RESUMEN
Proteins of the Fanconi Anemia (FA) complementation group are required for crosslink (CL) repair in humans and their loss leads to severe pathological phenotypes. Here we characterize a homolog of the Fe-S cluster helicase FANCJ in the model plant Arabidopsis, AtFANCJB, and show that it is involved in interstrand CL repair. It acts at a presumably early step in concert with the nuclease FAN1 but independently of the nuclease AtMUS81, and is epistatic to both error-prone and error-free post-replicative repair in Arabidopsis. The simultaneous knock out of FANCJB and the Fe-S cluster helicase RTEL1 leads to induced cell death in root meristems, indicating an important role of the enzymes in replicative DNA repair. Surprisingly, we found that AtFANCJB is involved in safeguarding rDNA stability in plants. In the absence of AtRTEL1 and AtFANCJB, we detected a synergetic reduction to about one third of the original number of 45S rDNA copies. It is tempting to speculate that the detected rDNA instability might be due to deficiencies in G-quadruplex structure resolution and might thus contribute to pathological phenotypes of certain human genetic diseases.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas del Grupo de Complementación de la Anemia de Fanconi/genética , Proteínas del Grupo de Complementación de la Anemia de Fanconi/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Factores de Transcripción con Cremalleras de Leucina de Carácter Básico/genética , Daño del ADN , ADN Helicasas/genética , ADN Helicasas/metabolismo , Reparación del ADN/fisiología , Replicación del ADN , ADN Ribosómico/genética , ADN Ribosómico/metabolismo , Anemia de Fanconi/genética , Inestabilidad Genómica , Meristema/metabolismo , Mutación , Raíces de Plantas/genética , Raíces de Plantas/metabolismo , ARN Helicasas/genéticaRESUMEN
RecQ helicases are important caretakers of genome stability and occur in varying copy numbers in different eukaryotes. Subsets of RecQ paralogs are involved in DNA crosslink (CL) repair. The orthologs of AtRECQ2, AtRECQ3 and AtHRQ1, HsWRN, DmRECQ5 and ScHRQ1 participate in CL repair in their respective organisms, and we aimed to define the function of these helicases for plants. We obtained Arabidopsis mutants of the three RecQ helicases and determined their sensitivity against CL agents in single- and double-mutant analyses. Only Athrq1, but not Atrecq2 and Atrecq3, mutants proved to be sensitive to intra- and interstrand crosslinking agents. AtHRQ1 is specifically involved in the repair of replicative damage induced by CL agents. It shares pathways with the Fanconi anemia-related endonuclease FAN1 but not with the endonuclease MUS81. Most surprisingly, AtHRQ1 is epistatic to the ATPase RAD5A for intra- as well as interstrand CL repair. We conclude that, as in fungi, AtHRQ1 has a conserved function in DNA excision repair. Additionally, HRQ1 not only shares pathways with the Fanconi anemia repair factors, but in contrast to fungi also seems to act in a common pathway with postreplicative DNA repair.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de Arabidopsis/metabolismo , Arabidopsis/enzimología , Reactivos de Enlaces Cruzados/química , ADN Helicasas/genética , Reparación del ADN , Replicación del ADN , Exodesoxirribonucleasas/metabolismo , Anemia de Fanconi/enzimología , Arabidopsis/efectos de los fármacos , Arabidopsis/genética , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Muerte Celular/efectos de los fármacos , Cisplatino/farmacología , ADN Helicasas/metabolismo , Reparación del ADN/efectos de los fármacos , Replicación del ADN/efectos de los fármacos , Endodesoxirribonucleasas , Epistasis Genética/efectos de los fármacos , Genoma de Planta , Meristema/efectos de los fármacos , Meristema/fisiología , Mitomicina/farmacología , Enzimas Multifuncionales , Mutación/genética , RecQ Helicasas/metabolismoRESUMEN
Fanconi anemia is a severe genetic disorder. Mutations in one of several genes lead to defects in DNA crosslink (CL) repair in human cells. An essential step in CL repair is the activation of the pathway by the monoubiquitination of the heterodimer FANCD2/FANCI, which recruits the nuclease FAN1 to the CL site. Surprisingly, FAN1 function is not conserved between different eukaryotes. No FAN1 homolog is present in Drosophila and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The FAN1 homolog in Schizosaccharomyces pombe is involved in CL repair; a homolog is present in Xenopus but is not involved in CL repair. Here we show that a FAN1 homolog is present in plants and it is involved in CL repair in Arabidopsis thaliana. Both the virus-type replication-repair nuclease and the ubiquitin-binding ubiquitin-binding zinc finger domains are essential for this function. FAN1 likely acts upstream of two sub-pathways of CL repair. These pathways are defined by the Bloom syndrome homolog RECQ4A and the ATPase RAD5A, which is involved in error-free post-replicative repair. Mutations in both FAN1 and the endonuclease MUS81 resulted in greater sensitivity against CLs than in the respective single mutants. These results indicate that the two nucleases define two independent pathways of CL repair in plants.