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Vol. 20, Issue 19, 4183-4193, October 1, 2009
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*Laboratory of Developmental Signalling and Patterning, Genes and Development Division, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138673;
Department of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117597; and
School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637551
Submitted February 5, 2009;
Revised July 9, 2009;
Accepted July 27, 2009
Monitoring Editor: Orna Cohen-Fix
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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-helix like (PAH-L) repeats, and one putative SW13, ADA2, N-Cor and TFIIIB like (SANT-L) domain. The C-terminal PAH-L and SANT-L domains have been shown to be essential in primitive erythroid cell development (Liu et al., 2007
The DNA damage response pathway is a cellular surveillance system that senses the presence of damaged DNA and elicits checkpoint activation and subsequent lesion repair in preventing amplification or loss of genes or chromosomes (Zhou and Elledge, 2000
). The critical components of DNA damage checkpoint are two phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase-like kinase family proteins: Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and ATM- and Rad3-related (ATR) (Abraham, 2003
; Shiloh, 2003
). ATR functions as a sensor and transducer in response to UV light and presumably to genotoxic agents that give rise to stalled replication forks, and subsequently activates Checkpoint kinase (Chk) 1 (Melo et al., 2001
), whereas ATM is a central signaling protein that functions in response to DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs), leading to activation of Chk2 (Shiloh, 2003
), which ultimately activates the tumor suppressor p53 (Helton and Chen, 2007
). On p53 phosphorylation through ATM, its interaction with Mdm2 is inhibited, resulting in p53 stabilization (Shieh et al., 1997
). p53 accumulates in the nucleus and regulates transcription of genes involved in DNA damage response by eliciting cell cycle arrest and/or apoptosis and thereby constraining tumor progression (Lane, 1992
; Ljungman, 2000
).
Most of the genes targeted by p53 are associated with the regulation of cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and/or DNA repair processes, which function to prevent proliferation of damaged cells. The central components of the cell cycle system are cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). A major player in the p53-mediated G1 arrest is p21WAF/CIP1 that inhibits cyclin E-CDK2. Thus, an accumulation of p21WAF/CIP1 prevents G1-to-S transition and aberrant replication of damaged DNA (Waldman et al., 1995
). p53 also plays a critical role in G2 arrest that allows cells to avoid segregation of defective chromosomes through the regulation of many target genes during G2/M arrest (Bunz et al., 1998
). For example, growth-arrest and DNA damage-inducible 45 (GADD45) proteins can associate with p21WAF/CIP1, which inhibits G1-to-S phase transition and also promotes dissociation of the cell division control (Cdc)2/cyclin B1 complex, inducing a G2/M arrest (Fornace et al., 1992
; Vairapandi et al., 1996
; Wang et al., 1999
; Mak and Kultz, 2004
).
Minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins are conserved in eukaryotes and have essential roles in initiation and elongation during DNA replication (Tye, 1999
; Labib et al., 2000
; Forsburg, 2004
; Pacek and Walter, 2004
; Shechter et al., 2004
). MCM4, -6, and -7 have been shown to unwind DNA helices in a ATP-dependent manner, whereas the heterohexameric MCM2-7 does not, suggesting that MCM4, -6, and -7 may function as the catalytic core and the replicative helicase during DNA replication (Fujita et al., 1997
; Kubota et al., 1997
; Labib et al., 2000
). Association of the MCM complex with the chromatin is cell cycle regulated: MCM2-7 binds to chromatin only during the G1/S phase and dissociates from as replication proceeds (Kearsey and Labib, 1998
). Moreover, loss of MCM function has been demonstrated to cause DNA damage and genome instability (Bailis and Forsburg, 2004
).
Here, we investigated what causes p53 up-regulation and developmental defects that are associated with the loss of udu function. We demonstrated that the DNA damage response pathway, containing Atm-Chk2-p53, is activated in udutu24 mutants. The PAH-L and SANT-L domains of Udu were found to be involved in protein–protein interactions with MCM3 and MCM4. Our data indicate that Udu deficiency during zebrafish development causes genomic instability, leading to an activation of the DNA damage checkpoint, which activates p53 and subsequently results in the cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. To our knowledge, this work provides the first biochemical link between PAH-L and SANT-L domains and MCM proteins and a possible functional link between Udu and DNA replication.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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65 cm from a UV bulb (SYLVANIA Germicidal G30T8/30 W), irradiated for 15 min, and subsequently rinsed several times in E3 medium and then incubated at 28.5°C for 1 h before any subsequent experiments were carried out. Embryos were soaked in KU55933 (ATM kinase inhibitor) at 15 µM and CGK733 (ATM/ATR kinase inhibitor) at 200 µM for 20 h. All experiments on zebrafish embryos were approved by the Biological Research Centre, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (Singapore).
Injection Experiments
Morpholinos (MOs) (Gene Tools, Philomath, OR) were dissolved in 1x Danieau buffer and stored at –20°C. We injected 1.77 pmol of p53-MO (5'-GCGCCATTGCTTTGCAAGAATTG-3'; Langheinrich et al., 2002
), 0.78 pmol of atm-MO (5'-GAAAACGGCACCACCTGGTAAA-3'; Yamaguchi et al., 2008
), and 2.08 pmol of chk2-MO (5'-CAGACATGATGCTTTTATTCTGGAC-3'; Yamaguchi et al., 2008
) into the yolks of one- to four-cell stage embryos.
Genotyping of udutu24 Embryos
Homozygous udutu24 embryos injected with p53-MO were selected based on somite phenotype described and shown in Supplemental Figure S1E. Homozygous udutu24 embryos injected with chk2-MO have tail-tips that were not round-shaped but tapered (see Figure 4N). Selected p53-MO– and chk2-MO–injected udutu24 embryos were subjected to sequencing experiments to confirm their genotype. Homozygous udutu24 embryos were identified via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of genomic DNA by using forward (5'-TTGGCTCAACCAGTGTAAA-3') and reverse (5'-TGTGAATGTTACCTAATAGC-3') primers. Sequencing of these PCR fragments revealed a T-to-A transition in exon 12 of the mutant embryos, shown in Supplemental Figure S1F.
RNA Isolation and Quantitative Real-Time PCR
RNA was isolated from wild-type and udutu24 embryos at the respective stage by using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Total RNA was reversely transcribed using Superscript II reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen) and cDNA was amplified with the respective primers designed using Primer Express software, version 3.0 (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). The SYBR Green-based quantitative real-time PCR was carried out on an ABI 7300 real-time PCR system. Reactions were performed using SYBR Green PCR master mix (Applied Biosystems) for one cycle of 95°C for 10 min, followed by 44 cycles of 95°C for 15 s and 60°C for 1 min. elf1a was used as an endogenous control. Relative quantification was performed using Prism Sequence Detection software (Applied Biosystems). Gene accession numbers and primer sequences used for the quantitative real-time PCR are presented in Supplemental Table 1.
Plasmids
The construct of PAH-L and SANT-L domains was made by subcloning the PCR-amplified fragments into pcDNA3.1(+) vector. We used forward (5'-CCTCCACAGATCAGCGAGGGTACCATGGATTACAAGGACGACGATGACAAGGGAGGCCGT-3') and reverse (5'-CTGCTCTGCAGCCTCGAGCTCTGAACTGGCCTG-3') primers to amplify the PAH-L and SANT-L domains. HP1β, MCM3, and MCM4 PCR-amplified fragments were made by subcloning the PCR-amplified fragments into pCS2+MT vector. We used forward (5'-AAAAGATCTGGGAATTCCATGGCTGCTGAAGTTGTG-3') and reverse (5'-ACTGATATTGTCCCGCTCGAGCGGTTAAATCAGGAA-3') to amplify mcm3; forward (5'-CGCACGTTTTGGAATTCCATGTCTTCACCATCA-3') and reverse (5'-TCCTGGGATCAGTTGCTCTAGAGCTCAGGGCTTCTCGAT-3') to amplify mcm4; forward (5'-AGAGCCTCGGGATCCATGAGCCAACCTACA-3') and reverse (5'-TGACTTGCCATCGATCTAGTTCTTGTCATC-3') to amplify hp1β. Total RNA was reversely transcribed using SuperScript II reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen), and all PCR amplification experiments were done using Expand High Fidelity PCR System (Roche, Basel, Switzerland). All PCR amplified sequences were verified using SeqMan II, expert sequence analysis (DNASTAR, Madison, WI).
Whole-Mount mRNA In Situ Hybridization (WISH) and Immunohistochemical Staining
Digoxigenin-labeled antisense RNA probes were generated with a Stratagene RNA transcription kit. Single WISH was done as described previously (Qiu et al., 2004
). For immunohistochemical staining, embryos were anesthetized, dechorinated and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA)/phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 4°C, unless otherwise stated. The following antibodies were used: mouse anti-β-catenin (Abcam, Cambridge, United Kingdom) and polyclonal rabbit anti-phosphorylated histone H3 (pH3) (Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA). The appropriate AlexaFluor-conjugated secondary antibodies (Invitrogen) were used for signal detection. Embryos were counterstained with 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) to visualize cell nuclei. Embryos labeled with pH3 antibody and DAPI were scanned using confocal microscope, and the numbers of dividing cells and total cells were counted. Immunohistochemical staining of
-H2AX antibody (Novus Biologicals, Littleton, CO) was carried out on embryos fixed in acetone:methanol (50:50).
5-Bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) Incorporation
For labeling of S phase cells, BrdU was incorporated by incubating dechorinated live zebrafish embryos in BrdU solution (10 mM BrdU; 15% dimethyl sulfoxide [DMSO] in E3 medium) for 20 min on ice, followed by washes in E3 medium and further incubation for 1 h at 28.5°C. Embryos were then fixed in 4% PFA/PBS overnight at 4°C. After several washes in 0.1% Tween in PBS (PBST), embryos were incubated in 100% methanol overnight at –20°C. Embryos were permeabilized with proteinase K, refixed in 4% PFA for 20 min, and then rinsed in PBST and 2 N HCl, and followed by incubation in 2 N HCl for 1 h. Subsequently, embryos were blocked for 1 h in blocking solution and incubated with primary anti-BrdU antibody (Sigma-Aldrich) and secondary AlexaFluor488-conjugated anti-mouse antibody (Invitrogen).
Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) and Cell Cycle Analysis
Whole embryos or tail region posterior to yolk extension at 22 h postfertilization (hpf) were used. Single-cell suspension was obtained as described previously (Ryu et al., 2005
). Cells were resuspended in 4 mM citrate buffer, pH 6.5, containing 0.1 mg/ml propidium iodide, 200 µg/ml RNase, and 0.1% Triton X-100. Cell cycle progression was analyzed using FACScan machine (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA).
Detection of Apoptotic Cells in Whole-Mount and Cryostat Section
The fragmented DNA of apoptotic cells was identified by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) method, by using the AP, In Situ Cell Death Detection kit (Roche) and the DeadEnd TUNEL system (Promega, Madison, WI), according to the manufacturer's instructions. For cryostat sections, embryos were embedded in OCT medium as described in the zebrafish book (http://www.zfin.org).
Comet Assays
Neutral comet assay was performed using the CometAssay kit (4250-040-K; Trevigen, Gaithersburg, MD) according to the manufacturer's instruction. DNA was stained with SYBR Green as provided (Trevigen). Comet images were taken by fluorescence microscopy.
Nuclear Protein Extraction
Yolks were removed from zebrafish embryos (22 hpf) by using ice-cold PBS with protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche) by pipetting with a 200-µl tip. Nuclear protein was obtained from the yolk-extirpated embryos according to the protocol described in Davuluri et al. (2008)
. The extracted proteins were electrophoresed on an SDS-polyacrylamide gel followed by Western blotting with rabbit anti-Chk2 (Cell Signaling Technology) and rabbit anti-phospho-Chk2 (Ser33) (Cell Signaling Technology). We used 5% bovine serum albumin for blocking. β-Tubulin (Abcam) was used as a loading control.
Cell Culture, Transfection, Immunoprecipitation, and Synchronization
COS7 cells were cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% (vol/vol) fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin-streptomycin. Cells were transiently transfected using Lipofectamine LTX transfection reagent (Invitrogen). In immunoprecipitation assay, cells were harvested 24 h after transfection in IONIC buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 8.0, 150 mM NaCl, 0.5% NP-40, 0.5% deoxycholic acid, and 0.05% SDS, containing protease inhibitor cocktail [Roche]). Cell lysate from 100-mm dish was clarified by centrifugation and incubated with anti-FLAG M2 affinity gel (Sigma-Aldrich) for 4 h at 4°C. The eluted proteins were electrophoresed on an SDS-polyacrylamide gel followed by Western blotting with rabbit anti-Myc (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA) and rabbit anti-FLAG antibodies (Santa Cruz Biotechnology). For cell synchronization, COS7 cells were incubated in 1 µg/ml aphidicolin (Calbiochem, San Diego, CA) for 20 h and then released into aphidicolin-free medium. Cells were confirmed in G1/S border by FACS analysis. Synchronized cells were then incubated in 10 µM BrdU for 10 min at 37°C.
Immunofluorescence
COS7 cells were grown on coverslips under the conditions as described in Cell Culture, Transfection, Immunoprecipitation, and Synchronization. After 24-h transfection, cells were fixed in 4% PFA/PBS for 10 min at room temperature. Fixed cells were permeabilized in 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS for 10 min and then blocked in blocking solution (10% goat serum in PBS) for 1 h. The cells were then sequentially treated with primary and secondary antibodies diluted in blocking solution for 1 h each at room temperature. The primary antibodies used were rabbit anti-FLAG (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), mouse anti-BrdU (Sigma-Aldrich), and mouse anti-Myc (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) and polyclonal anti-Udu (Liu et al., 2007
). The secondary antibodies used were Alexa488 goat anti-rabbit and Alexa568 goat anti-mouse antibodies (Invitrogen).
Microscopy
Embryos were observed on an Axioskop microscope (Carl Zeiss, Jena, Germany) equipped with a camera (Nikon, Tokyo, Japan) for digital image capture. Confocal images of TUNEL and BrdU assays were taken on an inverted 510 LSM laser scanning confocal microscope (Carl Zeiss), and images were processed using LSM image browser (Carl Zeiss). pH3 and
-H2AX immunohistochemical staining and immunofluorescence assays were taken on a FluoView upright confocal microscope (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) equipped with FV10-ASW 1.6 viewer. All images were assembled using Photoshop (Adobe Systems, Mountain View, CA).
| RESULTS |
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To examine whether the oscillator mechanism regulating zebrafish somite segmentation is affected, we analyzed deltaC expression, which is a readout of the cycling segmentation clock and prefigures the reiterated somites 60–90 min, time for generating two to three somites, before they physically form a boundary (Jiang et al., 2000
). In the mutants, cycling deltaC expression in the PSM was maintained at 12 and 15 ss, suggesting that the clock functions normally, at least at the onset of udu somite phenotype and is not responsible for the somite boundary defects (Supplemental Figure S3).
Dramatically Increased Apoptotic Cells Are Found in Specific Tissues of udutu24 Mutants
Apoptotic cells have been found in udu mutants previously (Hammerschmidt et al., 1996
; Liu et al., 2007
). We further analyzed the developing embryos for TUNEL-positive cells, to investigate whether the severe morphological abnormality of udutu24 mutants results from a spatial activation of the apoptotic pathway. The udutu24 embryos had an extensive amount of TUNEL-positive cells in head, neural tube, and tail compared with wild-type embryos at 22 hpf (Figure 1, K and L). Examination of the TUNEL staining by sectioning revealed massive apoptotic cells in the midbrain–hindbrain region, the lens, and retina of udutu24 mutants, whereas the otic placode remained unaffected (Figure 1, M–P). The mutant tail region was particularly concentrated with apoptotic cells, corresponding to the observed somite defects and short body length (Figure 1, Q and R). This analysis demonstrated that the increased activation of cellular apoptotic pathway correlates with regions of developmental abnormalities found in udutu24 mutants.
Elevated Level of p53 Causes Apoptosis in udutu24 Embryos
To examine whether the p53 pathway was activated in the apoptotic udutu24 mutants, we examined p53 transcript levels. Up-regulation of p53 mRNA was obvious in the developing brain, pronephron, posterior trunk, and tail bud regions of udutu24 embryos (Figure 2, A and B), which was correlated with the massive amount of TUNEL-positive cells found in corresponding regions (Figure 1, M–R). Next, p53-morpholino (MO) (Langheinrich et al., 2002
) injection was performed to examine whether elevated level of p53 in udutu24 mutants causes apoptosis. The knockdown of p53 could significantly reduce the amount of TUNEL-positive cells and rescue somite defects in 65.9% (n = 29/44) of the injected mutants (Figure 2, C–E, compared with Figure 1L). High-resolution images of somite structures are shown in Supplemental Figure S1. Consistently, p53 MO-injected udutu24 mutants displayed a normal expression pattern of myoD and titin (Figure 2, F–I). Further evidence for the rescue of somite boundaries by p53-MO was presented as high-resolution confocal images of embryos labeled with β-catenin antibody (Supplemental Figure S2, C and D). Thus, inhibition of p53 translation can suppress apoptosis and rescue developmental defects in udutu24 mutants.
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l, were up-regulated. Similarly, WISH confirmed that gadd45
l was indeed up-regulated in the trunk and tail regions of udutu24 embryos (data not shown). These data suggest that the apoptotic udutu24 phenotype is attributed to the activation of p53 and its downstream target genes.
Loss of udu Function Results in Cell Cycle Defects
With the up-regulation of p53 and its response genes that are known to be involved in cell cycle and apoptosis, we performed FACS analysis of dissociated cells from whole body and tail region posterior to yolk extension of wild-type and udutu24 embryos stained with propidium-iodide (PI) to examine cell cycle progression. At 22 hpf, udutu24 mutants had a lower fraction of cells in the G1 and S phases and an accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase (Figure 3, A–F). To further verify the reduction of cell number in the S phase, incorporation of BrdU was carried out. The number of BrdU-positive cells was indeed much more reduced in udutu24 tail region posterior to yolk extension (Figure 3, G and H). Anti-pH3 antibody was used to label proliferating cells in the mitotic phase of 22 hpf embryos. Quantification of pH3-positive cells showed that the ratio of pH3-positive cells to the total number of cells at 22 hpf was higher in udutu24 mutants compared with wild-type embryos in the eye and hindbrain regions (Figure 3, I–M). In summary, these results showed that udu mutation indeed affects cell cycle progression.
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DNA Repair for DSB Seems Functional in udutu24 Mutants
To dissect the mechanism that could potentially induce DNA DSB and activate the Atm–Chk2–p53 pathway, we investigated the role of Udu in cellular processes involving DNA repair and replication. Phosphorylated H2AX, referred to as
-H2AX, can be detected within minutes after the induction of DSB and is required for the recruitment of several DNA repair proteins to the DNA damage sites (Paull et al., 2000
). Each
-H2AX focus is assumed to label one DSB site (Rothkamm and Löbrich, 2003
). The slightly increased number of
-H2AX foci found in non–UV-treated udutu24 mutants indicated the presence of DNA DSB, which is consistent with the previously-shown comet assay (Figure 5, A and B). After 1-h irradiation, the number of
-H2AX foci was significantly increased, and they dispersed throughout the trunk and tail regions of both wild-type and udutu24 embryos (Figure 5, C and D). Thus, udutu24 mutants were able to response to DNA damage by recruiting DNA repair proteins via
-H2AX. The density and intensity of
-H2AX signals 5 h post-UV irradiation was similarly maintained in both wild-type and udutu24 embryos (Figure 5, E and F). It has been reported that repair of DNA DSBs takes a longer time compared with DNA SSBs (Rapp and Greulich, 2004
). Indeed, our experimental results showed that cells with
-H2AX signals were significantly reduced in the trunk and tail regions of both wild-type and udutu24 embryos after 24 h (data not shown) and further reduced after 31 h (Figure 5, G and H) UV irradiation. To further interrogate the effects of inhibition of apoptosis, wild-type and udutu24 embryos were injected with p53-MO. Increased
-H2AX staining due to damaged DNA can be observed in p53-injected udutu24 embryos, because damaged cells were not cleared via apoptosis and therefore accumulated (Figure 5, I and J). Together, these results further link the loss of udu function with DNA damage and suggest that Udu is not essential for DSB DNA repair.
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Udu protein, containing both PAH-L and SANT-L domains, has been shown to reside in the nucleus (Liu et al., 2007
). However, it was done in unsynchronized cells. The available Udu antibody (Liu et al., 2007
) failed to detect Udu in zebrafish embryos via immunohistochemical method and to gain better understanding of its function during DNA replication, colocalization experiments were performed. COS7 cells were synchronized at the G1-S border with DNA polymerase inhibitor, aphidicolin (data not shown). After released from the aphidicolin block, BrdU was incorporated into the synchronized cells, fixed at different time points and coimmunostained with antibodies against BrdU and FLAG-tagged PAH-L and SANT-L. During the early S phase, BrdU incorporation was seen in granular pattern throughout the nucleus (Figure 5, L–O). Five hours after being released into S phase, cells exhibited large BrdU foci that are colocalized with PAH-L and SANT-L domains, indicating the involvement of PAH-L and SANT-L domains during DNA replication (Figure 5, P–S).
Replication of euchromatin occurs in early S phase, whereas pericentromeric heterochromatin is replicated in late S phase (Fox et al., 1991
; O'Keefe et al., 1992
). We further proceeded to investigate whether Udu is localized in the replicating pericentromeric heterochromatin by staining the cells for Udu or PAH-L and SANT-L domains and HP1β, a marker for pericentromeric heterochromatin (Wreggett et al., 1994
). Indeed, Udu (and PAH-L+SANT-L) foci were colocalized with HP1β foci (Figure 5, T–W; data not shown). Together, these data suggest a possible role of Udu in protecting the genome integrity. The loss of Udu function, particularly lacking of PAH-L and SANT-L domains, can cause DNA damage, resulting in the activation of DNA damage pathway and, subsequently, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.
| DISCUSSION |
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Is Udu Required for DNA Replication?
Our findings have raised the interesting question of what actually causes DNA damage in udutu24 mutants. Based on the following reasons, it is possible that DNA damage found in udutu24 mutants is caused by the dysfunction in DNA replication. First, the ability to form
-H2AX foci after UV treatment in udutu24 mutants suggests that the DNA repair mechanism and, presumably, most of its corresponding proteins are largely unaffected. Second, Y2H and coimmunoprecipitation show that Udu binds to MCM3 and MCM4. Third, Udu localizes in chromatin during the S phase in synchronized cells. Fourth, mcm2, mcm4, and mcm5 expression level is down-regulated in udusq1 mutants (Liu et al., 2007
), probably due to the elevated p53 expression (Scian et al., 2008
) and/or cross-regulation between MCM proteins (Fitch et al., 2003
). And last, Udu contains PAH-L and SANT-L domains, which have been shown to be involved in transcription and/or chromatin remodeling.
DNA replication occurs at specialized sites, known as the replication origins, during the S phase of the cell cycle. Before DNA replication starts, the DNA helix must be unwound by MCM proteins that act as DNA helicase to allow the access of numerous accessory proteins, including DNA polymerases, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, primase, topoisomerase, and DNA ligase (Bell and Dutta, 2002
). Hence, DNA replication involves dynamic changes of chromatin structure. Studies have shown that the PAH domain is a flexible domain that could function with numerous sequence specific transcription factors and regulate gene transcription (Silverstein and Ekwall, 2005
). This implies that Udu protein may form complexes with interacting partners via PAH-L repeats, together with SANT-L domain functioning as a chromatin remodeling complexes (Boyer et al., 2002, 2004
). Our data demonstrated that PAH-L and SANT-L domains of Udu binds to MCM3 and MCM4. Hence, Udu in udutu24 mutants, which lacks both PAH-L and SANT-L domains, may be unable to interact with MCM proteins, probably leading to increased DNA damage, indicated by our comet assay. The reduction of BrdU-positive cells in udutu24 mutants further supports our notion that progression though the S phase is delayed or prevented.
MCMs proteins have been shown to be direct targets of ATM/ATR kinases (Cortez et al., 2004
; Ishimi et al., 2003
; Shi et al., 2007
; Yoo et al., 2004
), suggesting that the MCMs may be targets or effectors of the replication checkpoint. It has been shown that the phosphorylation of MCM4 in the checkpoint control inhibits DNA replication, which includes blockage of DNA fork progression through inactivation of the MCM complex (Ishimi et al., 2003
). Thus, the DNA sequence fidelity, together with associated chromatin structure must be accurately replicated to maintain genetic and epigenetic information through cell generations. To achieve this, it is plausible that chromatin remodeling may play important roles to facilitate the many steps of replication process.
In conclusion, we provide evidence that PAH-L and SANT-L domains of Udu associates with MCM proteins and localizes in chromatin during the S phase, suggesting that these domains may be required for DNA replication. We speculate that the association of Udu with MCM proteins may provide additional factors and/or activation steps on structural modulation of MCM proteins in DNA unwinding at replication origins. Our findings warrant further study of the Udu function in DNA replication.
Is Udu Coupled with Cell Cycle?
To maintain the genome stability, the cell cycle control system must ensure that replication is completed before chromosome segregation can occur. Blast searches in database revealed that the Udu protein had the highest homology to the human and mouse GON4L in both protein sequence and gene structure (Kuryshev et al., 2006
; Liu et al., 2007
). Caenorhabditis elegans gon-4, from which the name of the mammalian orthologue was derived, was identified as cell lineage regulator in gonadogenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans. It was also suggested that gon-4 may control expression of genes that drive the cell cycle (Friedman et al., 2000
). Further evidence for the involvement of GON4L in cell cycle control comes from the association of the Drosophila GON4L homolog, Cdp1, with cyclin D demonstrated in a Y2H screen (Zhong et al., 2003
). Hence, these data suggest that the function of GON4L may be linked to cell cycle control. Actually, we also identified cell cycle defects in udutu24 mutants, although mainly through p53. It will be intriguing to revisit the phenotypes of C. elegans gon-4 and Drosophila cdp1 mutants and examine whether the Atm-Chk2-p53 pathway is activated and whether Udu proteins regulate cell cycle coupling with DNA replication.
In zebrafish, mutants of several proteins required for DNA replication have been identified and characterized: mcm5 (Ryu et al., 2005
), DNA polymerase delta1/fla (Plaster et al., 2006
) and primase/piy (Yamaguchi et al., 2008
). Similar to udu mutants, these mutants all show apoptosis, two of which are also p53-dependent and show cell cycle defects (Ryu et al., 2005
; Plaster et al., 2006
). Although not yet examined, retinal apoptosis in mcm5 and fla mutants may depend on Atm and/or Chk2. It is unclear why piy mutants activate the DNA damage response via Atm-Chk2-p53 without any or little defects in DNA replication. Nevertheless, the characterization of these mutants suggests that cell cycle and DNA replication are tightly coregulated.
In summary, we have demonstrated the involvement of the Atm–Chk2–p53 pathway in causing the apoptosis in udutu24 mutants and the association of Udu with MCM proteins as well as a possible link between PAH-L and SANT-L domains and DNA replication. These findings lead us to hypothesize a possible role of Udu in maintaining or protecting the genome integrity, as the loss of udu function leads to an activation of the DNA damage response pathway, which potentially eliminates damaged cells via apoptosis. Overall, this could lead us to have a better understanding of Udu and its related members in the regulation of replication and the mechanism underlying p53-dependent apoptosis in maintaining stability and integrity of genome during development.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| Footnotes |
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Address correspondence to: Yun-Jin Jiang (yjjiang{at}imcb.a-star.edu.sg).
Abbreviations used: ATM, Ataxia telangiectasia mutated; ATR, ATM- and Rad3-related; Chk, checkpoint kinase; GADD45, growth-arrest and DNA damage-inducible 45; hpf, hours postfertilization; MCM, minichromosome maintenance; MO, morpholino; PAH-L, paired amphipathic
-helix like; pH3, phosphorylated histone H3; SANT-L, SW13, ADA2, N-Cor and TFIIIB like; ss, somite stage; udu, ugly duckling
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