Ku-mediated coupling of DNA cleavage and repair during programmed genome rearrangements in the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia.

ABSTRACT: During somatic differentiation, physiological DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) can drive programmed genome rearrangements (PGR), during which DSB repair pathways are mobilized to safeguard genome integrity. Because of their unique nuclear dimorphism, ciliates are powerful unicellular eukaryotic models to study the mechanisms involved in PGR. At each sexual cycle, the germline nucleus is transmitted to the progeny, but the somatic nucleus, essential for gene expression, is destroyed and a new somatic nucleus differentiates from a copy of the germline nucleus. In Paramecium tetraurelia, the development of the somatic nucleus involves massive PGR, including the precise elimination of at least 45,000 germline sequences (Internal Eliminated Sequences, IES). IES excision proceeds through a cut-and

SUBMITTER: Marmignon A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4148214 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature