Eco1 is important for DNA damage repair in S. cerevisiae

The cohesin network has an essential role in chromosome segregation, but also plays a role in DNA damage repair. Eco1 is an acetyltransferase that targets subunits of the cohesin complex and is involved in both the chromosome segregation and DNA damage repair roles of the network. Using budding yeast as a model system, we find that mutations in Eco1, including a genocopy of a human Roberts syndrome allele, do not cause gross defects in chromosome cohesion. We examined how mitotic and meiotic DNA damage repair is affected by mutations in Eco1. Strains containing mutations in Eco1 are sensitive to DNA damaging agents that cause double-strand breaks, such as X-rays and bleomycin. While meiotic crossing over is relatively unaffected in strains containing the Roberts mutation, reciprocal mitotic crossovers occur with extremely low frequency in this mutant background. Our results suggest that Eco1 promotes the reciprocal exchange of chromosome arms and maintenance of heterozygosity during mitosis.Key words: cohesin, recombination, double-strand break, acetyltransferase, Roberts syndrome     

A new thermosensitive smc-3 allele reveals involvement of cohesin in homologous recombination in C. elegans

The cohesin complex is required for the cohesion of sister chromatids and for correct segregation during mitosis and meiosis. Crossover recombination, together with cohesion, is essential for the disjunction of homologous chromosomes during the first meiotic division. Cohesin has been implicated in facilitating recombinational repair of DNA lesions via the sister chromatid. Here, we made use of a new temperature-sensitive mutation in the Caenorhabditis elegans SMC-3 protein to study the role of cohesin in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and hence in meiotic crossing over. We report that attenuation of cohesin was associated with extensive SPO-11-dependent chromosome fragmentation, which is representative of unrepaired DSBs. We also found that attenuated cohesin likely increased the number of DSBs and eliminated the need of MRE-11 and RAD-50 for DSB formation in C. elegans, which suggests a role for the MRN complex in making cohesin-loaded chromatin susceptible to meiotic DSBs. Notably, in spite of largely intact sister chromatid cohesion, backup DSB repair via the sister chromatid was mostly impaired. We also found that weakened cohesins affected mitotic repair of DSBs by homologous recombination, whereas NHEJ repair was not affected. Our data suggest that recombinational DNA repair makes higher demands on cohesins than does chromosome segregation.     

Rejuvenation of Meiotic Cohesion in Oocytes during Prophase I Is Required for Chiasma Maintenance and Accurate Chromosome Segregation

Chromosome segregation errors in human oocytes are the leading cause of birth defects, and the risk of aneuploid pregnancy increases dramatically as women age. Accurate segregation demands that sister chromatid cohesion remain intact for decades in human oocytes, and gradual loss of the original cohesive linkages established in fetal oocytes is proposed to be a major cause of age-dependent segregation errors. Here we demonstrate that maintenance of meiotic cohesion in Drosophila oocytes during prophase I requires an active rejuvenation program, and provide mechanistic insight into the molecular events that underlie rejuvenation. Gal4/UAS inducible knockdown of the cohesion establishment factor Eco after meiotic S phase, but before oocyte maturation, causes premature loss of meiotic cohesion, resulting in destabilization of chiasmata and subsequent missegregation of recombinant homologs. Reduction of individual cohesin subunits or the cohesin loader Nipped B during prophase I leads to similar defects. These data indicate that loading of newly synthesized replacement cohesin rings by Nipped B and establishment of new cohesive linkages by the acetyltransferase Eco must occur during prophase I to maintain cohesion in oocytes. Moreover, we show that rejuvenation of meiotic cohesion does not depend on the programmed induction of meiotic double strand breaks that occurs during early prophase I, and is therefore mechanistically distinct from the DNA damage cohesion re-establishment pathway identified in G2 vegetative yeast cells. Our work provides the first evidence that new cohesive linkages are established in Drosophila oocytes after meiotic S phase, and that these are required for accurate chromosome segregation. If such a pathway also operates in human oocytes, meiotic cohesion defects may become pronounced in a woman''s thirties, not because the original cohesive linkages finally give out, but because the rejuvenation program can no longer supply new cohesive linkages at the same rate at which they are lost.     

Damage-induced reactivation of cohesin in postreplicative DNA repair

Cohesin establishes sister-chromatid cohesion during S phase to ensure proper chromosome segregation in mitosis. It also facilitates postreplicative homologous recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks by promoting local pairing of damaged and intact sister chromatids. In G2 phase, cohesin that is not bound to chromatin is inactivated, but its reactivation can occur in response to DNA damage. Recent papers by Koshland's and Sj?gren's groups describe the critical role of the known cohesin cofactor Eco1 (Ctf7) and ATR checkpoint kinase in damage-induced reactivation of cohesin, revealing an intricate mechanism that regulates sister-chromatid pairing to maintain genome integrity.     

Recombination protein Tid1p controls resolution of cohesin-dependent linkages in meiosis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Sister chromatid cohesion and interhomologue recombination are coordinated to promote the segregation of homologous chromosomes instead of sister chromatids at the first meiotic division. During meiotic prophase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the meiosis-specific cohesin Rec8p localizes along chromosome axes and mediates most of the cohesion. The mitotic cohesin Mcd1p/Scc1p localizes to discrete spots along chromosome arms, and its function is not clear. In cells lacking Tid1p, which is a member of the SWI2/SNF2 family of helicase-like proteins that are involved in chromatin remodeling, Mcd1p and Rec8p persist abnormally through both meiotic divisions, and chromosome segregation fails in the majority of cells. Genetic results indicate that the primary defect in these cells is a failure to resolve Mcd1p-mediated connections. Tid1p interacts with recombination enzymes Dmc1p and Rad51p and has an established role in recombination repair. We propose that Tid1p remodels Mcd1p-mediated cohesion early in meiotic prophase to facilitate interhomologue recombination and the subsequent segregation of homologous chromosomes.     

ZTF-8 Interacts with the 9-1-1 Complex and Is Required for DNA Damage Response and Double-Strand Break Repair in the C. elegans Germline

Germline mutations in DNA repair genes are linked to tumor progression. Furthermore, failure in either activating a DNA damage checkpoint or repairing programmed meiotic double-strand breaks (DSBs) can impair chromosome segregation. Therefore, understanding the molecular basis for DNA damage response (DDR) and DSB repair (DSBR) within the germline is highly important. Here we define ZTF-8, a previously uncharacterized protein conserved from worms to humans, as a novel factor involved in the repair of both mitotic and meiotic DSBs as well as in meiotic DNA damage checkpoint activation in the C. elegans germline. ztf-8 mutants exhibit specific sensitivity to γ-irradiation and hydroxyurea, mitotic nuclear arrest at S-phase accompanied by activation of the ATL-1 and CHK-1 DNA damage checkpoint kinases, as well as accumulation of both mitotic and meiotic recombination intermediates, indicating that ZTF-8 functions in DSBR. However, impaired meiotic DSBR progression partially fails to trigger the CEP-1/p53-dependent DNA damage checkpoint in late pachytene, also supporting a role for ZTF-8 in meiotic DDR. ZTF-8 partially co-localizes with the 9-1-1 DDR complex and interacts with MRT-2/Rad1, a component of this complex. The human RHINO protein rescues the phenotypes observed in ztf-8 mutants, suggesting functional conservation across species. We propose that ZTF-8 is involved in promoting repair at stalled replication forks and meiotic DSBs by transducing DNA damage checkpoint signaling via the 9-1-1 pathway. Our findings define a conserved function for ZTF-8/RHINO in promoting genomic stability in the germline.     

Cohesin acetyltransferase Esco2 is a cell viability factor and is required for cohesion in pericentric heterochromatin

Sister chromatid cohesion, mediated by cohesin and regulated by Sororin, is essential for chromosome segregation. In mammalian cells, cohesion establishment and Sororin recruitment to chromatin-bound cohesin depends on the acetyltransferases Esco1 and Esco2. Mutations in Esco2 cause Roberts syndrome, a developmental disease in which mitotic chromosomes have a 'railroad' track morphology. Here, we show that Esco2 deficiency leads to termination of mouse development at pre- and post-implantation stages, indicating that Esco2 functions non-redundantly with Esco1. Esco2 is transiently expressed during S-phase when it localizes to pericentric heterochromatin (PCH). In interphase, Esco2 depletion leads to a reduction in cohesin acetylation and Sororin recruitment to chromatin. In early mitosis, Esco2 deficiency causes changes in the chromosomal localization of cohesin and its protector Sgo1. Our results suggest that Esco2 is needed for cohesin acetylation in PCH and that this modification is required for the proper distribution of cohesin on mitotic chromosomes and for centromeric cohesion.     

A Fine-Structure Map of Spontaneous Mitotic Crossovers in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Homologous recombination is an important mechanism for the repair of DNA damage in mitotically dividing cells. Mitotic crossovers between homologues with heterozygous alleles can produce two homozygous daughter cells (loss of heterozygosity), whereas crossovers between repeated genes on non-homologous chromosomes can result in translocations. Using a genetic system that allows selection of daughter cells that contain the reciprocal products of mitotic crossing over, we mapped crossovers and gene conversion events at a resolution of about 4 kb in a 120-kb region of chromosome V of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The gene conversion tracts associated with mitotic crossovers are much longer (averaging about 12 kb) than the conversion tracts associated with meiotic recombination and are non-randomly distributed along the chromosome. In addition, about 40% of the conversion events have patterns of marker segregation that are most simply explained as reflecting the repair of a chromosome that was broken in G1 of the cell cycle.     

Cut1/separase-dependent roles of multiple phosphorylation of fission yeast cohesin subunit Rad21 in post-replicative damage repair and mitosis

Cohesin is a multiprotein complex essential for sister-chromatid cohesion. It plays a pivotal role in proper chromosome segregation and DNA damage repair. The mitotic behavior of cohesin is controlled through its phosphorylation, which possibly induces the dissociation of cohesin from chromosomes and enhances its susceptibility to separase. Here, we report using mass spectrometry and anti-phospho antibodies that the central domain of Rad21, the separase-target subunit of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cohesin, is regulated by various kinase-induced phosphorylation at nine residues, indicating the multiple roles for S. pombe cohesin. In vegetative and non-dividing G0 cells, Rad21 is phosphorylated by unknown S/TP-consensus kinases, in mitotic and non-mitotic cells by polo/Plo1 and CDK, and in DNA-damaged cells by Rad3/ATR. While mitotic phosphorylation is implicated in the dissociation of Rad21 and its cleavage by separase in anaphase, the Rad3/ATR-dependent damage-induced phosphorylation occurs intensively at the time of repair completion, and only in post-replicative cells. This damage-induced Rad21 phosphorylation is involved in the recovery process of cells from checkpoint arrest, and needed for the removal of cohesin by separase after the completion of damage repair. These complex phospho-regulations of Rad21 indicate the functional significance of cohesin in cell adaptation to a variety of cellular conditions.     

Pds5 is required for homologue pairing and inhibits synapsis of sister chromatids during yeast meiosis

During meiosis, homologues become juxtaposed and synapsed along their entire length. Mutations in the cohesin complex disrupt not only sister chromatid cohesion but also homologue pairing and synaptonemal complex formation. In this study, we report that Pds5, a cohesin-associated protein known to regulate sister chromatid cohesion, is required for homologue pairing and synapsis in budding yeast. Pds5 colocalizes with cohesin along the length of meiotic chromosomes. In the absence of Pds5, the meiotic cohesin subunit Rec8 remains bound to chromosomes with only minor defects in sister chromatid cohesion, but sister chromatids synapse instead of homologues. Double-strand breaks (DSBs) are formed but are not repaired efficiently. In addition, meiotic chromosomes undergo hypercondensation. When the mitotic cohesin subunit Mcd1 is substituted for Rec8 in Pds5-depleted cells, chromosomes still hypercondense, but synapsis of sister chromatids is abolished. These data suggest that Pds5 modulates the Rec8 activity to facilitate chromosome morphological changes required for homologue synapsis, DSB repair, and meiotic chromosome segregation.     

H2A.Z-Dependent Regulation of Cohesin Dynamics on Chromosome Arms

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complexes and DNA topoisomerases are major determinants of chromosome structure and dynamics. The cohesin complex embraces sister chromatids throughout interphase, but during mitosis most cohesin is stripped from chromosome arms by early prophase, while the remaining cohesin at kinetochores is cleaved at anaphase. This two-step removal of cohesin is required for sister chromatids to separate. The cohesin-related Smc5/6 complex has been studied mostly as a determinant of DNA repair via homologous recombination. However, chromosome segregation fails in Smc5/6 null mutants or cells treated with small interfering RNAs. This also occurs in Smc5/6 hypomorphs in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe following genotoxic and replication stress, or topoisomerase II dysfunction, and these mitotic defects are due to the postanaphase retention of cohesin on chromosome arms. Here we show that mitotic and repair roles for Smc5/6 are genetically separable in S. pombe. Further, we identified the histone variant H2A.Z as a critical factor to modulate cohesin dynamics, and cells lacking H2A.Z suppress the mitotic defects conferred by Smc5/6 dysfunction. Together, H2A.Z and the SMC complexes ensure genome integrity through accurate chromosome segregation.     

Scc1/Rad21/Mcd1 is required for sister chromatid cohesion and kinetochore function in vertebrate cells.

Proteolytic cleavage of the cohesin subunit Scc1 is a consistent feature of anaphase onset, although temporal differences exist between eukaryotes in cohesin loss from chromosome arms, as distinct from centromeres. We describe the effects of genetic deletion of Scc1 in chicken DT40 cells. Scc1 loss caused premature sister chromatid separation but did not disrupt chromosome condensation. Scc1 mutants showed defective repair of spontaneous and induced DNA damage. Scc1-deficient cells frequently failed to complete metaphase chromosome alignment and showed chromosome segregation defects, suggesting aberrant kinetochore function. Notably, the chromosome passenger INCENP did not localize normally to centromeres, while the constitutive kinetochore proteins CENP-C and CENP-H behaved normally. These results suggest a role for Scc1 in mitotic regulation, along with cohesion.     

Meiotic Gene Conversion Mutants in SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE . I. Isolation and Characterization of pms1-1 and pms1-2

The pms1 mutants, isolated on the basis of sharply elevated meiotic prototroph frequencies for two closely linked his4 alleles, display pleiotropic phenotypes in meiotic and mitotic cells. Two isolates carrying recessive mutations in PMS1 were characterized. They identify a function required to maintain low postmeiotic segregation (PMS) frequencies at many heterozygous sites. In addition, they are mitotic mutators. In mutant diploids, spore viability is reduced, and among survivors, gene conversion and postmeiotic segregation frequencies are increased, but reciprocal exchange frequencies are not affected. The conversion event pattern is also dramatically changed in multiply marked regions in pms1 homozygotes. The PMS1 locus maps near MET4 on chromosome XIV. The PMS1 gene may identify an excision-resynthesis long patch mismatch correction function or a function that facilitates correction tract elongation. The PMS1 gene product may also play an important role in spontaneous mitotic mutation avoidance and correction of mismatches in heteroduplex DNA formed during spontaneous and UV-induced mitotic recombination. Based on meiotic recombination models emphasizing mismatch correction in heteroduplex DNA intermediates, this interpretation is favored, but alternative interpretations involving longer recombination intermediates in the mutants are also considered.     

Sister chromatid cohesion is required for postreplicative double-strand break repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The repair of DNA double-strand breaks by recombination requires the presence of an undamaged copy that is used as a template during the repair process. Because cells acquire resistance to gamma irradiation during DNA replication and because sister chromatids are the preferred partner for double-strand break repair in mitotic diploid yeast cells, it has long been suspected that cohesion between sister chromatids might be crucial for efficient repair. This hypothesis is consistent with the sensitivity to gamma irradiation of mutants defective in the cohesin complex that holds sister chromatids together from DNA replication until the onset of anaphase (reviewed in) . It is also in accordance with the finding that surveillance mechanisms (checkpoints) that sense DNA damage arrest cell cycle progression in yeast by causing stabilization of the securin Pds1, thereby blocking sister chromatid separation. The hypersensitivity to irradiation of cohesin mutants could, however, be due to a more direct involvement of the cohesin complex in the process of DNA repair. We show here that passage through S phase in the presence of cohesin, and not cohesin per se, is essential for efficient double-strand break repair during G2 in yeast. Proteins needed to load cohesin onto chromosomes (Scc2) and to generate cohesion during S phase (Eco1) are also shown to be required for repair. Our results confirm what has long been suspected but never proven, that cohesion between sister chromatids is essential for efficient double-strand break repair in mitotic cells.     

Meiosis-Specific Cohesin Component,Stag3 Is Essential for Maintaining Centromere Chromatid Cohesion,and Required for DNA Repair and Synapsis between Homologous Chromosomes

Cohesins are important for chromosome structure and chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis. Cohesins are composed of two structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC1-SMC3) proteins that form a V-shaped heterodimer structure, which is bridged by a α-kleisin protein and a stromal antigen (STAG) protein. Previous studies in mouse have shown that there is one SMC1 protein (SMC1β), two α-kleisins (RAD21L and REC8) and one STAG protein (STAG3) that are meiosis-specific. During meiosis, homologous chromosomes must recombine with one another in the context of a tripartite structure known as the synaptonemal complex (SC). From interaction studies, it has been shown that there are at least four meiosis-specific forms of cohesin, which together with the mitotic cohesin complex, are lateral components of the SC. STAG3 is the only meiosis-specific subunit that is represented within all four meiosis-specific cohesin complexes. In Stag3 mutant germ cells, the protein level of other meiosis-specific cohesin subunits (SMC1β, RAD21L and REC8) is reduced, and their localization to chromosome axes is disrupted. In contrast, the mitotic cohesin complex remains intact and localizes robustly to the meiotic chromosome axes. The instability of meiosis-specific cohesins observed in Stag3 mutants results in aberrant DNA repair processes, and disruption of synapsis between homologous chromosomes. Furthermore, mutation of Stag3 results in perturbation of pericentromeric heterochromatin clustering, and disruption of centromere cohesion between sister chromatids during meiotic prophase. These defects result in early prophase I arrest and apoptosis in both male and female germ cells. The meiotic defects observed in Stag3 mutants are more severe when compared to single mutants for Smc1β, Rec8 and Rad21l, however they are not as severe as the Rec8, Rad21l double mutants. Taken together, our study demonstrates that STAG3 is required for the stability of all meiosis-specific cohesin complexes. Furthermore, our data suggests that STAG3 is required for structural changes of chromosomes that mediate chromosome pairing and synapsis, DNA repair and progression of meiosis.     

Meiotic versus mitotic recombination: two different routes for double-strand break repair: the different functions of meiotic versus mitotic DSB repair are reflected in different pathway usage and different outcomes

Studies in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have validated the major features of the double-strand break repair (DSBR) model as an accurate representation of the pathway through which meiotic crossovers (COs) are produced. This success has led to this model being invoked to explain double-strand break (DSB) repair in other contexts. However, most non-crossover (NCO) recombinants generated during S. cerevisiae meiosis do not arise via a DSBR pathway. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that DSBR is a minor pathway for recombinational repair of DSBs that occur in mitotically-proliferating cells and that the synthesis-dependent strand annealing (SDSA) model appears to describe mitotic DSB repair more accurately. Fundamental dissimilarities between meiotic and mitotic recombination are not unexpected, since meiotic recombination serves a very different purpose (accurate chromosome segregation, which requires COs) than mitotic recombination (repair of DNA damage, which typically generates NCOs).