CDK2 phosphorylation of Werner protein (WRN) contributes to WRN’s DNA double‐strand break repair pathway choice |
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Authors: | JongHyuk Lee Raghavendra A Shamanna Tomasz Kulikowicz Nima Borhan Fakouri Edward W Kim Louise S Christiansen Deborah L Croteau Vilhelm A Bohr |
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Institution: | 1. Section on DNA Repair, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore MD, USA ; 2. Danish Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Denmark ;3.Present address: Benevir, The Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Rockville Maryland, 20850 USA |
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Abstract: | Werner syndrome (WS) is an accelerated aging disorder characterized by genomic instability, which is caused by WRN protein deficiency. WRN participates in DNA metabolism including DNA repair. In a previous report, we showed that WRN protein is recruited to laser‐induced DNA double‐strand break (DSB) sites during various stages of the cell cycle with similar intensities, supporting that WRN participates in both non‐homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR). Here, we demonstrate that the phosphorylation of WRN by CDK2 on serine residue 426 is critical for WRN to make its DSB repair pathway choice between NHEJ and HR. Cells expressing WRN engineered to mimic the unphosphorylated or phosphorylation state at serine 426 showed abnormal DSB recruitment, altered RPA interaction, strand annealing, and DSB repair activities. The CDK2 phosphorylation on serine 426 stabilizes WRN’s affinity for RPA, likely increasing its long‐range resection at the end of DNA strands, which is a crucial step for HR. Collectively, the data shown here demonstrate that a CDK2‐dependent phosphorylation of WRN regulates DSB repair pathway choice and cell cycle participation. |
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Keywords: | aging DNA double strand break DNA repair phosphorylation Werner Syndrome |
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