ-H2AX foci inside nucleoli in interphase chromosomes. In metaphase chromosomes, we observed that only some portion of rDNA clusters possess γ-H2AX foci and that all γ-H2AX foci co-localize with UBF-1 binding sites, which strongly suggests that only active rDNA units possess the hot spots of DSBs. Both γ-H2AX and UBF-1 are epigenetically inherited and thus indicate the rDNA units that were active in the previous cell cycle. These results have implications for diverse fields, including epigenetics and cancer genomics.
SUBMITTER: Tchurikov NA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4861929 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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