Analysis of Crossover Breakpoints Yields New Insights into the Nature of the Gene Conversion Events Associated with LargeNF1Deletions Mediated by Nonallelic Homologous Recombination

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Bengesser ◽  
Julia Vogt ◽  
Tanja Mussotter ◽  
Victor-Felix Mautner ◽  
Ludwine Messiaen ◽  
...  
2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (17) ◽  
pp. 4742-4756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Lorenz ◽  
Fekret Osman ◽  
Victoria Folkyte ◽  
Sevil Sofueva ◽  
Matthew C. Whitby

ABSTRACT Controlling the loading of Rad51 onto DNA is important for governing when and how homologous recombination is used. Here we use a combination of genetic assays and indirect immunofluorescence to show that the F-box DNA helicase (Fbh1) functions in direct opposition to the Rad52 orthologue Rad22 to curb Rad51 loading onto DNA in fission yeast. Surprisingly, this activity is unnecessary for limiting spontaneous direct-repeat recombination. Instead it appears to play an important role in preventing recombination when replication forks are blocked and/or broken. When overexpressed, Fbh1 specifically reduces replication fork block-induced recombination, as well as the number of Rad51 nuclear foci that are induced by replicative stress. These abilities are dependent on its DNA helicase/translocase activity, suggesting that Fbh1 exerts its control on recombination by acting as a Rad51 disruptase. In accord with this, overexpression of Fbh1 also suppresses the high levels of recombinant formation and Rad51 accumulation at a site-specific replication fork barrier in a strain lacking the Rad51 disruptase Srs2. Similarly overexpression of Srs2 suppresses replication fork block-induced gene conversion events in an fbh1Δ mutant, although an inability to suppress deletion events suggests that Fbh1 has a distinct functionality, which is not readily substituted by Srs2.


2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 2048-2056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Signon ◽  
Anna Malkova ◽  
Maria L. Naylor ◽  
Hannah Klein ◽  
James E. Haber

ABSTRACT Broken chromosomes can be repaired by several homologous recombination mechanisms, including gene conversion and break-induced replication (BIR). In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an HO endonuclease-induced double-strand break (DSB) is normally repaired by gene conversion. Previously, we have shown that in the absence ofRAD52, repair is nearly absent and diploid cells lose the broken chromosome; however, in cells lacking RAD51, gene conversion is absent but cells can repair the DSB by BIR. We now report that gene conversion is also abolished when RAD54, RAD55, and RAD57 are deleted but BIR occurs, as withrad51Δ cells. DSB-induced gene conversion is not significantly affected when RAD50, RAD59, TID1(RDH54), SRS2, or SGS1 is deleted. Various double mutations largely eliminate both gene conversion and BIR, including rad51Δ rad50Δ, rad51Δ rad59Δ, andrad54Δ tid1Δ. These results demonstrate that there is aRAD51- and RAD54-independent BIR pathway that requires RAD59, TID1, RAD50, and presumablyMRE11 and XRS2. The similar genetic requirements for BIR and telomere maintenance in the absence of telomerase also suggest that these two processes proceed by similar mechanisms.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 6386-6393 ◽  
Author(s):  
D G Taghian ◽  
J A Nickoloff

Double-strand breaks (DSBs) stimulate chromosomal and extrachromosomal recombination and gene targeting. Transcription also stimulates spontaneous recombination by an unknown mechanism. We used Saccharomyces cerevisiae I-SceI to stimulate recombination between neo direct repeats in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell chromosomal DNA. One neo allele was controlled by the dexamethasone-inducible mouse mammary tumor virus promoter and inactivated by an insertion containing an I-SceI site at which DSBs were introduced in vivo. The other neo allele lacked a promoter but carried 12 phenotypically silent single-base mutations that create restriction sites (restriction fragment length polymorphisms). This system allowed us to generate detailed conversion tract spectra for recipient alleles transcribed at high or low levels. Transient in vivo expression of I-SceI increased homologous recombination 2,000- to 10,000-fold, yielding recombinants at frequencies as high as 1%. Strikingly, 97% of these products arose by gene conversion. Most products had short, bidirectional conversion tracts, and in all cases, donor neo alleles (i.e., those not suffering a DSB) remained unchanged, indicating that conversion was fully nonreciprocal. DSBs in exogenous DNA are usually repaired by end joining requiring little or no homology or by nonconservative homologous recombination (single-strand annealing). In contrast, we show that chromosomal DSBs are efficiently repaired via conservative homologous recombination, principally gene conversion without associated crossing over. For DSB-induced events, similar recombination frequencies and conversion tract spectra were found under conditions of low and high transcription. Thus, transcription does not further stimulate DSB-induced recombination, nor does it appear to affect the mechanism(s) by which DSBs induce gene conversion.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Mc Cormack ◽  
Juliet Taylor ◽  
Leah Te Weehi ◽  
Donald R. Love ◽  
Alice M. George

Concurrent cryptic microdeletion and microduplication syndromes have recently started to reveal themselves with the advent of microarray technology. Analysis has shown that low-copy repeats (LCRs) have allowed chromosome regions throughout the genome to become hotspots for nonallelic homologous recombination to take place. Here, we report a case of a 7.5-year-old girl who manifests microcephaly, developmental delay, and mild dysmorphic features. Microarray analysis identified a microduplication in chromosome 17q21.31, which encompasses theCRHR1, MAPT,andKANSL1genes, as well as a microdeletion in chromosome 7q31.33 that is localised within theGRM8gene. To our knowledge this is one of only a few cases of 17q21.31 microduplication. The clinical phenotype of patients with this microduplication is milder than of those carrying the reciprocal microdeletions, and suggests that the lower incidence of the former compared to the latter may be due to underascertainment.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (48) ◽  
pp. 13815-13820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mi Ok Lee ◽  
Susanne Bornelöv ◽  
Leif Andersson ◽  
Susan J. Lamont ◽  
Junfeng Chen ◽  
...  

Defensins constitute an evolutionary conserved family of cationic antimicrobial peptides that play a key role in host innate immune responses to infection. Defensin genes generally reside in complex genomic regions that are prone to structural variation, and defensin genes exhibit extensive copy number variation in humans and in other species. Copy number variation of defensin genes was examined in inbred lines of Leghorn and Fayoumi chickens, and a duplication ofdefensin7was discovered in the Fayoumi breed. Analysis of junction sequences confirmed the occurrence of a simple tandem duplication ofdefensin7with sequence identity at the junction, suggesting nonallelic homologous recombination betweendefensin7anddefensin6. The duplication event generated two chimeric promoters that are best explained by gene conversion followed by homologous recombination. Expression ofdefensin7was not elevated in animals with two genes despite both genes being transcribed in the tissues examined. Computational prediction of promoter regions revealed the presence of several putative transcription factor binding sites generated by the duplication event. These data provide insight into the evolution and possible function of large gene families and specifically, the defensins.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 2329-2334 ◽  
Author(s):  
J R Simon ◽  
P D Moore

Transformation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains was examined by using the URA3 and TRP1 genes cloned into M13 vectors in the absence of sequences capable of promoting autonomous replication. These constructs transform S. cerevisiae cells to prototrophy by homologous recombination with the resident mutant gene. Single-stranded DNA was found to transform S. cerevisiae cells at efficiencies greater than that of double-stranded DNA. No conversion of single-stranded transforming DNA into duplex forms could be detected during the transformation process, and we conclude that single-stranded DNA may participate directly in recombination with chromosomal sequences. Transformation with single-stranded DNA gave rise to both gene conversion and reciprocal exchange events. Cotransformation with competing heterologous single-stranded DNA specifically inhibited transformation by single-stranded DNA, suggesting that one of the components in the transformation-recombination process has a preferential affinity for single-stranded DNA.


2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 1163-1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika C. Roehl ◽  
Julia Vogt ◽  
Tanja Mussotter ◽  
Antje N. Zickler ◽  
Helene Spöti ◽  
...  

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