80 research outputs found

    DNA Resection at Chromosome Breaks Promotes Genome Stability by Constraining Non-Allelic Homologous Recombination

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    DNA double-strand breaks impact genome stability by triggering many of the large-scale genome rearrangements associated with evolution and cancer. One of the first steps in repairing this damage is 5′→3′ resection beginning at the break site. Recently, tools have become available to study the consequences of not extensively resecting double-strand breaks. Here we examine the role of Sgs1- and Exo1-dependent resection on genome stability using a non-selective assay that we previously developed using diploid yeast. We find that Saccharomyces cerevisiae lacking Sgs1 and Exo1 retains a very efficient repair process that is highly mutagenic to genome structure. Specifically, 51% of cells lacking Sgs1 and Exo1 repair a double-strand break using repetitive sequences 12–48 kb distal from the initial break site, thereby generating a genome rearrangement. These Sgs1- and Exo1-independent rearrangements depend partially upon a Rad51-mediated homologous recombination pathway. Furthermore, without resection a robust cell cycle arrest is not activated, allowing a cell with a single double-strand break to divide before repair, potentially yielding multiple progeny each with a different rearrangement. This profusion of rearranged genomes suggests that cells tolerate any dangers associated with extensive resection to inhibit mutagenic pathways such as break-distal recombination. The activation of break-distal recipient repeats and amplification of broken chromosomes when resection is limited raise the possibility that genome regions that are difficult to resect may be hotspots for rearrangements. These results may also explain why mutations in resection machinery are associated with cancer

    Disentangling molecular and clinical stratification patterns in beta-galactosidase deficiency

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    INTRODUCTION: This study aims to define the phenotypic and molecular spectrum of the two clinical forms of β-galactosidase (β-GAL) deficiency, GM1-gangliosidosis and mucopolysaccharidosis IVB (Morquio disease type B, MPSIVB). METHODS: Clinical and genetic data of 52 probands, 47 patients with GM1-gangliosidosis and 5 patients with MPSIVB were analysed. RESULTS: The clinical presentations in patients with GM1-gangliosidosis are consistent with a phenotypic continuum ranging from a severe antenatal form with hydrops fetalis to an adult form with an extrapyramidal syndrome. Molecular studies evidenced 47 variants located throughout the sequence of the GLB1 gene, in all exons except 7, 11 and 12. Eighteen novel variants (15 substitutions and 3 deletions) were identified. Several variants were linked specifically to early-onset GM1-gangliosidosis, late-onset GM1-gangliosidosis or MPSIVB phenotypes. This integrative molecular and clinical stratification suggests a variant-driven patient assignment to a given clinical and severity group. CONCLUSION: This study reports one of the largest series of b-GAL deficiency with an integrative patient stratification combining molecular and clinical features. This work contributes to expand the community knowledge regarding the molecular and clinical landscapes of b-GAL deficiency for a better patient management

    Repression of Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 Long Terminal Repeat sense transcription by Sp1 recruitment to novel Sp1 binding sites

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    Human T-lymphotropic Virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection is characterized by viral latency in the majority of infected cells and by the absence of viremia. These features are thought to be due to the repression of viral sense transcription in vivo. Here, our in silico analysis of the HTLV-1 Long Terminal Repeat (LTR) promoter nucleotide sequence revealed, in addition to the four Sp1 binding sites previously identified, the presence of two additional potential Sp1 sites within the R region. We demonstrated that the Sp1 and Sp3 transcription factors bound in vitro to these two sites and compared the binding affinity for Sp1 of all six different HTLV-1 Sp1 sites. By chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments, we showed Sp1 recruitment in vivo to the newly identified Sp1 sites. We demonstrated in the nucleosomal context of an episomal reporter vector that the Sp1 sites interfered with both the sense and antisense LTR promoter activities. Interestingly, the Sp1 sites exhibited together a repressor effect on the LTR sense transcriptional activity but had no effect on the LTR antisense activity. Thus, our results demonstrate the presence of two new functional Sp1 binding sites in the HTLV-1 LTR, which act as negative cis-regulatory elements of sense viral transcription.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

    Extensive DNA End Processing by Exo1 and Sgs1 Inhibits Break-Induced Replication

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    Homology-dependent repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by gene conversion involves short tracts of DNA synthesis and limited loss of heterozygosity (LOH). For DSBs that present only one end, repair occurs by invasion into a homologous sequence followed by replication to the end of the chromosome resulting in extensive LOH, a process called break-induced replication (BIR). We developed a BIR assay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae consisting of a plasmid with a telomere seeding sequence separated from sequence homologous to chromosome III by an I-SceI endonuclease recognition site. Following cleavage of the plasmid by I-SceI in vivo, de novo telomere synthesis occurs at one end of the vector, and the other end invades at the homologous sequence on chromosome III and initiates replication to the end of the chromosome to generate a stable chromosome fragment (CF). BIR was infrequent in wild-type cells due to degradation of the linearized vector. However, in the exo1Δ sgs1Δ mutant, which is defective in the 5′-3′ resection of DSBs, the frequency of BIR was increased by 39-fold. Extension of the invading end of the plasmid was detected by physical analysis two hours after induction of the I-SceI endonuclease in the wild-type exo1Δ, sgs1Δ, and exo1Δ sgs1Δ mutants, but fully repaired products were only visible in the exo1Δ sgs1Δ mutant. The inhibitory effect of resection was less in a plasmid-chromosome gene conversion assay, compared to BIR, and products were detected by physical assay in the wild-type strain. The rare chromosome rearrangements due to BIR template switching at repeated sequences were increased in the exo1Δ sgs1Δ mutant, suggesting that reduced resection can decrease the fidelity of homologous recombination

    Stabilization of Dicentric Translocations through Secondary Rearrangements Mediated by Multiple Mechanisms in S. cerevisiae

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    The gross chromosomal rearrangements (GCRs) observed in S. cerevisiae mutants with increased rates of accumulating GCRs include predicted dicentric GCRs such as translocations, chromosome fusions and isoduplications. These GCRs resemble the genome rearrangements found as mutations underlying inherited diseases as well as in the karyotypes of many cancers exhibiting ongoing genome instabilityThe structures of predicted dicentric GCRs were analyzed using multiple strategies including array-comparative genomic hybridization, pulse field gel electrophoresis, PCR amplification of predicted breakpoints and sequencing. The dicentric GCRs were found to be unstable and to have undergone secondary rearrangements to produce stable monocentric GCRs. The types of secondary rearrangements observed included: non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)-dependent intramolecular deletion of centromeres; chromosome breakage followed by NHEJ-mediated circularization or broken-end fusion to another chromosome telomere; and homologous recombination (HR)-dependent non-reciprocal translocations apparently mediated by break-induced replication. A number of these GCRs appeared to have undergone multiple bridge-fusion-breakage cycles. We also observed examples of chromosomes with extensive ongoing end decay in mec1 tlc1 mutants, suggesting that Mec1 protects chromosome ends from degradation and contributes to telomere maintenance by HR.HR between repeated sequences resulting in secondary rearrangements was the most prevalent pathway for resolution of dicentric GCRs regardless of the structure of the initial dicentric GCR, although at least three other resolution mechanisms were observed. The resolution of dicentric GCRs to stable rearranged chromosomes could in part account for the complex karyotypes seen in some cancers

    Fragile Genomic Sites Are Associated with Origins of Replication

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    Genome rearrangements are mediators of evolution and disease. Such rearrangements are frequently bounded by transfer RNAs (tRNAs), transposable elements, and other repeated elements, suggesting a functional role for these elements in creating or repairing breakpoints. Though not well explored, there is evidence that origins of replication also colocalize with breakpoints. To investigate a potential correlation between breakpoints and origins, we analyzed evolutionary breakpoints defined between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces waltii and S. cerevisiae and a hypothetical ancestor of both yeasts, as well as breakpoints reported in the experimental literature. We find that origins correlate strongly with both evolutionary breakpoints and those described in the literature. Specifically, we find that origins firing earlier in S phase are more strongly correlated with breakpoints than are later-firing origins. Despite origins being located in genomic regions also bearing tRNAs and Ty elements, the correlation we observe between origins and breakpoints appears to be independent of these genomic features. This study lays the groundwork for understanding the mechanisms by which origins of replication may impact genome architecture and disease

    Rapid Analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Genome Rearrangements by Multiplex Ligation–Dependent Probe Amplification

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    Aneuploidy and gross chromosomal rearrangements (GCRs) can lead to genetic diseases and the development of cancer. We previously demonstrated that introduction of the repetitive retrotransposon Ty912 onto a nonessential chromosome arm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae led to increased genome instability predominantly due to increased rates of formation of monocentric nonreciprocal translocations. In this study, we adapted Multiplex Ligation–dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) to analyze a large numbers of these GCRs. Using MLPA, we found that the distribution of translocations induced by the presence of Ty912 in a wild-type strain was nonrandom and that the majority of these translocations were mediated by only six translocation targets on four different chromosomes, even though there were 254 potential Ty-related translocation targets in the S. cerevisiae genome. While the majority of Ty912-mediated translocations resulted from RAD52-dependent recombination, we observed a number of nonreciprocal translocations mediated by RAD52-independent recombination between Ty1 elements. The formation of these RAD52-independent translocations did not require the Rad51 or Rad59 homologous pairing proteins or the Rad1–Rad10 endonuclease complex that processes branched DNAs during recombination. Finally, we found that defects in ASF1-RTT109–dependent acetylation of histone H3 lysine residue 56 (H3K56) resulted in increased accumulation of both GCRs and whole-chromosome duplications, and resulted in aneuploidy that tended to occur simultaneously with GCRs. Overall, we found that MLPA is a versatile technique for the rapid analysis of GCRs and can facilitate the genetic analysis of the pathways that prevent and promote GCRs and aneuploidy

    A Genetic and Structural Study of Genome Rearrangements Mediated by High Copy Repeat Ty1 Elements

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    Ty elements are high copy number, dispersed repeated sequences in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome known to mediate gross chromosomal rearrangements (GCRs). Here we found that introduction of Ty912, a previously identified Ty1 element, onto the non-essential terminal region of the left arm of chromosome V led to a 380-fold increase in the rate of accumulating GCRs in a wild-type strain. A survey of 48 different mutations identified those that either increased or decreased the rate of Ty-mediated GCRs and demonstrated that suppression of Ty-mediated GCRs differs from that of both low copy repeat sequence- and single copy sequence-mediated GCRs. The majority of the Ty912-mediated GCRs observed were monocentric nonreciprocal translocations mediated by RAD52-dependent homologous recombination (HR) between Ty912 and a Ty element on another chromosome arm. The remaining Ty912-mediated GCRs appeared to involve Ty912-mediated formation of unstable dicentric translocation chromosomes that were resolved by one or more Ty-mediated breakage-fusion-bridge cycles. Overall, the results demonstrate that the Ty912-mediated GCR assay is an excellent model for understanding mechanisms and pathways that suppress genome rearrangements mediated by high copy number repeat sequences, as well as the mechanisms by which such rearrangements occur

    RAD50 Is Required for Efficient Initiation of Resection and Recombinational Repair at Random, γ-Induced Double-Strand Break Ends

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    Resection of DNA double-strand break (DSB) ends is generally considered a critical determinant in pathways of DSB repair and genome stability. Unlike for enzymatically induced site-specific DSBs, little is known about processing of random “dirty-ended” DSBs created by DNA damaging agents such as ionizing radiation. Here we present a novel system for monitoring early events in the repair of random DSBs, based on our finding that single-strand tails generated by resection at the ends of large molecules in budding yeast decreases mobility during pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). We utilized this “PFGE-shift” to follow the fate of both ends of linear molecules generated by a single random DSB in circular chromosomes. Within 10 min after γ-irradiation of G2/M arrested WT cells, there is a near-synchronous PFGE-shift of the linearized circular molecules, corresponding to resection of a few hundred bases. Resection at the radiation-induced DSBs continues so that by the time of significant repair of DSBs at 1 hr there is about 1–2 kb resection per DSB end. The PFGE-shift is comparable in WT and recombination-defective rad52 and rad51 strains but somewhat delayed in exo1 mutants. However, in rad50 and mre11 null mutants the initiation and generation of resected ends at radiation-induced DSB ends is greatly reduced in G2/M. Thus, the Rad50/Mre11/Xrs2 complex is responsible for rapid processing of most damaged ends into substrates that subsequently undergo recombinational repair. A similar requirement was found for RAD50 in asynchronously growing cells. Among the few molecules exhibiting shift in the rad50 mutant, the residual resection is consistent with resection at only one of the DSB ends. Surprisingly, within 1 hr after irradiation, double-length linear molecules are detected in the WT and rad50, but not in rad52, strains that are likely due to crossovers that are largely resection- and RAD50-independent
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