E4 ligase–specific ubiquitination hubs coordinate DNA double-strand-break repair and apoptosis

Multiple protein ubiquitination events at DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) regulate damage recognition, signaling and repair. It has remained poorly understood how the repair process of DSBs is coordinated with the apoptotic response. Here, we identified the E4 ubiquitin ligase UFD-2 as a mediator of DNA-damage-induced apoptosis in a genetic screen in Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that, after initiation of homologous recombination by RAD-51, UFD-2 forms foci that contain substrate-processivity factors including the ubiquitin-selective segregase CDC-48 (p97), the deubiquitination enzyme ATX-3 (Ataxin-3) and the proteasome. In the absence of UFD-2, RAD-51 foci persist, and DNA damage-induced apoptosis is prevented. In contrast, UFD-2 foci are retained until recombination intermediates are removed by the Holliday-junction-processing enzymes GEN-1, MUS-81 or XPF-1. Formation of UFD-2 foci also requires proapoptotic CEP-1 (p53) signaling. Our findings establish a central role of UFD-2 in the coordination between the DNA-repair process and the apoptotic response

Notch is a direct negative regulator of the DNA-damage response

The DNA-damage response (DDR) ensures genome stability and proper inheritance of genetic information, both of which are essential to survival. It is presently unclear to what extent other signaling pathways modulate DDR function. Here we show that Notch receptor binds and inactivates ATM kinase and that this mechanism is evolutionarily conserved in Caenorhabditis elegans, Xenopus laevis and humans. In C. elegans, the Notch pathway impairs DDR signaling in gonad germ cells. In mammalian cells, activation of human Notch1 1 leads to reduced ATM signaling in a manner independent of Notch1 1 transcriptional activity. Notch1 binds directly to the regulatory FATC domain of ATM and inhibits ATM kinase activity. Notch1 1 and ATM activation are inversely correlated in human breast cancers, and inactivation of ATM by Notch1 1 contributes to the survival of Notch1-driven leukemia cells upon DNA damage

Differential regulation of DNA damage response activation between somatic and germline cells in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The germline of Caenorhabditis elegans is a well-established model for DNA damage response (DDR) studies. However, the molecular basis of the observed cell death resistance in the soma of these animals remains unknown. We established a set of techniques to study ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage generation and DDR activation in a whole intact worm. Our single-cell analyses reveal that, although germline and somatic cells show similar levels of inflicted DNA damage, somatic cells, differently from germline cells, do not activate the crucial apical DDR kinase ataxia-telengiectasia mutated (ATM). We also show that DDR signaling proteins are undetectable in all somatic cells and this is due to transcriptional repression. However, DNA repair genes are expressed and somatic cells retain the ability to efficiently repair DNA damage. Finally, we demonstrate that germline cells, when induced to transdifferentiate into somatic cells within the gonad, lose the ability to activate ATM. Overall, these observations provide a molecular mechanism for the known, but hitherto unexplained, resistance to DNA damage-induced cell death in C. elegans somatic cells. We propose that the observed lack of signaling and cell death but retention of DNA repair functions in the soma is a Caenorhabditis-specific evolutionary-selected strategy to cope with its lack of adult somatic stem cell pools and regenerative capacity.Cell Death and Differentiation advance online publication, 15 June 2012; doi:10.1038/cdd.2012.69

Histone H3K9 methylation is dispensable for Caenorhabditis elegans development but suppresses RNA:DNA hybrid-associated repeat instability

Genome Instability and Cance

DNA damage leads to progressive replicative decline but extends the life span of long-lived mutant animals

Human-nucleotide-excision repair (NER) deficiency leads to different developmental and segmental progeroid symptoms of which the pathogenesis is only partially understood. To understand the biological impact of accumulating spontaneous DNA damage, we studied the phenotypic consequences of DNA-repair deficiency in Caenorhabditis elegans. We find that DNA damage accumulation does not decrease the adult life span of post-mitotic tissue. Surprisingly, loss of functional ERCC-1/XPF even further extends the life span of long-lived daf-2 mutants, likely through an adaptive activation of stress signaling. Contrariwise, NER deficiency leads to a striking transgenerational decline in replicative capacity and viability of proliferating cells. DNA damage accumulation induces severe, stochastic impairment of development and growth, which is most pronounced in NER mutants that are also impaired in their response to ionizing radiation and inter-strand crosslinks. These results suggest that multiple DNA-repair pathways can protect against replicative decline and indicate that there might be a direct link between the severity of symptoms and the level of DNA-repair deficiency in patients.Cell Death and Differentiation advance online publication, 6 September 2013; doi:10.1038/cdd.2013.126