The splicing-factor related protein SFPQ/PSF interacts with RAD51D and is necessary for homology-directed repair and sister chromatid cohesion

DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) are among the most severe forms of DNA damage and responsible for chromosomal translocations that may lead to gene fusions. The RAD51 family plays an integral role in preserving genome stability by homology directed repair of DSBs. From a proteomics screen, we recently identified SFPQ/PSF as an interacting partner with the RAD51 paralogs, RAD51D, RAD51C and XRCC2. Initially discovered as a potential RNA splicing factor, SFPQ was later shown to have homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining related activities and also to bind and modulate the function of RAD51. Here, we demonstrate that SFPQ interacts directly with RAD51D and that deficiency of both proteins confers a severe loss of cell viability, indicating a synthetic lethal relationship. Surprisingly, deficiency of SFPQ alone also leads to sister chromatid cohesion defects and chromosome instability. In addition, SFPQ was demonstrated to mediate homology directed DNA repair and DNA damage response resulting from DNA crosslinking agents, alkylating agents and camptothecin. Taken together, these data indicate that SFPQ association with the RAD51 protein complex is essential for homologous recombination repair of DNA damage and maintaining genome integrity.     

A common breakpoint on 11q23 in carriers of the constitutional t(11;22) translocation

Structural chromosomal rearrangements occur commonly in the general population. Individuals that carry a balanced translocation are at risk of having unbalanced offspring; therefore, the frequency of translocations in couples with recurrent spontaneous abortions is higher than that in the general population. The constitutional t(11;22) translocation is the most common recurrent non-Robertsonian translocation in humans and may serve as a model to determine the mechanism that causes recurrent meiotic translocations. We previously localized the t(11;22) translocation breakpoint to a region on 22q11 within a low-copy repeat, termed "LCR22." To define the breakpoint on 11q23 and to ascertain whether this region shares homology with LCR22 sequences, we performed haplotype analysis on patients with der(22) syndrome. We found that the breakpoint on 11q23 occurred between two genetic markers, D11S1340 and APOC3-tetra, both being present within a single bacterial-artificial-chromosome clone. To determine whether the breakpoint occurred within the same region among a larger set of carriers, we performed FISH mapping studies. The breakpoints were all within the same clone, suggesting that this region may harbor sequences that are prone to breakage. We narrowed the breakpoint interval, in both derivative chromosomes from two unrelated carriers, to a 190-bp, AT-rich repeat, which indicates that this repeat may mediate recombination events on chromosome 11. Interestingly, the LCR22s harbor AT-rich repeats, suggesting that this sequence motif may mediate recombination events in nonhomologous chromosomes during meiosis.     

A novel selection system for chromosome translocations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Chromosomal translocations are common genetic abnormalities found in both leukemias and solid tumors. While much has been learned about the effects of specific translocations on cell proliferation, much less is known about what causes these chromosome rearrangements. This article describes the development and use of a system that genetically selects for rare translocation events using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A translocation YAC was created that contains the breakpoint cluster region from the human MLL gene, a gene frequently involved in translocations in leukemia patients, flanked by positive and negative selection markers. A translocation between the YAC and a yeast chromosome, whose breakpoint falls within the MLL DNA, physically separates the markers and forms the basis for the selection. When RAD52 is deleted, essentially all of the selected and screened cells contain simple translocations. The detectable translocation rates are the same in haploids and diploids, although the mechanisms involved and true translocation rates may be distinct. A unique double-strand break induced within the MLL sequences increases the number of detectable translocation events 100- to 1000-fold. This novel system provides a tractable assay for answering basic mechanistic questions about the development of chromosomal translocations.     

47,XY,+der(11;22)(q23;q12) following balanced translocation t(11;22)(q23;q12)mat

Summary Report of a supernumerary extra chromosome der(11;22)(q23; q12) resulting from a balanced translocation in the mother. The propositus suffers from mental deficiency, deafness and extreme muscular weakness and exhibits cleft palate, a labial lymphangioma and an atrial septum defect. Since the features of partial trisomy 11q23 frequently associated with a translocation t(11q;22q) bear similarities with the cases of so called trisomy 22 one might conjecture that some of these observations are in fact products of translocations including partial 11q.     

Fine mapping of the constitutional translocation t(11;22)(q23;q11)

Translocation t(11;22)(q23;q11) is the most common constitutional reciprocal translocation in man. Balanced carriers are phenotypically normal, except for decreased fertility, an increased spontaneous abortion rate and a possible predisposition to breast cancer in some families. Here, we report the high resolution mapping of the t(11;22)(q23;q11) breakpoint. We have localised the breakpoint, by using fluorescence in situ hybidisation (FISH) walking, to a region between D11S1340 and WI-8564 on chromosome 11, and D22S134 and D22S264 on chromosome 22. We report the isolation of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone spanning the breakpoint in 11q23. We have narrowed down the breakpoint to an 80-kb sequenced region on chromosome 11 and FISH analysis has revealed a variation of the breakpoint position between patients. In 22q11, we have sequenced two BACs (BAC2280L11 and BAC41C4) apparently mapping to the region; these contain low copy repeats (LCRs). Southern blot analysis with probes from BAC2280L11 has revealed different patterns between normal controls and translocation carriers, indicating that sequences similar/identical to these probes flank the translocation breakpoint. The occurrence of LCRs has previously been associated with genomic instability and "unclonable" regions. Hence, the presence of such repeats renders standard translocation breakpoint cloning techniques ineffective. Thus, we have used high resolution fiber-FISH to study this region in normal and translocation cases by using probes from 22q11, LCRs and 11q23. We demonstrate that the LCR containing the gap in 22q11 is probably substantially larger than the previous estimates of 100 kb. Using fiber-FISH, we have localised the breakpoint in 22q11 to approximately 20-40 kb from the centromeric border of the LCR (i.e. the telomeric end of AC006547) and have confirmed the breakpoint position on 11q23.     

Chromosome Segregation Analysis in Human Embryos Obtained from Couples Involving Male Carriers of Reciprocal or Robertsonian Translocation

The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of chromosome segregation patterns in cleavage stage embryos obtained from male carriers of Robertsonian (ROB) and reciprocal (REC) translocations undergoing preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) at our reproductive center. We used FISH to analyze chromosome segregation in 308 day 3 cleavage stage embryos obtained from 26 patients. The percentage of embryos consistent with normal or balanced segregation (55.1% vs. 27.1%) and clinical pregnancy (62.5% vs. 19.2%) rates were higher in ROB than the REC translocation carriers. Involvement of non-acrocentric chromosome(s) or terminal breakpoint(s) in reciprocal translocations was associated with an increase in the percent of embryos consistent with adjacent 1 but with a decrease in 3∶1 segregation. Similar results were obtained in the analysis of nontransferred embryos donated for research. 3∶1 segregation was the most frequent segregation type in both day 3 (31%) and spare (35%) embryos obtained from carriers of t(11;22)(q23;q11), the only non-random REC with the same breakpoint reported in a large number of unrelated families mainly identified by the birth of a child with derivative chromosome 22. These results suggest that chromosome segregation patterns in day 3 and nontransferred embryos obtained from male translocation carriers vary with the type of translocation and involvement of acrocentric chromosome(s) or terminal breakpoint(s). These results should be helpful in estimating reproductive success in translocation carriers undergoing PGD.     

Germ line insertion of mtDNA at the breakpoint junction of a reciprocal constitutional translocation

Constitutional chromosomal translocations are relatively common causes of human morbidity, yet the DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair mechanisms that generate them are incompletely understood. We cloned, sequenced and analyzed the breakpoint junctions of a familial constitutional reciprocal translocation t(9;11)(p24;q23). Within the 10-kb region flanking the breakpoints, chromosome 11 had 25% repeat elements, whereas chromosome 9 had 98% repeats, 95% of which were L1-type LINE elements. The breakpoints occurred within an L1-type repeat element at 9p24 and at the 3'-end of an Alu sequence at 11q23. At the breakpoint junction of derivative chromosome 9, we discovered an unusually large 41-bp insertion, which showed 100% identity to 12S mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) between nucleotides 896 and 936 of the mtDNA sequence. Analysis of the human genome failed to show the preexistence of the inserted sequence at normal chromosomes 9 and 11 breakpoint junctions or elsewhere in the genome, strongly suggesting that the insertion was derived from human mtDNA and captured into the junction during the DSB repair process. To our knowledge, these findings represent the first observation of spontaneous germ line insertion of modern human mtDNA sequences and suggest that DSB repair may play a role in inter-organellar gene transfer in vivo. Our findings also provide evidence for a previously unrecognized insertional mechanism in human, by which non-mobile extra-chromosomal fragments can be inserted into the genome at DSB repair junctions.     

Identification of DNA sequences flanking the breakpoint of human t(14q21q) Robertsonian translocations.

We have employed molecular probes and in situ hybridization to investigate the DNA sequences flanking the breakpoint of a group of t(14q21q) Robertsonian translocations. In all the families studied, the probands were patients with Down syndrome who carried a de novo t(14q21q) translocation. The DNA probes used were two alphoid sequences, alphaRI and alphaXT, which are specific for the centromeres of chromosomes 13 and 21 and of chromosomes 14 and 22, respectively; a satellite III sequence, pTRS-47, which is specific for the proximal p11 region of chromosomes 14 and 22; and a newly defined satellite III DNA, pTRS-63, which is specific for the distal p11 region of chromosome 14. The two alphoid probes detected approximately the same amount of autoradiographic signal on the translocated chromosomes as was expected for chromosomes 14 and 21 of the originating parent, suggesting that there has been no loss of these centromeric sequences during the translocation events. Results with the two satellite III probes indicated that the domain corresponding to pTRS-47 was retained in the translocated chromosomes, whereas the domain for pTRS-63 was lost. These results have allowed us to place the translocation breakpoint between the pTRS-47 and pTRS-63 domains within the p11 region of chromosome 14.     

Breakpoint mapping and haplotype analysis of three reciprocal translocations identify a novel recurrent translocation in two unrelated families: t(4;11)(p16.2;p15.4)

The majority of constitutional reciprocal translocations appear to be unique rearrangements arising from independent events. However, a small number of translocations are recurrent, most significantly the t(11;22)(q23;q11). Among large series of translocations there may be multiple independently ascertained cases with the same cytogenetic breakpoints. Some of these could represent additional recurrent rearrangements, alternatively they could be identical by descent (IBD) or have subtly different breakpoints when examined under higher resolution. We have used molecular breakpoint mapping and haplotyping to determine the origin of three pairs of reciprocal constitutional translocations, each with the same cytogenetic breakpoints. FISH mapping showed one pair to have different breakpoints and thus to be distinct rearrangements. Another pair of translocations were IBD with identical breakpoint intervals and highly conserved haplotypes on the derived chromosomes. The third pair, t(4;11)(p16.2;p15.4), had the same breakpoint intervals by aCGH and fosmid mapping but had very different haplotypes, therefore they represent a novel recurrent translocation. Unlike the t(11;22)(q23;q11), the formation of the t(4;11)(p16.2;p15.4) may have involved segmental duplications and sequence homology at the breakpoints. Additional examples of recurrent translocations could be identified if the resources were available to study more translocations using the approaches described here. However, like the t(4;11)(p16.2;p15.4), such translocations are likely to be rare with the t(11;22) remaining the only common recurrent constitutional reciprocal translocation.     

Tcrδ translocations that delete the Bcl11b haploinsufficient tumor suppressor gene promote atm-deficient T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

ATM is the master regulator of the cellular response to DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). Deficiency of ATM predisposes humans and mice to αβ T lymphoid cancers with clonal translocations between the T cell receptor (TCR) α/δ locus and a 450 kb region of synteny on human chromosome 14 and mouse chromosome 12. While these translocations target and activate the TCL1 oncogene at 14q32 to cause T cell pro-lymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL), the TCRα/δ;14q32 translocations in ATM-deficient T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) have not been characterized and their role in cancer pathogenesis remains unknown. The corresponding lesion in Atm-deficient mouse T-ALLs is a chromosome t(12;14) translocation with Tcrδ genes fused to sequences on chromosome 12; although these translocations do not activate Tcl1, they delete the Bcl11b haploinsufficient tumor suppressor gene. To assess whether Tcrδ translocations that inactivate one copy of Bcl11b promote transformation of Atm-deficient cells, we analyzed Atm^−/− mice with mono-allelic Bcl11b deletion initiating in thymocytes concomitant with Tcrδ recombination. Inactivation of one Bcl11b copy had no effect on the predisposition of Atm^−/− mice to clonal T-ALLs. Yet, none of these T-ALLs had a clonal chromosome t(12;14) translocation that deleted Bcl11b indicating that Tcrδ translocations that inactivate a copy of Bcl11b promote transformation of Atm-deficient thymocytes. Our data demonstrate that antigen receptor locus translocations can cause cancer by deleting a tumor suppressor gene. We discuss the implications of these findings for the etiology and therapy of T-ALLs associated with ATM deficiency and TCRα/δ translocations targeting the 14q32 cytogenetic region.     

Meiotic recombination and spatial proximity in the etiology of the recurrent t(11;22)

Although balanced translocations are among the most common human chromosomal aberrations, the constitutional t(11;22)(q23;q11) is the only known recurrent non-Robertsonian translocation. Evidence indicates that de novo formation of the t(11;22) occurs during meiosis. To test the hypothesis that spatial proximity of chromosomes 11 and 22 in meiotic prophase oocytes and spermatocytes plays a role in the rearrangement, the positions of the 11q23 and 22q11 translocation breakpoints were examined. Fluorescence in situ hybridization with use of DNA probes for these sites demonstrates that 11q23 is closer to 22q11 in meiosis than to a control at 6q26. Although chromosome 21p11, another control, often lies as close to 11q23 as does 22q11 during meiosis, chromosome 21 rarely rearranges with 11q23, and the DNA sequence of chromosome 21 appears to be less susceptible than 22q11 to double-strand breaks (DSBs). It has been suggested that the rearrangement recurs as a result of the palindromic AT-rich repeats at both 11q23 and 22q11, which extrude hairpin structures that are susceptible to DSBs. To determine whether the DSBs at these sites coincide with normal hotspots of meiotic recombination, immunocytochemical mapping of MLH1, a protein involved in crossing over, was employed. The results indicate that the translocation breakpoints do not coincide with recombination hotspots and therefore are unlikely to be the result of meiotic programmed DSBs, although MRE11 is likely to be involved. Previous analysis indicated that the DSBs appear to be repaired by a mechanism similar to nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), although NHEJ is normally suppressed during meiosis. Taken together, these studies support the hypothesis that physical proximity between 11q23 and 22q11--but not typical meiotic recombinational activity in meiotic prophase--plays an important role in the generation of the constitutional t(11;22) rearrangement.     

The association of ATR protein with mouse meiotic chromosome cores

The ATR (ataxia telangiectasia- and RAD3-related) protein is present on meiotic prophase chromosome cores and paired cores (synaptonemal complexes, SCs). Its striking characteristic is that the protein forms dense aggregates on the cores and SCs of the last chromosomes to pair at the zygotene-pachytene transition. It would appear that the ATR protein either signals delays in pairing or it is directly involved in the completion of the pairing phase. Atm-deficient spermatocytes, which are defective in the chromosome pairing phase, accumulate large amounts of ATR. The behaviour of ATR at meiotic prophase sets it apart from the distribution of the RAD51/DMC1 recombinase complex and our electron microscope observations confirm that they do not co-localize. We failed to detect ATM in association with cores/SCs and we have reported elsewhere that RAD1 protein does not co-localize with DMC1 foci. The expectation that putative DNA-damage checkpoint proteins, ATR, ATM and RAD1, are associated with RAD51/DMC1 recombination sites where DNA breaks are expected to be present, is therefore not supported by our observations. Received: 23 November 1998 / Accepted: 3 January 1999     

The MRE11 GAR motif regulates DNA double-strand break processing and ATR activation

The MRE11/RAD50/NBS1 complex is the primary sensor rapidly recruited to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). MRE11 is known to be arginine methylated by PRMT1 within its glycine-arginine-rich (GAR) motif. In this study, we report a mouse knock-in allele of Mre11 that substitutes the arginines with lysines in the GAR motif and generates the MRE11(RK) protein devoid of methylated arginines. The Mre11(RK/RK) mice were hypersensitive to γ-irradiation (IR) and the cells from these mice displayed cell cycle checkpoint defects and chromosome instability. Moreover, the Mre11(RK/RK) MEFs exhibited ATR/CHK1 signaling defects and impairment in the recruitment of RPA and RAD51 to the damaged sites. The M(RK)RN complex formed and localized to the sites of DNA damage and normally activated the ATM pathway in response to IR. The M(RK)RN complex exhibited exonuclease and DNA-binding defects in vitro responsible for the impaired DNA end resection and ATR activation observed in vivo in response to IR. Our findings provide genetic evidence for the critical role of the MRE11 GAR motif in DSB repair, and demonstrate a mechanistic link between post-translational modifications at the MRE11 GAR motif and DSB processing, as well as the ATR/CHK1 checkpoint signaling.     

Intragenic breakpoint within RAD51L1 in a t(6;14)(p21.3;q24) of a pulmonary chondroid hamartoma

Rearrangements involving chromosome region 14q23-->q24 represent a main cytogenetic subgroup in a variety of benign solid tumors. Recently, in uterine leiomyomas containing the classical t(12;14)(q15;q23-->q24), the primary chromosome 14 target gene was identified as the protein kinase-encoding gene RAD51L1. In this report we show that RAD51L1 is also involved in the frequently occurring t(6;14) (p21;q23-->q24) in pulmonary chondroid hamartomas.     

Etoposide metabolites enhance DNA topoisomerase II cleavage near leukemia-associated MLL translocation breakpoints

Chromosomal breakage resulting from stabilization of DNA topoisomerase II covalent complexes by epipodophyllotoxins may play a role in the genesis of leukemia-associated MLL gene translocations. We investigated whether etoposide catechol and quinone metabolites can damage the MLL breakpoint cluster region in a DNA topoisomerase II-dependent manner like the parent drug and the nature of the damage. Cleavage of two DNA substrates containing the normal homologues of five MLL intron 6 translocation breakpoints was examined in vitro upon incubation with human DNA topoisomerase IIalpha, ATP, and either etoposide, etoposide catechol, or etoposide quinone. Many of the same cleavage sites were induced by etoposide and by its metabolites, but several unique sites were induced by the metabolites. There was a preference for G(-1) among the unique sites, which differs from the parent drug. Cleavage at most sites was greater and more heat-stable in the presence of the metabolites compared to etoposide. The MLL translocation breakpoints contained within the substrates were near strong and/or stable cleavage sites. The metabolites induced more cleavage than etoposide at the same sites within a 40 bp double-stranded oligonucleotide containing two of the translocation breakpoints, confirming the results at a subset of the sites. Cleavage assays using the same oligonucleotide substrate in which guanines at several positions were replaced with N7-deaza guanines indicated that the N7 position of guanine is important in metabolite-induced cleavage, possibly suggesting N7-guanine alkylation by etoposide quinone. Not only etoposide, but also its metabolites, enhance DNA topoisomerase II cleavage near MLL translocation breakpoints in in vitro assays. It is possible that etoposide metabolites may be relevant to translocations.     

Clustered 11q23 and 22q11 breakpoints and 3:1 meiotic malsegregation in multiple unrelated t(11;22) families

The t(11;22) is the only known recurrent, non-Robertsonian constitutional translocation. We have analyzed t(11;22) balanced-translocation carriers from multiple unrelated families by FISH, to localize the t(11;22) breakpoints on both chromosome 11 and chromosome 22. In 23 unrelated balanced-translocation carriers, the breakpoint was localized within a 400-kb interval between D22S788 (N41) and ZNF74, on 22q11. Also, 13 of these 23 carriers were tested with probes from chromosome 11, and, in each, the breakpoint was localized between D11S1340 and APOA1, on 11q23, to a region 相似文献   

Involvement of ATM in homologous recombination after end resection and RAD51 nucleofilament formation

Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) is needed for the initiation of the double-strand break (DSB) repair by homologous recombination (HR). ATM triggers DSB end resection by stimulating the nucleolytic activity of CtIP and MRE11 to generate 3′-ssDNA overhangs, followed by RPA loading and RAD51 nucleofilament formation. Here we show for the first time that ATM is also needed for later steps in HR after RAD51 nucleofilament formation. Inhibition of ATM after completion of end resection did not affect RAD51 nucleofilament formation, but resulted in HR deficiency as evidenced by (i) an increase in the number of residual RAD51/γH2AX foci in both S and G2 cells, (ii) the decrease in HR efficiency as detected by HR repair substrate (pGC), (iii) a reduced SCE rate and (iv) the radiosensitization of cells by PARP inhibition. This newly described role for ATM was found to be dispensable in heterochromatin-associated DSB repair, as KAP1-depletion did not alleviate the HR-deficiency when ATM was inhibited after end resection. Moreover, we demonstrated that ATR can partly compensate for the deficiency in early, but not in later, steps of HR upon ATM inhibition. Taken together, we describe here for the first time that ATM is needed not only for the initiation but also for the completion of HR.     

TOPORS-mediated RAD51 SUMOylation facilitates homologous recombination repair

Homologous recombination (HR) is critical for error-free repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Chromatin loading of RAD51, a key protein that mediates the recombination, is a crucial step in the execution of the HR repair. Here, we present evidence that SUMOylation of RAD51 is crucial for the RAD51 recruitment to chromatin and HR repair. We found that topoisomerase 1-binding arginine/serine-rich protein (TOPORS) induces the SUMOylation of RAD51 at lysine residues 57 and 70 in response to DNA damaging agents. The SUMOylation was facilitated by an ATM-induced phosphorylation of TOPORS at threonine 515 upon DNA damage. Knockdown of TOPORS or expression of SUMOylation-deficient RAD51 mutants caused reduction in supporting normal RAD51 functions during the HR repair, suggesting the physiological importance of the modification. We found that the SUMOylation-deficient RAD51 reduces the association with its crucial binding partner BRCA2, explaining its deficiency in supporting the HR repair. These findings altogether demonstrate a crucial role for TOPORS-mediated RAD51 SUMOylation in promoting HR repair and genomic maintenance.