WRN helicase and mismatch repair complexes independently and synergistically disrupt cruciform DNA structures.

The Werner Syndrome helicase, WRN, is a promising therapeutic target in cancers with microsatellite instability (MSI). Long-term MSI leads to the expansion of TA nucleotide repeats proposed to form cruciform DNA structures, which in turn cause DNA breaks and cell lethality upon WRN downregulation. Here we employed biochemical assays to show that WRN helicase can efficiently and directly unfold cruciform structures, thereby preventing their cleavage by the SLX1-SLX4 structure-specific endonuclease. TA repeats are particularly prone to form cruciform structures, explaining why these DNA sequences are preferentially broken in MSI cells upon WRN downregulation. We further demonstrate that the activity of the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) complexes MutSα (MSH2-MSH6), MutSß (MSH2-MSH3), and MutLα (MLH1-PMS2) similarly decreases the level of DNA cruciforms, although the mechanism is different from that employed by WRN. When combined, WRN and MutLα exhibited higher than additive effects in in vitro cruciform processing, suggesting that WRN and the MMR proteins may cooperate. Our data explain how WRN and MMR defects cause genome instability in MSI cells with expanded TA repeats, and provide a mechanistic basis for their recently discovered synthetic-lethal interaction with promising applications in precision cancer therapy.

The Spo13/Meikin pathway confines the onset of gamete differentiation to meiosis II in yeast.

Sexual reproduction requires genome haploidization by the two divisions of meiosis and a differentiation program to generate gametes. Here, we have investigated how sporulation, the yeast equivalent of gamete differentiation, is coordinated with progression through meiosis. Spore differentiation is initiated at metaphase II when a membrane-nucleating structure, called the meiotic plaque, is assembled at the centrosome. While all components of this structure accumulate already at entry into meiosis I, they cannot assemble because centrosomes are occupied by Spc72, the receptor of the γ-tubulin complex. Spc72 is removed from centrosomes by a pathway that depends on the polo-like kinase Cdc5 and the meiosis-specific kinase Ime2, which is unleashed by the degradation of Spo13/Meikin upon activation of the anaphase-promoting complex at anaphase I. Meiotic plaques are finally assembled upon reactivation of Cdk1 at entry into metaphase II. This unblocking-activation mechanism ensures that only single-copy genomes are packaged into spores and might serve as a paradigm for the regulation of other meiosis II-specific processes.

Deprotection of centromeric cohesin at meiosis II requires APC/C activity but not kinetochore tension.

Genome haploidization involves sequential loss of cohesin from chromosome arms and centromeres during two meiotic divisions. At centromeres, cohesin's Rec8 subunit is protected from separase cleavage at meiosis I and then deprotected to allow its cleavage at meiosis II. Protection of centromeric cohesin by shugoshin-PP2A seems evolutionarily conserved. However, deprotection has been proposed to rely on spindle forces separating the Rec8 protector from cohesin at metaphase II in mammalian oocytes and on APC/C-dependent destruction of the protector at anaphase II in yeast. Here, we have activated APC/C in the absence of sister kinetochore biorientation at meiosis II in yeast and mouse oocytes, and find that bipolar spindle forces are dispensable for sister centromere separation in both systems. Furthermore, we show that at least in yeast, protection of Rec8 by shugoshin and inhibition of separase by securin are both required for the stability of centromeric cohesin at metaphase II. Our data imply that related mechanisms preserve the integrity of dyad chromosomes during the short metaphase II of yeast and the prolonged metaphase II arrest of mammalian oocytes.

The analysis of mutant alleles of different strength reveals multiple functions of topoisomerase 2 in regulation of Drosophila chromosome structure.

Topoisomerase II is a major component of mitotic chromosomes but its role in the assembly and structural maintenance of chromosomes is rather controversial, as different chromosomal phenotypes have been observed in various organisms and in different studies on the same organism. In contrast to vertebrates that harbor two partially redundant Topo II isoforms, Drosophila and yeasts have a single Topo II enzyme. In addition, fly chromosomes, unlike those of yeast, are morphologically comparable to vertebrate chromosomes. Thus, Drosophila is a highly suitable system to address the role of Topo II in the assembly and structural maintenance of chromosomes. Here we show that modulation of Top2 function in living flies by means of mutant alleles of different strength and in vivo RNAi results in multiple cytological phenotypes. In weak Top2 mutants, meiotic chromosomes of males exhibit strong morphological abnormalities and dramatic segregation defects, while mitotic chromosomes of larval brain cells are not affected. In mutants of moderate strength, mitotic chromosome organization is normal, but anaphases display frequent chromatin bridges that result in chromosome breaks and rearrangements involving specific regions of the Y chromosome and 3L heterochromatin. Severe Top2 depletion resulted in many aneuploid and polyploid mitotic metaphases with poorly condensed heterochromatin and broken chromosomes. Finally, in the almost complete absence of Top2, mitosis in larval brains was virtually suppressed and in the rare mitotic figures observed chromosome morphology was disrupted. These results indicate that different residual levels of Top2 in mutant cells can result in different chromosomal phenotypes, and that the effect of a strong Top2 depletion can mask the effects of milder Top2 reductions. Thus, our results suggest that the previously observed discrepancies in the chromosomal phenotypes elicited by Topo II downregulation in vertebrates might depend on slight differences in Topo II concentration and/or activity.

APC/C-Cdc20 mediates deprotection of centromeric cohesin at meiosis II in yeast.

Cells undergoing meiosis produce haploid gametes through one round of DNA replication followed by 2 rounds of chromosome segregation. This requires that cohesin complexes, which establish sister chromatid cohesion during S phase, are removed in a stepwise manner. At meiosis I, the separase protease triggers the segregation of homologous chromosomes by cleaving cohesin's Rec8 subunit on chromosome arms. Cohesin persists at centromeres because the PP2A phosphatase, recruited by the shugoshin protein, dephosphorylates Rec8 and thereby protects it from cleavage. While chromatids disjoin upon cleavage of centromeric Rec8 at meiosis II, it was unclear how and when centromeric Rec8 is liberated from its protector PP2A. One proposal is that bipolar spindle forces separate PP2A from Rec8 as cells enter metaphase II. We show here that sister centromere biorientation is not sufficient to "deprotect" Rec8 at meiosis II in yeast. Instead, our data suggest that the ubiquitin-ligase APC/CCdc20 removes PP2A from centromeres by targeting for degradation the shugoshin Sgo1 and the kinase Mps1. This implies that Rec8 remains protected until entry into anaphase II when it is phosphorylated concurrently with the activation of separase. Here, we provide further support for this model and speculate on its relevance to mammalian oocytes.

Casein Kinase 1 Coordinates Cohesin Cleavage, Gametogenesis, and Exit from M Phase in Meiosis II.

Meiosis consists of DNA replication followed by two consecutive nuclear divisions and gametogenesis or spore formation. While meiosis I has been studied extensively, less is known about the regulation of meiosis II. Here we show that Hrr25, the conserved casein kinase 1δ of budding yeast, links three mutually independent key processes of meiosis II. First, Hrr25 induces nuclear division by priming centromeric cohesin for cleavage by separase. Hrr25 simultaneously phosphorylates Rec8, the cleavable subunit of cohesin, and removes from centromeres the cohesin protector composed of shugoshin and the phosphatase PP2A. Second, Hrr25 initiates the sporulation program by inducing the synthesis of membranes that engulf the emerging nuclei at anaphase II. Third, Hrr25 mediates exit from meiosis II by activating pathways that trigger the destruction of M-phase-promoting kinases. Thus, Hrr25 synchronizes formation of the single-copy genome with gamete differentiation and termination of meiosis.