scholarly journals Conservative Inheritance of Newly Synthesized DNA in Double-Strand Break-Induced Gene Conversion

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 9424-9429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Ira ◽  
Dominik Satory ◽  
James E. Haber

ABSTRACT To distinguish among possible mechanisms of repair of a double-strand break (DSB) by gene conversion in budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we employed isotope density transfer to analyze budding yeast mating type (MAT) gene switching in G2/M-arrested cells. Both of the newly synthesized DNA strands created during gene conversion are found at the repaired locus, leaving the donor unchanged. These results support suggestions that mitotic DSBs are primarily repaired by a synthesis-dependent strand-annealing mechanism. We also show that the proportion of crossing-over associated with DSB-induced ectopic recombination is not affected by the presence of nonhomologous sequences at one or both ends of the DSB or the presence of additional sequences that must be copied from the donor.

2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETTER PORTIN

The effect was investigated of the hypomorphic DNA double-strand break repair, notably synthesis-dependent strand annealing, deficient mutation mus309 on the third chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster on intergenic and intragenic meiotic recombination in the X chromosome. The results showed that the mutation significantly increases the frequency of intergenic crossing over in two of three gene intervals of the X chromosome studied. Interestingly the increase was most prevalent in the tip of the X chromosome where crossovers normally are least frequent per physical map unit length. In particular crossing over interference was also affected, indicating that the effect of the mus309 mutation involves preconditions of crossing over but not the event of crossing over itself. On the other hand, the results also show that most probably the mutation does not have any effect on intragenic recombination, i.e. gene conversion. These results are fully consistent with the present molecular models of meiotic crossing over initiated by double-strand breaks of DNA followed by formation of a single-end-invasion intermediate, or D-loop, which is subsequently processed to generate either crossover or non-crossover products involving formation of a double Holliday junction. In particular the results suggest that the mus309 gene is involved in resolution of the D-loop, thereby affecting the choice between double-strand-break repair (DSBR) and synthesis-dependent strand annealing (SDSA) pathways of meiotic recombination.


2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (14) ◽  
pp. 5300-5309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neal Sugawara ◽  
Grzegorz Ira ◽  
James E. Haber

ABSTRACT A DNA double-strand break (DSB) created by the HO endonuclease inSaccharomyces cerevisiae will stimulate recombination between flanking repeats by the single-strand annealing (SSA) pathway, producing a deletion. Previously the efficiency of SSA, using homologous sequences of different lengths, was measured in competition with that of a larger repeat further from the DSB, which ensured that nearly all cells would survive the DSB if the smaller region was not used (N. Sugawara and J. E. Haber, Mol. Cell. Biol. 12:563–575, 1992). Without competition, the efficiency with which homologous segments of 63 to 205 bp engaged in SSA was significantly increased. A sequence as small as 29 bp was used 0.2% of the time, and homology dependence was approximately linear up to 415 bp, at which size almost all cells survived. A mutant with a deletion of RAD59, a homologue of RAD52, was defective for SSA, especially when the homologous-sequence length was short; however, even with 1.17-kb substrates, SSA was reduced fourfold. DSB-induced gene conversion also showed a partial dependence on Rad59p, again being greatest when the homologous-sequence length was short. We found that Rad59p plays a role in removing nonhomologous sequences from the ends of single-stranded DNA when it invades a homologous DNA template, in a manner similar to that previously seen with srs2 mutants. Δrad59 affected DSB-induced gene conversion differently from msh3 and msh2, which are also defective in removing nonhomologous ends in both DSB-induced gene conversion and SSA. A msh3 rad59 double mutant was more severely defective in SSA than either single mutant.


2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 897-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Pohl ◽  
Jac A. Nickoloff

ABSTRACT Homologous recombination (HR) is critical for DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair and genome stabilization. In yeast, HR is catalyzed by the Rad51 strand transferase and its “mediators,” including the Rad52 single-strand DNA-annealing protein, two Rad51 paralogs (Rad55 and Rad57), and Rad54. A Rad51 homolog, Dmc1, is important for meiotic HR. In wild-type cells, most DSB repair results in gene conversion, a conservative HR outcome. Because Rad51 plays a central role in the homology search and strand invasion steps, DSBs either are not repaired or are repaired by nonconservative single-strand annealing or break-induced replication mechanisms in rad51Δ mutants. Although DSB repair by gene conversion in the absence of Rad51 has been reported for ectopic HR events (e.g., inverted repeats or between plasmids), Rad51 has been thought to be essential for DSB repair by conservative interchromosomal (allelic) gene conversion. Here, we demonstrate that DSBs stimulate gene conversion between homologous chromosomes (allelic conversion) by >30-fold in a rad51Δ mutant. We show that Rad51-independent allelic conversion and break-induced replication occur independently of Rad55, Rad57, and Dmc1 but require Rad52. Unlike DSB-induced events, spontaneous allelic conversion was detected in both rad51Δ and rad52Δ mutants, but not in a rad51Δ rad52Δ double mutant. The frequencies of crossovers associated with DSB-induced gene conversion were similar in the wild type and the rad51Δ mutant, but discontinuous conversion tracts were fivefold more frequent and tract lengths were more widely distributed in the rad51Δ mutant, indicating that heteroduplex DNA has an altered structure, or is processed differently, in the absence of Rad51.


Genetics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 665-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jac A Nickoloff ◽  
Douglas B Sweetser ◽  
Jennifer A Clikeman ◽  
Guru Jot Khalsa ◽  
Sarah L Wheeler

Abstract Spontaneous and double-strand break (DSB)-induced allelic recombination in yeast was investigated in crosses between ura3 heteroalleles inactivated by an HO site and a +1 frameshift mutation, with flanking markers defining a 3.4-kbp interval. In some crosses, nine additional phenotypically silent RFLP mutations were present at ∼100-bp intervals. Increasing heterology from 0.2 to 1% in this interval reduced spontaneous, but not DSB-induced, recombination. For DSB-induced events, 75% were continuous tract gene conversions without a crossover in this interval; discontinuous tracts and conversions associated with a crossover each comprised ∼7% of events, and 10% also converted markers in unbroken alleles. Loss of heterozygosity was seen for all markers centromere distal to the HO site in 50% of products; such loss could reflect gene conversion, break-induced replication, chromosome loss, or G2 crossovers. Using telomere-marked strains we determined that nearly all allelic DSB repair occurs by gene conversion. We further show that most allelic conversion results from mismatch repair of heteroduplex DNA. Interestingly, markers shared between the sparsely and densely marked interval converted at higher rates in the densely marked interval. Thus, the extra markers increased gene conversion tract lengths, which may reflect mismatch repair-induced recombination, or a shift from restoration- to conversion-type repair.


Genetics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 573-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette M Foss ◽  
Kenneth J Hillers ◽  
Franklin W Stahl

AbstractSalient features of recombination at ARG4 of Saccharomyces provoke a variation of the double-strand-break repair (DSBR) model that has the following features: (1) Holliday junction cutting is biased in favor of strands upon which DNA synthesis occurred during formation of the joint molecule (this bias ensures that cutting both junctions of the joint-molecule intermediate arising during DSBR usually leads to crossing over); (2) cutting only one junction gives noncrossovers; and (3) repair of mismatches that are semirefractory to mismatch repair and/or far from the DSB site is directed primarily by junction resolution. The bias in junction resolution favors restoration of 4:4 segregation when such mismatches and the directing junction are on the same side of the DSB site. Studies at HIS4 confirmed the predicted influence of the bias in junction resolution on the conversion gradient, type of mismatch repair, and frequency of aberrant 5:3 segregation, as well as the predicted relationship between mismatch repair and crossing over.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (16) ◽  
pp. 6891-6899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Grzegorz Ira ◽  
José Antonio Tercero ◽  
Allyson M. Holmes ◽  
John F. X. Diffley ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Mitotic double-strand break (DSB)-induced gene conversion involves new DNA synthesis. We have analyzed the requirement of several essential replication components, the Mcm proteins, Cdc45p, and DNA ligase I, in the DNA synthesis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae MAT switching. In an mcm7-td (temperature-inducible degron) mutant, MAT switching occurred normally when Mcm7p was degraded below the level of detection, suggesting the lack of the Mcm2-7 proteins during gene conversion. A cdc45-td mutant was also able to complete recombination. Surprisingly, even after eliminating both of the identified DNA ligases in yeast, a cdc9-1 dnl4Δ strain was able to complete DSB repair. Previous studies of asynchronous cultures carrying temperature-sensitive alleles of PCNA, DNA polymerase α (Polα), or primase showed that these mutations inhibited MAT switching (A. M. Holmes and J. E. Haber, Cell 96:415-424, 1999). We have reevaluated the roles of these proteins in G2-arrested cells. Whereas PCNA was still essential for MAT switching, neither Polα nor primase was required. These results suggest that arresting cells in S phase using ts alleles of Polα-primase, prior to inducing the DSB, sequesters some other component that is required for repair. We conclude that DNA synthesis during gene conversion is different from S-phase replication, involving only leading-strand polymerization.


Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 161 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-258
Author(s):  
Angela M Coveny ◽  
Tammy Dray ◽  
Gregory B Gloor

Abstract We examined the influence that heterologous sequences of different sizes have on the frequency of double-strand-break repair by gene conversion in Drosophila melanogaster. We induced a double-strand break on one X chromosome in female flies by P-element excision. These flies contained heterologous insertions of various sizes located 238 bp from the break site in cis or in trans to the break, or both. We observed a significant decrease in double-strand-break repair with large heterologous insertions located either in cis or in trans to the break. Reestablishing the homology by including the same heterologous sequence in cis and in trans to the double-strand break restored the frequency of gene conversion to wild-type levels. In one instance, an allelic nonhomologous insertion completely abolished repair by homologous recombination. The results show that the repair of a double-strand break by gene conversion requires chromosome pairing in the local region of the double-strand break.


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