Project description:The microRNA biogenesis enzyme Drosha was found to be important for DNA repair and this function appears to be distinct to its role in miRNA-mediated repression. Novel small RNAs were reported previously to be produced from the sequences around a DNA break. Utilising an endonuclease system (AsiSI) we were unable to detect such small RNA around 100 cuts within the endogenous genome. Sequencing of R-loops (DNA:RNA hybrids) was performed and an increase in R-loop formation was observed around many DNA break sites. Loss of Drosha appears to perturb this damage dependent formation of R-loops. RNase H1 over-expression appears to reduce repair at these break sites. Drosha appears to be important for facilitating R-loop formation at DNA break sites to aid in the repair process.
Project description:RNA-DNA hybrids are a major internal cause of DNA damage within cells, and their degradation by RNAse H enzymes is important for maintaining genomic stability. Here, we identified an unexpected role for RNA-DNA hybrids and RNase H enzymes in DNA repair. Using a site-specific DNA double-stranded break (DSB) system in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we showed that RNA-DNA hybrids form as part of the homologous recombination (HR)-mediated DSB repair process and RNase H enzymes are essential for their degradation and efficient completion of DNA repair. Deleting RNase H stabilizes RNA-DNA hybrids around DSB sites and strongly impairs recruitment of the ssDNA-binding RPA complex. In contrast, overexpressing RNase H1 destabilizes these hybrids, leading to excessive strand resection and RPA recruitment, and to severe loss of repeat regions around DSBs. Our study challenges the existing model of HR-mediated DSB repair, and reveals a surprising role for RNA-DNA hybrids in maintaining genomic stability.
Project description:RNA-DNA hybrids are a major internal cause of DNA damage within cells, and their degradation by RNAse H enzymes is important for maintaining genomic stability. Here, we identified an unexpected role for RNA-DNA hybrids and RNase H enzymes in DNA repair. Using a site-specific DNA double-stranded break (DSB) system in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we showed that RNA-DNA hybrids form as part of the homologous recombination (HR)-mediated DSB repair process and RNase H enzymes are essential for their degradation and efficient completion of DNA repair. Deleting RNase H stabilizes RNA-DNA hybrids around DSB sites and strongly impairs recruitment of the ssDNA-binding RPA complex. In contrast, overexpressing RNase H1 destabilizes these hybrids, leading to excessive strand resection and RPA recruitment, and to severe loss of repeat regions around DSBs. Our study challenges the existing model of HR-mediated DSB repair, and reveals a surprising role for RNA-DNA hybrids in maintaining genomic stability.
Project description:The DNA damage response (DDR) is the signaling cascade that recognizes DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) and promotes their resolution via the DNA repair pathways of Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ) or Homologous Recombination (HR). We and others have shown that DDR activation requires DROSHA. However, whether DROSHA exerts its functions by associating with damage sites, what controls its recruitment and how DROSHA influences DNA repair, remains poorly understood. Here we show that DROSHA associates to DSBs independently from transcription. Neither H2AX, nor ATM nor DNA-PK kinase activities are required for its recruitment to break site. Rather, DROSHA interacts with RAD50 and inhibition of MRN by Mirin treatment abolishes this interaction. MRN inactivation by RAD50 knockdown or mirin treatment prevents DROSHA recruitment to DSB and, as a consequence, also 53BP1 recruitment. During DNA repair, DROSHA inactivation reduces NHEJ and boosts HR frequency. Indeed, DROSHA knockdown also increase the association of downstream HR factors such as RAD51 to DNA ends. Overall, our results demonstrate that DROSHA is recruited at DSBs by the MRN complex and direct DNA repair toward NHEJ.
Project description:DNA double strand break (DSB) repair through homologous recombination (HR) is crucial to maintain genome stability. DSB resection generates a single strand DNA intermediate, which is crucial for the HR process. We used a synthetic DNA structure, mimicking a resection intermediate, as a bait to identify proteins involved in this process. Among these, LC/MS analysis identified the RNA binding protein, HNRNPD. We found that HNRNPD was able to bind chromatin, although this binding occurred independently of DNA damage. However, upon damage, HNRNPD re-localized to γH2Ax foci and its silencing impaired CHK1 S345 phosphorylation and the DNA end resection process. Indeed, HNRNPD silencing reduced the ssDNA fraction upon camptothecin treatment and AsiSI-induced DSB resection and reduced RPA32 S4/8 phosphorylation. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated HNRNPD knockout impaired in vitro DNA resection and sensitized cells to camptothecin and olaparib treatment. We found that HNRNPD interacts with the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein SAF-A previously associated with DNA damage repair. HNRNPD depletion resulted in an increased amount of RNA:DNA hybrids upon DNA damage . Both the expression of RNase H1 and RNA pol II inhibition recovered the ability to phosphorylate RPA32 S4/8 in HNRNPD knockout cells upon DNA damage, suggesting that RNA:DNA hybrid resolution likely rescues the defective DNA damage response of HNRNPD-depleted cells.
Project description:The BRCA2 tumor suppressor is a DNA double-strand break repair factor essential to maintain genome integrity. BRCA2-deficient cells spontaneously accumulate DNA-RNA hybrids, a known source of genome instability. However, the specific role of BRCA2 on these structures remains poorly understood. Here we identified the DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX5 as a BRCA2 interacting partner. We show that DDX5 associates with DNA-RNA hybrids that form in the vicinity of DSBs and this association is enhanced by BRCA2. Notably, BRCA2 stimulates the DNA-RNA hybrid helicase activity of DDX5. Impaired BRCA2-DDX5 interaction, as observed in cells bearing the breast cancer variant BRCA2-T207A, reduces DDX5 association with DSBs, decreases the number of RPA foci upon irradiation and impairs RAD51 repair foci formation. Our findings are consistent with DNA-RNA hybrids being an impediment for the repair of DSBs by homologous recombination and reveal BRCA2 and DDX5 as active players in their removal.
Project description:Recent observations show that the single-cell response of p53 to ionizing radiation (IR) is “digital” in that it is the number of oscillations rather than the amplitude of p53 that shows dependence on the radiation dose. We present a model of this phenomenon. In our model, double-strand break (DSB) sites induced by IR interact with a limiting pool of DNA repair proteins, forming DSB–protein complexes at DNA damage foci. The persisting complexes are sensed by ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), a protein kinase that activates p53 once it is phosphorylated by DNA damage. The ATM-sensing module switches on or off the downstream p53 oscillator, consisting of a feedback loop formed by p53 and its negative regulator, Mdm2. In agreement with experiments, our simulations show that by assuming stochasticity in the initial number of DSBs and the DNA repair process, p53 and Mdm2 exhibit a coordinated oscillatory dynamics upon IR stimulation in single cells, with a stochastic number of oscillations whose mean increases with IR dose. The damped oscillations previously observed in cell populations can be explained as the aggregate behavior of single cell
Project description:Genomic instability is one of the hallmarks of cancer. Several chemotherapeutic drugs and radiotherapy induce DNA damage to prevent cancer cell replication. Cells in turn activate different DNA damage response (DDR) pathways to either repair the damage or induce cell death. These DDR pathways also elicit metabolic alterations which can play a significant role in the proper functioning of the cells. The understanding of these metabolic effects resulting from different types of DNA damage and repair mechanisms is currently lacking. In this study, we used NMR metabolomics to identify metabolic pathways which are altered in response to different DNA damaging agents. By comparing the metabolic responses in MCF-7 cells, we identified the activation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in methyl methanesulfonate (MMS)-induced DNA damage. PARP activation led to a significant depletion of NAD+. PARP inhibition using veliparib (ABT-888) was able to successfully restore the NAD+ levels in MMS-treated cells. In addition, double strand break induction by MMS and veliparib exhibited similar metabolic responses as zeocin, suggesting an application of metabolomics to classify the types of DNA damage responses. This prediction was validated by studying the metabolic responses elicited by radiation. Our findings indicate that cancer cell metabolic responses depend on the type of DNA damage responses and can also be used to classify the type of DNA damage.
Project description:To determine whether a predisposition to DNA damage exists in SCA7 and how extensive the predilection to DNA damage might be in SCA7, we used LAM-HTGTS, a powerful high throughput next generation sequencing technique developed for monitoring of DNA double-strand break formation. We modified the LAM-HTGTS protocol by utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 to create the double-strand DNA break at a specific site and also added a step with a 5’ methyl cytosine modified primer to promote LpnPI endonuclease cleavage of sealed breaks to enrich for translocation events. Our unbiased native chromosome DNA repair experimentation revealed that expression of polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-7 yielded greatly reduced translocations in comparison to normal ataxin-7, which is consistent with retained canonical NHEJ repair, decreased HDR activity, and decreased SSA repair in SCA7 cells, as the classical NHEJ pathway is known to prevent translocation by ligating broken double-strand breaks.
Project description:Chromatin acts as a key regulator of DNA related processes such as DNA damage repair. While ChIP-chip is a powerful technique to provide high-resolution maps of protein-genome interactions, its use to study DNA Double Strand Break (DSB) repair has been hindered by the limitations of the available damage induction methods. We have developed a human cell line that permits induction of multiple DSBs randomly distributed and unambiguously positioned within the genome. Using this system, we have generated the first genome-wide mapping of gammaH2AX around DSBs. We found that all DSBs trigger large gammaH2AX domains, which extend from the DSB in a bidirectional, discontinuous and not necessarily symmetrical manner. Strikingly we uncovered that, within domains, gammaH2AX distribution is highly influenced by gene transcription since parallel mapping of RNA Polymerase II and strand specific expression revealed that ?H2AX does not propagate on active genes. In addition, we demonstrate that transcription is accurately maintained within gammaH2AX domains, indicating that mechanisms may exist to protect genes transcription from gammaH2AX spreading and from the chromatin rearrangements induced by DSBs.