COM1, a factor of alternative non‐homologous end joining,lagging behind the classic non‐homologous end joining pathway in rice somatic cells

The role of rice (Oryza sativa) COM1 in meiotic homologous recombination (HR) is well understood, but its part in somatic double‐stranded break (DSB) repair remains unclear. Here, we show that for rice plants COM1 conferred tolerance against DNA damage caused by the chemicals bleomycin and mitomycin C, while the COM1 mutation did not compromise HR efficiencies and HR factor (RAD51 and RAD51 paralogues) localization to irradiation‐induced DSBs. Similar retarded growth at the post‐germination stage was observed in the com1‐2 mre11 double mutant and the mre11 single mutant, while combined mutations in COM1 with the HR pathway gene (RAD51C) or classic non‐homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway genes (KU70, KU80, and LIG4) caused more phenotypic defects. In response to γ‐irradiation, COM1 was loaded normally onto DSBs in the ku70 mutant, but could not be properly loaded in the MRE11^RNAi plant and in the wortmannin‐treated wild‐type plant. Under non‐irradiated conditions, more DSB sites were occupied by factors (MRE11, COM1, and LIG4) than RAD51 paralogues (RAD51B, RAD51C, and XRCC3) in the nucleus of wild‐type; protein loading of COM1 and XRCC3 was increased in the ku70 mutant. Therefore, quite differently to its role for HR in meiocytes, rice COM1 specifically acts in an alternative NHEJ pathway in somatic cells, based on the Mre11–Rad50–Nbs1 (MRN) complex and facilitated by PI3K‐like kinases. NHEJ factors, not HR factors, preferentially load onto endogenous DSBs, with KU70 restricting DSB localization of COM1 and XRCC3 in plant somatic cells.