A role for human homologous recombination factors in suppressing microhomology-mediated end joining.

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are toxic lesions, which if improperly repaired can result in cell death or genomic instability. DSB repair is usually facilitated by the classical non-homologous end joining (C-NHEJ), or homologous recombination (HR) pathways. However, a mutagenic alternative NHEJ pathway, microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ), can also be deployed. While MMEJ is suppressed by C-NHEJ, the relationship between HR and MMEJ is less clear. Here, we describe a role for HR genes in suppressing MMEJ in human cells. By monitoring DSB mis-repair using a sensitive HPRT assay, we found that depletion of HR proteins, including BRCA2, BRCA1 or RPA, resulted in a distinct mutational signature associated with significant increases in break-induced mutation frequencies, deletion lengths and the annealing of short regions of microhomology (2-6 bp) across the break-site. This signature was dependent on CtIP, MRE11, POLQ and PARP, and thus indicative of MMEJ. In contrast to CtIP or MRE11, depletion of BRCA1 resulted in increased partial resection and MMEJ, thus revealing a functional distinction between these early acting HR factors. Together these findings indicate that HR factors suppress mutagenic MMEJ following DSB resection.

Ahrabi S ，Sarkar S ，Pfister SX ，Pirovano G ，Higgins GS ，Porter AC ，Humphrey TC ... -  《-》

Microhomology-mediated End Joining and Homologous Recombination share the initial end resection step to repair DNA double-strand breaks in mammalian cells.

Truong LN ，Li Y ，Shi LZ ，Hwang PY ，He J ，Wang H ，Razavian N ，Berns MW ，Wu X ... -  《-》

Assays for DNA double-strand break repair by microhomology-based end-joining repair mechanisms.

DNA double stranded breaks (DSBs) are one of the most deleterious types of DNA lesions. The main pathways responsible for repairing these breaks in eukaryotic cells are homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ). However, a third group of still poorly characterized DSB repair pathways, collectively termed microhomology-mediated end-joining (MMEJ), relies on short homologies for the end-joining process. Here, we constructed GFP reporter assays to characterize and distinguish MMEJ variant pathways, namely the simple MMEJ and the DNA synthesis-dependent (SD)-MMEJ mechanisms. Transfection of these assay vectors in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and characterization of the repaired DNA sequences indicated that while simple MMEJ is able to mediate relatively efficient DSB repair if longer microhomologies are present, the majority of DSBs were repaired using the highly error-prone SD-MMEJ pathway. To validate the involvement of DNA synthesis in the repair process, siRNA knock-down of different genes proposed to play a role in MMEJ were performed, revealing that the knock-down of DNA polymerase θ inhibited DNA end resection and repair through simple MMEJ, thus favoring the other repair pathway. Overall, we conclude that this approach provides a convenient assay to study MMEJ-related DNA repair pathways.

Kostyrko K ，Mermod N 《-》

DNA end resection is needed for the repair of complex lesions in G1-phase human cells.

Averbeck NB ，Ringel O ，Herrlitz M ，Jakob B ，Durante M ，Taucher-Scholz G ... -  《-》

DNA Double-Strand Break Resection Occurs during Non-homologous End Joining in G1 but Is Distinct from Resection during Homologous Recombination.

Canonical non-homologous end joining (c-NHEJ) repairs DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in G1 cells with biphasic kinetics. We show that DSBs repaired with slow kinetics, including those localizing to heterochromatic regions or harboring additional lesions at the DSB site, undergo resection prior to repair by c-NHEJ and not alt-NHEJ. Resection-dependent c-NHEJ represents an inducible process during which Plk3 phosphorylates CtIP, mediating its interaction with Brca1 and promoting the initiation of resection. Mre11 exonuclease, EXD2, and Exo1 execute resection, and Artemis endonuclease functions to complete the process. If resection does not commence, then repair can ensue by c-NHEJ, but when executed, Artemis is essential to complete resection-dependent c-NHEJ. Additionally, Mre11 endonuclease activity is dispensable for resection in G1. Thus, resection in G1 differs from the process in G2 that leads to homologous recombination. Resection-dependent c-NHEJ significantly contributes to the formation of deletions and translocations in G1, which represent important initiating events in carcinogenesis.

Biehs R ，Steinlage M ，Barton O ，Juhász S ，Künzel J ，Spies J ，Shibata A ，Jeggo PA ，Löbrich M ... -  《-》