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Vol. 20, Issue 6, 1671-1682, March 15, 2009
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*IFOM, The FIRC Institute for Molecular Oncology Foundation, IFOM-IEO Campus, 20139 Milan, Italy;
Department of Zoology, Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QN, United Kingdom; and ||Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Submitted August 27, 2008;
Revised December 15, 2008;
Accepted January 8, 2009
Monitoring Editor: Yixian Zheng
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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Replication forks encountering DNA lesions can restart by repriming downstream of the lesion (Heller and Marians, 2006
), generating single-strand gaps behind replication forks (Lehmann and Fuchs, 2006
; Lopes et al., 2006
). Two pathways of gap filling have been proposed. One pathway uses a combination of replicative and translesion synthesis polymerases to replicate across the lesion, and in such situations the bypass can occur either in error-free or error-prone manners (Lehmann and Fuchs, 2006
; Branzei and Foiani, 2007
). The other gap-filling mechanism, referred to as the template switch (TS) pathway, is essentially error-free and uses the undamaged information of the sister DNA duplex by using a mechanism that shares similarities with homologous recombination (HR) (Higgins et al., 1976
; Goldfless et al., 2006
; Branzei and Foiani, 2007
).
The TS process gives rise to transient, hemicatenane-like or pseudodouble Holliday Junction intermediates that were shown to require the activity of the RecQ helicase Sgs1/BLM and Top3 for their resolution (Wu and Hickson, 2003
; Liberi et al., 2005
; Suski and Marians, 2008
). Accordingly, cruciform, X-shaped intermediates with biochemical properties of pseudodouble Holliday junctions have been shown to accumulate at damaged replication forks in mutants affecting the functionality of the Sgs1-Top3 complex (Liberi et al., 2005
; Mankouri et al., 2007
). Recently, it was proposed that the ability of Sgs1 to promote dissolution of the hemicatenane-like structures formed during replication of damaged templates is regulated by Ubc9- and Mms21-dependent sumoylation events (Branzei et al., 2006
). Notably, budding yeast Sgs1 and its functional counterpart in human cells, BLM, are sumoylated (Eladad et al., 2005
; Branzei et al., 2006
), but Sgs1 sumoylation is independent of the SUMO ligase activity of Mms21 (Branzei et al., 2006
), suggesting that there must be other SUMO-targets involved in this process.
To gain further insight into the factors that may act in coordination with Sgs1 to prevent the accumulation of hemicatenane-like structures at damaged replication forks (Liberi et al., 2005
; Branzei et al., 2006
), we have examined in this study several yeast mutants affecting DNA repair or chromosome metabolism processes. In this way, we established that mutations in SMC6 and ESC2 result in impaired ability to resolve these repair intermediates. Structural maintenance of chromosome (Smc) proteins play fundamental roles in chromosome organization and dynamics as well as in DNA repair (Losada and Hirano, 2005
), and Smc orthologues have been identified in all eukaryotic organisms studied. There are six Smc proteins that act in pairs to form the core of three SMC protein complexes: Cohesin, Condensin, and the Smc5-6 complex (Losada and Hirano, 2005
).
The Smc5-6 complex is central for repair of DNA damage, functioning in the same pathway as Rad51 and Rad52 (Lehmann et al., 1995
; Verkade et al., 1999
; Morikawa et al., 2004
; Onoda et al., 2004
) and plays a role in the rescue of stalled and collapsed replication forks (Fousteri and Lehmann, 2000
; Morikawa et al., 2004
; Ampatzidou et al., 2006
; Lindroos et al., 2006
). In both budding and fission yeast, the Smc5-6 complex consists of Smc5, Smc6, and six non-Smc proteins: Nse1, Nse2 (Mms21), Nse3 (Ydr288W), Nse4 (Qri2), Nse5 (YML023c), and Nse6 (Kre29) (Hazbun et al., 2003
; Sergeant et al., 2005
; Pebernard et al., 2006
). Mms21 (Nse2) has SUMO ligase activity and promotes sumoylation of several proteins, including Smc5-6 (Andrews et al., 2005
; Potts and Yu, 2005
; Zhao and Blobel, 2005
). In budding yeast, YML023c (Nse5) interacts by two-hybrid with Ubc9, Smt3 (yeast SUMO), and Slx5 (Hazbun et al., 2003
), which forms a heterodimer with Slx8 (Yang et al., 2006
). Slx5-Slx8 complex is functionally associated with the SUMO pathway (Hannich et al., 2005
; Wang et al., 2006
; Burgess et al., 2007
) and displays ubiquitin ligase activity (Ii et al., 2007b
; Uzunova et al., 2007
; Xie et al., 2007
). SUMO attachment to a substrate stimulates Slx5-Slx8 dependent ubiquitination, primarily through direct noncovalent interactions between SUMO and Slx5 (Ii et al., 2007a
; Ii et al., 2007b
; Uzunova et al., 2007
; Xie et al., 2007
).
The Schizosaccharomyces pombe DNA repair factor Rad60 and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Esc2 protein contain SUMO-like domains (Novatchkova et al., 2005
), and they may represent candidate targets for SUMO-mediated Slx5-Slx8-dependent proteolysis (Prudden et al., 2007
; Sun et al., 2007
). Intriguingly, Rad60 physically associates with the Smc5-6 complex (Boddy et al., 2003
), and based on genetic consideration, it has been proposed to act in coordination with Smc5-6 to promote the repair of structures that may arise during replication (Morishita et al., 2002
; Boddy et al., 2003
; Miyabe et al., 2006
). rad60 mutants are synthetic lethal with mutations in SMC6 (Morishita et al., 2002
; Miyabe et al., 2006
), and similar to smc6 mutants, they are synthetic lethal with the S. pombe RecQ (Sgs1) orthologue, rqh1 (Miyabe et al., 2006
). In S. cerevisiae, mutation in esc2 has also been reported to be slow growing in combination with sgs1 (Tong et al., 2001
) and to affect gene silencing (Dhillon and Kamakaka, 2000
; Cuperus and Shore, 2002
; Andrulis et al., 2004
) and sister chromatid cohesion and life span (Ohya et al., 2008
).
In our effort to uncover other factors implicated together with Sgs1 and sumoylation in preventing the accumulation of recombinogenic structures during replication, we identified Smc6 and Esc2. Furthermore, we have characterized their relationships to Sgs1 and the SUMO pathway. Our results suggest that Esc2 and Smc6 act to promote damage tolerance during replication.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Growing Conditions, Cell Cycle Arrest, and Drug Treatments
Synchronization with
-factor or nocodazole and release from the cell cycle arrests were performed as described previously (Liberi et al., 2005
; Branzei et al., 2006
). Unless otherwise indicated, cells were grown at 25°C and released at 30°C, and methyl-methane sulfonate (MMS) and hydroxyurea (HU) concentrations were used at a final concentration of 0.033% (vol/vol) and 0.2 M, respectively.
DNA Extraction, Two-dimensional (2D) Gel Technique, and Fluorescence-activated Cell Sorting (FACS) Analysis
Purification of DNA intermediates, FACS analysis, and 2D gel procedure were carried out as described previously (Branzei et al., 2006
). The DNA samples were digested with HindIII and EcoRV and analyzed by 2D gel with probes against ARS305.
Spot Assays of Drug Sensitivity
Logarithmic phase cells were counted and 10-fold series dilutions were spotted on plates containing the indicated concentrations of drugs and incubated at 25°C or at the indicated temperatures for 3 d.
Two-Hybrid Assays
The strain Y190 (FY0101) or its derivatives, Y190 his3
(HY0803) and Y190 esc2
(HY0705), were transformed with combinations of two plasmids, containing genes fused to the binding domain (BD) or the activation domain (AD) of the GAL4 protein. The β-galactosidase (β-gal) assay was performed as described previously (Branzei et al., 2006
).
Protein Techniques (Protein Extracts, Antibodies, Fast-Performance Liquid Chromatography Gel Filtration, and Coimmunoprecipitation)
Western blot analysis, trichloroacetic acid extraction of yeast proteins, gel filtration chromatography, and coimmunoprecipitation experiments were performed as described previously (Chiolo et al., 2005
). 9Myc-Sgs1, 13Myc-Esc2, and 3FLAG-Smc6 were analyzed using the monoclonal antibodies 9E11 (Neo-Markers, Fremont, CA) for
-Myc and M2 (Sigma) for
-FLAG. Rad53 was detected with the mouse monoclonal EL7 antibody (a gift from A. Pellicioli, University of Milan, Italy), proteins fused to Gal4BD with the rabbit polyclonal sc577 antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA), and sumoylation with a
-SUMO rabbit antibody (a gift from X. Zhao, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY).
| RESULTS |
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As an approach to identify such factors, we examined various S. cerevisiae mutant strains impaired in chromosome metabolism processes. Thus, by 2D gel electrophoresis, we analyzed the profile of replication intermediates formed during replication in the presence of MMS at ARS305, an early efficient replication origin on chromosome III (Figure 1A). The mutants tested were selected on the basis of them being hypersensitive to MMS or having well-documented functions in DNA repair (rad18, rad5, exo1, rad55, rad59, cdc2, pol32, esc4, rrm3, chl1, smc5, and smc6), being defective in chromosome cohesion, segregation, or condensation processes (eco1, scc1, smc1, smc3, smc2, top2, and pds5), or mutated in a way that could affect SUMO metabolic processes (slx5, slx8, and esc2). As described below, of the mutants tested, only smc6 and esc2 recapitulated the X-molecule accumulation phenotype of ubc9-1, mms21, and sgs1 cells.
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The smc6-9 mutant is hypersensitive to both DNA-damaging agents and replication inhibitors (Torres-Rosell et al., 2005
). As reported for sgs1 (Liberi et al., 2005
), ubc9-1 and mms21 mutants (Branzei et al., 2006
), a change in the profile of replication intermediates was only detected in smc6-9 cells at damaged replication forks, but not at forks stalled by HU treatment, or, as mentioned above, when cells were grown in the absence of genotoxic agents at high temperatures (Supplemental Figure 1). Conversely, S. pombe smc6 mutants were shown to accumulate X-shaped intermediates in response to HU-induced replication stress, although only in conditions when the replication checkpoint kinase Cds1 was inactivated (Ampatzidou et al., 2006
).
Sequencing the smc6-9 allele revealed it to contain two point mutations in the Smc6 C-terminal coiled-coil region (Gln903Gly and Ser908Pro; Figure 1C). Another SMC6 mutant, smc6-56, was reported previously to display DNA damage hypersensitivity as a consequence of mutations in the Smc6 N-terminal coiled-coil region (Onoda et al., 2004
) (Figure 1C). As mutations in the Smc6 complex in S. pombe were shown to be allele-specific for certain phenotypes (Sheedy et al., 2005
), we tested the effect of the smc6-56 mutation on the X-molecule accumulation phenotype at damaged replication forks. We found it to be similar to that of smc6-9 (Figure 1D). Importantly, as is the case for sgs1, ubc9-1, and mms21 mutants (Liberi et al., 2005
; Branzei et al., 2006
), we found that the X-molecule accumulation in the smc6 mutants required Rad51, revealing it to depend on homologous recombination events (Supplemental Figure 2).
We further examined whether the X-molecule accumulation of smc6 mutants can be complemented by the wild-type SMC6. We constructed a diploid smc6-9/SMC6 and compared its phenotype in MMS with the one of the WT (SMC6/SMC6) diploid. We found that the X molecule accumulation phenotype of smc6-9 was not manifest when the other allele of SMC6 was present as a wild-type copy (Supplemental Figure 3). We thus conclude that the accumulation of X-shaped molecules present in smc6 mutants is due to a loss of function of SMC6. Likewise, the temperature and MMS sensitivity of smc6-9 seemed to be recessive traits (data not shown).
Esc2 Is a Novel Regulator of Recombinogenic Events at Replication Forks
One of the mutants included in our screen was esc2. Esc2 belongs to the recently identified family of proteins RENi, named based on its most prominent members: Rad60 (S. pombe), Esc2 (S. cerevisiae), and mouse/human NIP45 (Novatchkova et al., 2005
). A key feature of this class of proteins is the presence of one or two SUMO-like domains in their C-terminal regions (Novatchkova et al., 2005
).
In addition to this characteristic, Esc2 has several SUMO-binding motifs (SBMs) that could mediate noncovalent interaction with SUMO (Song et al., 2004
; Hannich et al., 2005
; Hecker et al., 2006
; Kerscher et al., 2006
; Raffa et al., 2006
), and several SUMO consensus sites that may be targets for SUMO conjugation (Figure 2A). Similar to smc6, mms21, and sgs1 mutants, esc2 accumulated X-shaped structures at damaged replication forks (Figure 2B) in a Rad51-dependent manner (data not shown; see the accompanying article Mankouri et al., 2009
). We also obtained evidence that esc2 mutant cells might accumulate spontaneous DNA damage. Consistent with previous reports (Alvaro et al., 2007
), we found that esc2 mutants exhibited an increased number of spontaneously-arising Rad52 foci (Supplemental Figure 4A). Furthermore, esc2 cells showed constitutive phosphorylation of the replication checkpoint kinase Rad53, although to a lesser extent than the Rad53 phosphorylation triggered by RAD52 deletion (Supplemental Figure 4B). Furthermore, similar to sgs1 mutant cells, esc2 mutants displayed a sixfold elevation in the frequency of mitotic recombination measured between two direct tandem repeats (Aguilera and Klein, 1989
) (Supplemental Figure 5). The double mutant esc2 sgs1 showed a synergistic increase in the recombination frequency compared with the single mutants (Supplemental Figure 5). Our results on Esc2 suggest that Esc2 and Sgs1 may be involved, at least partly, in different pathways that prevent spontaneous accumulation of DNA damage and the subsequent repair of these lesions by recombination (Figure 2 and Supplemental Figures 4 and 5). Our findings are also consistent with the results reported in the accompanying article by Mankouri et al. (2009)
.
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We therefore considered the scenario that Sgs1-Top3 might physically interact with Esc2 and/or Smc6. We first addressed this by using gel filtration chromatography, an approach that resolves proteins and protein complexes based on their relative sizes. Thus, we prepared crude extracts from wild-type cells that had been treated with MMS (0.033% for 3 h), resolved them on a Superose 6 column, and analyzed the resulting fractions by Western immunoblotting with antibodies against epitope-tagged Sgs1, Smc6, and Esc2. Consistent with previous reports (Chiolo et al., 2005
), we found that under these conditions, Sgs1 eluted mainly in fractions 12–14 (Figure 4A). By contrast, the broad elution profile of Smc6 peaked in fraction 8, near the void volume of the column, whereas Esc2 eluted mainly in fractions 17–19 (Figure 4A), suggesting that the three proteins are not part of the same complex. Consistent with this interpretation, we were unable to detect interactions between Sgs1 and Smc6 by coimmunoprecipitation experiments performed either with whole cell extracts or with fractions obtained by gel filtration, in which either of these proteins was enriched (Supplemental Figure 7, A and B; also see Figure 4A). Furthermore, yeast two-hybrid experiments did not identify a physical interaction between Esc2 and Sgs1 (Supplemental Figure 7C). Also in accord with the above-mentioned data, we found that ESC2 deletion did not abolish the interaction between Sgs1 and Top3 as detected by two-hybrid analysis, although the intensity of the interaction seemed somewhat decreased (Figure 4B). Collectively, these results therefore suggest that Esc2 does not robustly interact with Sgs1-Top3 or with Smc5-Smc6, although we cannot rule out the possibility that such interactions do exist but are too weak or transient to be detected. We note that S. pombe Rad60 was shown to weakly interact with Smc5-6 (Boddy et al., 2003
).
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Genetic Interactions in the Presence of DNA Damage between ESC2, SGS1, and SMC6
In view of our other findings and the reported physical interactions (Figure 6F), we examined whether SGS1, SMC6, and ESC2 work in the same or different genetic pathways to promote resistance to MMS. To this end, we combined esc2 and sgs1 deletion mutations with each other, as well as with smc6-9 and smc6-56 alleles. ESC2 deletion produced a slow-growth phenotype in combination with either sgs1 or smc6 mutations, although to a different degree: the esc2 and smc6-56 combination was almost synthetic lethal (Figure 3C), whereas the esc2 smc6-9 double mutant was slightly slow growing (Figure 7C); the double mutant sgs1 esc2 was slow growing, but in our background was not synthetic lethal as has been reported previously by synthetic genetic array (SGA) analysis (Tong et al., 2001
) (Figure 3C). When we analyzed the MMS sensitivity of these various mutants, we found that all combinations of double mutants were somewhat more sensitive to MMS than the single mutants (Figure 7), suggesting that at least partly, Sgs1, Smc5-6 and Esc2 have independent functions in response to genotoxic treatment.
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| DISCUSSION |
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The sister chromatid junctions visualized at damaged replication forks have the biochemical properties of pseudodouble Holliday junctions, require HR function for their formation (Liberi et al., 2005
), and it is envisaged that, if they fail to be resolved, they may generate strand breaks and trigger recombinogenic events (Branzei and Foiani, 2007
). This physical evidence is congruous with previous genetic models that proposed a dual role for Sgs1 in recombination: in maturating certain recombination structures that become substrates for Top3 (Gangloff et al., 1999
; Shor et al., 2002
) and also in preventing certain recombinogenic events (Hickson, 2003
; Ira et al., 2003
; Robert et al., 2006
), such as those represented by the cruciform molecules accumulating in sgs1 mutants at damaged replication forks (Liberi et al., 2005
).
Recently, it was shown that Ubc9- and Mms21-dependent sumoylation act in concert with Sgs1 to prevent the detrimental accumulation of recombinogenic X-shaped structures at replication forks (Branzei et al., 2006
). However, Sgs1 sumoylation is independent of Mms21, suggesting that other SUMO targets are implicated in this process. Besides its involvement with Sgs1 during replication of damaged templates, SUMO modification has also been connected to regulating other recombination processes as well (Branzei and Foiani, 2008
). For example, the recombination factor Rad52 is sumoylated in yeast and mammals (Ho et al., 2001
; Sacher et al., 2006
), and proliferating cell nuclear antigen sumoylation acts to prevent recombination-mediated repair (Papouli et al., 2005
; Pfander et al., 2005
). Here, we found that the X-molecule accumulation phenotype at damaged forks found in sgs1, ubc9-1, and mms21 cells (Liberi et al., 2005
; Branzei et al., 2006
) is mimicked by mutations in SMC6 and ESC2. Our data suggest that these two newly identified factors are connected to each other and to the sumoylation pathway and that they act in parallel or together with Sgs1 in promoting repair events during replication.
Smc5 and Smc6 are sumoylated by Mms21 in response to DNA damage (Andrews et al., 2005
; Potts and Yu, 2005
; Zhao and Blobel, 2005
) and Esc2 belongs to a family of proteins containing SUMO-like domains in their C terminus (Novatchkova et al., 2005
) (Figure 2A). Here, we also show that Esc2 interacts physically with Ubc9 and SUMO, primarily through a C-terminal SUMO-like domain and an N-terminal SBM, respectively (Figure 6). The S. pombe protein Rad60, containing SUMO-like domains in its C terminus, also interacts with SUMO by means of an SBM, and with the ubiquitin ligase complex Rfp-Slx8 (Slx5-Slx8 in S. cerevisiae) (Prudden et al., 2007
) (Figure 6F), implicated in regulating SUMO homeostasis in both budding and fission yeasts (Burgess et al., 2007
; Prudden et al., 2007
; Sun et al., 2007
; Uzunova et al., 2007
; Xie et al., 2007
). Our data suggest that the Esc2 function in promoting DNA-damage tolerance is correlated to its ability to physically interact with SUMO (Figure 6E). A similar conclusion was reached in S. pombe: Rad60 with mutations in the N-terminal SBM are defective in tolerating HU-induced replication stress (Raffa et al., 2006
), and the DNA repair defects of rad60 resemble the ones of slx8 (Prudden et al., 2007
). Intriguingly, rad60 also shares most of the smc6 phenotypes and functional interactions, and genetic evidence suggested that Rad60 and Smc6 act in concert to promote DNA repair of replication-induced lesions (Morishita et al., 2002
; Miyabe et al., 2006
). Thus, Rad60 is functionally connected to both Slx5 and Smc6. To close this triangle, in budding yeast, Smc5-6 physically associates with Slx5 (Hazbun et al., 2003
) (Figure 6F). It is important to note that all of these factors, Smc5-6, Esc2, and Slx5, display functional interactions with Sgs1 and with each other, revealed as synthetic sickness/lethality interactions or synergism toward MMS (Mullen et al., 2001
; Tong et al., 2001
, 2004
) (Figures 3C and 7). Unlike sgs1, esc2, and smc6 mutants, we found that slx5 and slx8 mutants do not accumulate X-shaped molecules at damaged replication forks (our unpublished data), suggesting that the role of Slx5 and Slx8 in intra-S repair is different from the roles of Sgs1, Esc2, and Smc6 or that they might mainly mediate repair of different types or lesions, such as double-strand breaks (DSBs) (Nagai et al., 2008
). Based on the evidence obtained in S. pombe (Prudden et al., 2007
; Sun et al., 2007
) and the phenotypes we have uncovered for Esc2 in this study, we propose that the association between Smc5-6 and Slx5-mediated repair processes is likely to be regulated by Esc2.
Interestingly, one of the Smc5-6 subunits, Nse1, contains a structural domain indicating that it works as an E3 ligase for ubiquitylation (McDonald et al., 2003
). Ubiquitin ligase activity for Nse1 has not yet been demonstrated, but a point mutation in the ligase sequence motif, nse1 C274A, renders cells sensitive to DNA-damaging agents, suggesting that it may affect DNA repair (Santa Maria et al., 2007
). Another possibility is that Nse1 and Smc5-6 define a differently regulated ubiquitylation pathway from Esc2 and Slx5-8 (Uzunova et al., 2007
; Xie et al., 2007
), and they may act in parallel to promote sumoylation-induced degradation of substrates to facilitate DNA repair. This could also explain the additive effect in MMS sensitivity of esc2 smc6-9 mutants (Figure 7C), which according to the classical interpretation of epistasis data, suggests that Smc6 and Esc2 have independent functions in promoting repair of MMS-induced lesions. Because esc2, sgs1, and smc6 mutants are epistatic to rad51/rad52 for MMS sensitivity (Figure 7C; Onoda et al., 2001
, 2004
), we conclude that they are all implicated in homologous recombination repair.
The wealth of genetic data clearly points at a role for Smc5-6 in coordinating DNA repair activities. In S. pombe, the SMC6 allele smc6-74 is suppressed by multicopy Brc1 (Sheedy et al., 2005
; Lee et al., 2007
), a protein consisting of six consecutive BRCA1 C-terminal domains (Verkade et al., 1999
). This suppression is allele specific, induced by DNA damage, and requires several DNA repair nucleases, such as Slx1-Slx4 and Mus81 (Sheedy et al., 2005
; Lee et al., 2007
), which in both budding and fission yeast have been identified to act redundantly with Sgs1 and Rqh1, respectively (Mullen et al., 2001
; Doe et al., 2002
; Coulon et al., 2004
). Also in budding yeast, the homologue of Brc1, Esc4, plays a role in MMS-induced repair and associates to several DNA repair proteins, including HR factors and the Slx4 nuclease (Rouse, 2004
; Chin et al., 2006
; Roberts et al., 2006
). There is no evidence of a physical association between Brc1 and Smc6 in S. pombe, but using mass spectrometry we found that Esc4 associates with Smc6 (Sollier, Foiani, and Branzei, unpublished data). It is thus possible that nucleases and repair factors that may promote inappropriate repair events are controlled by means of SUMO-mediated ubiquitin ligase degradation processes. Indeed, the Slx5-Slx8 complex was shown to negatively regulate Rad51-independent recombination by affecting the sumoylation of enzymes implicated in the early steps of this process (Burgess et al., 2007
) and to promote repair of DSBs, which might result also from endonuclease-mediated processing of the X-shaped cruciform structures forming during damage bypass replication, by targeting them to nuclear pores for repair (Nagai et al., 2008
).
In conclusion, we have shown that different enzymes associated with the SUMO pathway act in a manner similar with Sgs1 to promote DNA repair, and to prevent the accumulation of recombinogenic structures at damaged replication forks. Considering that these structures resemble the catenanes formed at replication termination, when two replicons fuse together, it will be of interest in the future to study the contribution of these enzymes (Esc2 and Smc6) to unperturbed replication and to understand whether their role in facilitating chromosome segregation is related to their function in promoting the resolution of such catenane-like structures that arise during replication-related processes. A cross-talk between ubiquitin and SUMO pathways in promoting protein degradation has been recently suggested or reported (Burgess et al., 2007
; Prudden et al., 2007
; Sun et al., 2007
; Uzunova et al., 2007
; Xie et al., 2007
). The finding that enzymes affecting activities implicated in ubiquitin- and SUMO-mediated processes (Slx5-Slx8, Esc2, and Smc5-6) are brought together with repair factors (Rad51 and Sgs1), implicated in the initiation or maturation/resolution of DNA repair intermediates, suggests that the SUMO or ubiquitin ligase activities of these complexes may act to regulate the repair functions of various factors in response to damaged DNA. Future challenges are to identify the factors targeted by these complexes and to understand whether this multifaceted regulation is triggered by protein–protein interactions or rather by the formation of certain repair intermediates or DNA structures in particular cellular contexts.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| Footnotes |
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These authors contributed equally to this work. ![]()
Present address: Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. ![]()
Address correspondence to: Dana Branzei (dana.branzei{at}ifom-ieo-campus.it)
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