An essential role for the DNA breakage-repair protein Ku80 in programmed DNA rearrangements in Tetrahymena thermophila.

ABSTRACT: Programmed DNA rearrangements are important processes present in many organisms. In the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila, DNA rearrangements occur during the sexual conjugation process and lead to the deletion of thousands of specific DNA segments and fragmentation of the chromosomes. In this study, we found that the Ku80 homologue, a conserved component of the nonhomologous end-joining process of DNA repair, was essential for these two processes. During conjugation, TKU80 was highly expressed and localized to the new macronucleus, where DNA rearrangements occur. Homokaryon TKU80-knockout mutants are unable to complete conjugation and produce progeny and are arrested at the two-micronuclei/two-macronuclei stage. Analysis of their DNA revealed failure to complete DNA deletion. How

SUBMITTER: Lin IT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3364183 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature