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Molecular and Cellular Biology, July 2006, p. 5406-5420, Vol. 26, No. 14
0270-7306/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.00161-06
Copyright © 2006, American
Society for
Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, California 92093,1 Department of Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, SCA110, Tampa, Florida 336202
Received 27 January 2006/ Returned for modification 24 February 2006/ Accepted 28 April 2006
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To date, five human genes encoding RecQ-like (RECQL) proteins have been identified. Mutations in RECQL2 (WRN) (105), RECQL3 (BLM) (23), and RECQL4 (41, 42) cause three rare, cancer-prone disorders, Werner syndrome (WS), Bloom's syndrome (BS), and a subset of Rothmund Thomson syndrome (Type II RTS) (97), respectively, while defects in RECQL1 (73, 74) and RECQL5 (41) have not been linked to a disease. Besides short stature, early onset of diabetes mellitus, and immunodeficiency, BS is characterized by extreme cancer risk, which has been estimated to be 150 to 300 times higher than the risk of malignancy in the unaffected population; in 168 BS patients, 100 cancers of many types had arisen at a mean age of 24.7 years, with many of the patients suffering from multiple primary cancers (31). Although WS patients share some of these symptoms, including early onset of diabetes mellitus and increased cancer susceptibility, they also show numerous other signs of accelerated aging not typical for BS. RTS patients also show a high prevalence of cancers, especially osteosarcomas, and suffer from skeletal abnormalities and skin changes (95, 98).
WS, BS, and
RTS cells exhibit a wide range of chromosomal aberrations. WS cells
have an increased spontaneous mutation rate, mainly due to the
accumulation of large deletions (>20 kb), but translocations
and insertions have also been observed
(27,
28,
79). Structural and
numerical chromosome instability has been described for RTS cells
(22,
51,
55,
67). Chromosome
aberrations in BS cells include approximately 0.29 chromatid and
chromosome breaks per cell, translocations, and ring chromosomes
(34). The most striking
feature of BS cells, however, is the increased rate of spontaneous
reciprocal exchange of genetic material between sister chromatids
(sister chromatid exchange [SCE]) as well as between chromatids of two
different chromosomes leading to the appearance of, mostly, symmetric
quadriradial (QR) chromosomes
(12). While SCEs are not
mutagenic per se, such hyperactivity of recombinogenic processes may
result in mutations if it leads to recombination between homologs or
sister chromatids at nonhomologous sites. Moreover, exchanges between
ectopic homologous regions of single chromatids of two different
chromosomes, whether they occur between homologous or nonhomologous
chromosomes, as suggested by the formation of asymmetric QRs in BS
cells, can lead to translocations as well as the formation of dicentric
and acentric chromosomes which cannot be segregated properly. QRs are
approximately 100-fold more frequent in BS cells than in normal cells,
where they occur at a frequency of
1/1,000
(12,
91). The highly elevated
rate of mitotic crossing over in BS cells between homologous
chromosomes or regions of homology located on nonhomologous
chromosomes, such as the rDNA regions in the satellite stalks of
acrocentric chromosomes, has been shown to lead to a high degree of
loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in BS cells and in BS mice, which may
expose recessive mutations in tumor suppressor genes and has thus been
suggested to be a source of tumorigenic chromosomal rearrangements in
BS (52,
91).
Unlike most other DNA helicases, the 3' to 5' DNA helicases WRN, BLM, and Sgs1 have been shown to unwind a duplex DNA preferentially from an internal loop rather than from a blunt end or a 3' overhang (6, 56). Moreover, WRN, BLM, and Sgs1 can unwind G-quadruplexes and Holliday junctions in vitro, while Sgs1 has also been shown to resolve three-way junctions (6, 37, 56). These structural substrate preferences suggest that these RecQ-like DNA helicases may be required for a variety of DNA metabolic processes during which such structures may arise, most prominently during HR and at stalled replication forks. In the absence of RecQ-like DNA helicases, recombinogenic lesions may instead be formed in an attempt to process anomalous replication forks or HR intermediates. The importance of RecQ family helicases for genome integrity is further supported by their physical interaction with proteins known to be involved in replicational and repair processes. For instance, Sgs1, BLM, and WRN interact with the single-stranded DNA binding protein RPA (11, 15, 17), Sgs1 and BLM interact with the strand exchange protein Rad51 (70, 103), RecQL4 colocalizes with Rad51 foci after induction of DNA damage (70), BLM and Sgs1 interact with topoisomerases (29, 101), and Sgs1, BLM, and WRN have been found in complexes with proteins that function in DNA damage response pathways (16, 20, 26, 47, 99). Moreover, genetic interactions have been demonstrated between sgs1 and mutations in DNA helicase genes RRM3 and SRS2 and the structure-specific endonuclease genes MUS81, MMS4, SLX1, and SLX4 (24, 30, 49, 59, 81, 93). Recently, additional interaction partners have been identified in large-scale genetic screens (66, 92). In contrast to Sgs1, BLM, and WRN helicases, recombinant RecQL4 purified from Escherichia coli cells lacks DNA helicase activity (53). Instead, Sangrithi et al. (78)identified a region at the N terminus of RecQL4 that shares homology with Sld2/Drc1, which is required for the establishment of replication forks in S. cerevisiae, thus suggesting a role of RecQL4 in the loading of replication factors at origins.
S.
cerevisiae cells lacking Sgs1 have proven to be excellent model
systems for some cellular phenotypes of the Bloom's and Werner
syndromes, especially with respect to their hyperrecombination
phenotype. Cells that lack Sgs1 display elevated rates
(
10-fold) of intrachromosomal HR between direct repeats and
interchromosomal HR between homologous sequences or heteroalleles
(100,
104). sgs1
mutations, including mutations that mimic two missense mutations found
in BS, also cause an approximately fourfold elevated rate of SCE using
an assay that measures reconstitution of a functional ADE3
gene from two nonfunctional ADE3 truncations containing a
305-bp overlap (40,
65). An increase in the
frequency of LOH in diploid sgs1 mutants has also been
reported and is mainly the result of chromosome loss and chromosome
rearrangements in the form of ectopic interchromosomal rearrangements,
such as translocations and unequal crossing over
(3). In addition,
sgs1 mutants exhibit an increased rate of recombination
between similar, but nonidentical (homeologous), DNA sequences, leading
to the conclusion that Sgs1 functions in the same pathway as the
mismatch repair (MMR) proteins to suppress homeologous recombination
(61,
87). Here we have
evaluated the role of a wide range of DNA metabolic pathways in the
suppression of spontaneous translocations between three highly diverged
genes in sgs1 mutants of S. cerevisiae. We observed
homology-driven translocations, which are suppressed by Sgs1 but not
MMR, suggesting that a function of Sgs1 other than its regulation of
homeologous recombination is responsible for its role in suppressing
translocations between related genes. Based on our analysis of
translocation structures, we propose a model for the formation of
complex translocations by a single recombinational event that may be
facilitated by the extraordinary relaxation of mitotic HR in the
absence of Sgs1.
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63 his3
200 leu2
1
lys2
Bgl hom3-10 ade2
1 ade8
hxt13::URA3), RDKY5027
(MAT
ura3-52 trp1
63 his3
200
leu2
1 lys2
Bgl hom3-10 ade2
1 ade8
hxt13::URA3), and their diploid
derivatives were generated by HR-mediated integration of PCR fragments
using standard methods. All haploid strains used for determination of
mutation rates were obtained by sporulation of appropriate diploid
strains. To minimize the emergence of suppressors, slow-growing haploid
strains containing deletions of the DNA helicase genes SGS1
and RRM3 were freshly obtained by sporulation of the
appropriate diploid strain for every experiment. S. cerevisiae
strains were grown at 30°C. S. cerevisiae strains used
in this study and their complete genotypes are listed
in Table 1. Media for propagating
S. cerevisiae strains have been described previously
(14). |
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 1. Saccharomyces
cerevisiae strains used in this study
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mutants do not have an increased GCR
rate. sgs1
rrm3
double mutants have a severe
growth defect that can be rescued by deletion of the HR genes
RAD51, RAD55, and RAD57
(66,
81,
93). During a detailed
investigation of checkpoint activation and genome instability in
sgs1
rrm3
double mutants, we observed that
sgs1
rrm3
double mutants have a synergistic
increase in GCR rates that is reduced by mutations in HR genes and is
increased by defects in checkpoint genes (K. H. Schmidt and
R. Kolodner, unpublished data; also
see Table 2). In this study, we
repeatedly found translocations between the CAN1 gene on
chromosome 5 and LYP1 or ALP1 on chromosome 14 in
sgs1
rrm3
double mutants. CAN1,
LYP1, and ALP1 are closely related genes, expressing
basic amino acid transporters; the CAN1 gene is 64% identical
to the LYP1 and ALP1 genes, while ALP1 and
LYP1 show 59% sequence identity. This observation, taken
together with the finding that, with the exception of a single
CAN1-ALP1 translocation in a tlc1
rad51
mutant, sequencing of more than 358 translocation
breakpoints in this laboratory has never identified translocations
between CAN1 and any of its nine most closely related genes in
any strain not carrying an sgs1
mutation
(75), suggests that Sgs1
may be a regulator of translocations between highly diverged genes. To
test this hypothesis, we combined an sgs1
mutation
with mutations causing defects in cell cycle checkpoints
(mec3
, rad24
,
rad9
, rfc5-1, rad53
,
mec1
, and tel1
), in HR
(rad51
and rad52
), in the oxidative
stress response (tsa1
), and in chromatin assembly
(cac1
and asf1
), many of which are
known to increase GCR rates, albeit through different defects, to
determine the effect of the additional sgs1
mutation
on the GCR rate and spectrum
(36,
44). To facilitate this
analysis, we designed a PCR assay to screen a large collection of
independent GCRs isolated from these mutants for CAN1-ALP1 and
CAN1-LYP1 translocations using two primer pairs that anneal to
the 5' end of CAN1, located on chromosome 5 (Fig.
1, primer
F), and the 3' end of either LYP1 or ALP1,
located on chromosome 14 (Fig.
1, primers R1 and R2,
respectively). The resulting PCR products were characterized by DNA
sequencing, and the rate of each type of rearrangement was
calculated. |
View this table: [in a new window] |
TABLE 2. Effect
of defects in cell cycle checkpoints, chromatin assembly, homologous
recombination, oxidative stress response, and DNA helicases on
GCRs in sgs1 and mismatch repair mutants
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FIG. 1. Location
of the CAN1, LYP1, and ALP1 genes in the
yeast genome. CAN1 is located on chromosome 5, while
ALP1 and LYP1 are located on the same arm of
chromosome 14 in opposite orientations, separated by 889 bp that
include a single 396-bp gene, BSC4. CAN1 and
ALP1 are in the same orientation with respect to their
centromeres, whereas LYP1 is in the opposite orientation. The
lengths of the genes and distances between them are indicated in base
pairs. The 174-bp regions of 93% sequence identity present in
ALP1 and LYP1, indicated by a gray box, are 2,449 bp
apart. The locations of the primers used to screen GCR clones for
CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 rearrangements are indicated by F, R1, and R2
(see the text for
details).
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None of these
classes of translocations was identified in any single mutant analyzed,
including the sgs1
single mutant. They were observed,
however, if an sgs1
mutation was combined with
rad24
, mec3
,
asf1
, cac1
, or
tel1
mutation and, at lower frequencies, with
rad9
or rfc5-1 mutations. The synergistic
increase in translocation rates in sgs1
mec3
and sgs1
asf1
double mutants and further
increase in the translocation rate in the sgs1
asf1
mec3
triple mutant indicates that the
formation of this class of translocations in sgs1
mutants is normally inhibited independently by DNA damage checkpoint
sensors Mec3 and Rad24 and the chromatin assembly factors Cac1 and Asf1
(Table 2). A synergistic
GCR rate increase was also observed when rrm3
and
sgs1
mutations were combined, and introduction of a
mec3
mutation into the sgs1
rrm3
double mutant led to a further GCR rate increase
(Table 2). However, the
doubling times of the rrm3
sgs1
and
sgs1
rrm
3 mec3
strains are longer
than those of HR-proficient sgs1
mutants with a
functional Rrm3 helicase (e.g.,
rrm3
sgs1, 286 ± 32 min; sgs1
,
109 ± 3 min; rrm3
, 98 ± 1 min; wild
type, 94 ± 2 min)
(81); therefore, it is
possible that their GCR rates may not be directly comparable to that of
normally growing sgs1
mutants, even though all
cultures were grown to the same final cell density during the
fluctuation analysis. The critical role of the DNA damage checkpoint
sensors Mec3 and Rad24 in suppressing these recurring translocations is
further emphasized by the exceptionally high frequency of
CAN-LYP1-ALP1 translocations, which make up 23% and 50% of all
GCRs that were isolated from sgs1
mec3
and
sgs1
rad24
double mutants, respectively. The
weaker synergistic interactions and lower frequencies of
CAN-LYP1-ALP1 translocations seen when rfc5-1 or
rad9
mutation was combined with an
sgs1
mutation indicate that the Rfc5 and Rad9
checkpoint proteins play a significant but lesser role in suppressing
these translocations in sgs1
mutants than other
checkpoint proteins. In contrast, we found no CAN1-LYP1-ALP1
translocations if the sgs1
mutation was combined with
mutation in MEC1 or RAD53. This observation was
surprising considering that Rad53, a central checkpoint kinase of the
DNA damage checkpoint, is believed to act downstream of Rad24 and Mec3,
while Mec1 has been implicated in virtually all DNA damage checkpoints
in S. cerevisiae. Mec1 is known to phosphorylate Rad53, Rad9,
and Ddc1, the latter of which is a subunit of the PCNA-like DNA
damage-sensing complex that also contains Mec3 and interacts with
Rad24, both of which we find are critical for the suppression of
CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations. In addition to its function in
telomere maintenance, Tel1 forms a complex with Mre11 to establish a
DNA damage checkpoint for double-strand breaks
(19,
94). However, synthetic
lethality between sgs1
and mre11
mutations prevented the further exploration of the role of
MRE11 in the suppression of complex translocations in the
absence of Sgs1. Altogether, these findings suggest that
Rad24/Mec3-dependent processes effectively suppress translocations
between related genes in the sgs1 mutant and that this
suppression also requires the checkpoint kinase Tel1 but not the Mec1
kinase. Mutations that eliminated the HR pathway
(rad52
) or the oxidative damage response system
(tsa1
) did not lead to CAN1-LYP1-ALP1
translocations when combined with an sgs1
mutation;
in fact, introduction of a rad52
mutation into the
sgs1
mec3
double mutant eliminated the
CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations, demonstrating that HR is
essential for the formation of these recurring translocations. However,
introduction of a rad51
mutation, which causes a
4-fold reduction in mitotic recombination as opposed to the 3,000-fold
reduction reported for the rad52
mutation
(76), into the
sgs1
mec3
double mutant did not reduce the
rate of CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations, suggesting that these
translocations are formed by a Rad52-dependent, Rad51-independent
recombination process.
Suppression of translocations between highly diverged genes depends on Sgs1 but not on Msh2 or Msh6.
MMR proteins
have been shown to suppress recombination between homeologous DNA
sequences (21,
83,
84,
88). To determine if the
suppression of translocations between the highly diverged
CAN1, LYP1, and ALP1 genes by Sgs1 is due to
its role in the suppression of homeologous recombination, we analyzed
GCRs isolated from MMR-defective mutants. We constructed
msh2
mutants with an additional mutation in genes,
such as CAC1, ASF1, MEC3, and TEL1,
which had led to increased rates of CAN1/LYP1/ALP1
translocations in cells lacking Sgs1. All of these
msh2
double mutants had GCR rates similar to those
of the single mutants, and no rearrangements between
CAN1 and ALP1 or LYP1 were detected (Table
2). However, in addition
to its role in heteroduplex rejection, Msh2, together with the MMR
protein Msh3, is also required for the removal of nonhomology from the
ends of recombination intermediates
(89), raising the
possibility that the msh2
mutation may, in addition
to inhibiting heteroduplex rejection, inhibit other early recombination
steps that may prevent the formation of CAN1/LYP1/ALP1
translocations. We therefore combined an msh6 mutation, which
inhibits heteroduplex rejection but not the removal of nonhomologous
3' ends (89),
with mec3
and rad24
mutations,
which yield high frequencies of CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations
when combined with an sgs1
mutation (23% and 50% of
total GCRs, respectively). We found that an msh6
mutation, like an msh2
mutation, did not lead to the
formation of CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations in the permissive
mec3
and rad24
mutants, suggesting
that relaxation of homeologous recombination is not sufficient for the
formation of the complex translocations seen in sgs1
mutants, but that an Sgs1-specific function other than suppression of
homeologous recombination normally prevents these
rearrangements.
Structure of translocations between CAN1, ALP1, and LYP1.
Sequence
alignments between CAN1 and LYP1 as well as between
CAN1 and ALP1 show 64% sequence identity, while
ALP1 and LYP1 show 60% sequence identity. All of the
65 translocation breakpoints identified in this study were found within
blocks of identical bases ranging from 1 to 17 bp in the
CAN1-LYP1 alignment, from 5 to 20 bp in the CAN1-ALP1
alignment, and from 5 to 47 bp in the LYP1-ALP1 alignment
(Fig.
2). Analysis of the frequency of breakpoints at specific
sites revealed that longer homology blocks were utilized up to 31-fold
more often than expected by chance, suggesting that
CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations are facilitated by the
increasing length of homologous regions (Fig.
3). For instance, the 46 CAN1-LYP1 breakpoints were restricted to
26 homology blocks distributed over 717 bp near the 5' end of
CAN1 and LYP1 in a region of 74% sequence identity
(Fig. 2A, breakpoints 1
to 26). The frequency of breakpoints in homology blocks of
9
bp was 2- to 10-fold higher than expected by chance, while those in
homology blocks of <5 bp were underrepresented (Table
3; Fig. 3). The utilization of
shorter than average homology blocks in the formation of
CAN1-LYP1 translocations in mutants with
rad51
or tel1
mutation (4.8 bp or 6
bp, respectively, versus the average of 8.6 bp) suggests that usage of
long homology blocks for interchromosomal translocations between
CAN1 and LYP1 depends on HR and may also depend on
Tel1 (Table
4).
![]() View larger version (51K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 2. Location
of translocation breakpoints in the CAN1, ALP1, and
LYP1 genes. (A) The open reading frame (ORF) of
CAN1 is shown. Regions of homology between the CAN1
and LYP1 genes that are longer than 4 bp are boxed with
regions of homology that are unique to the CAN1-LYP1 alignment
in uppercase letters and regions of homology that are identical in both
CAN1-LYP1 and CAN1-ALP1 alignments in lowercase
letters. The regions of homology associated with CAN1-LYP1
translocation breakpoints are numbered 1 to 26, with the most
5' breakpoint having the lowest number; numbered red boxes
indicate CAN1-LYP1 breakpoints, and numbered black boxes
indicate CAN1-ALP1 breakpoints that occurred within a region
of homology that is identical in CAN1-LYP1 and
CAN1-ALP1 alignments. (B) The ORF of CAN1
is shown. Stretches of homology between the CAN1 and
ALP1 genes that are longer than 4 bp are boxed with regions of
homology that are unique to the CAN1-ALP1 alignment in
uppercase letters and regions of homology that are identical in both
CAN1-LYP1 and CAN1-ALP1 alignments in lowercase
letters. Breakpoints are numbered 15 to 28, with the most 5'
breakpoint having the lowest number; numbered blue boxes indicate
CAN1-ALP1 breakpoints, and numbered black boxes indicate
CAN1-LYP1 breakpoints that occurred within a stretch of
homology that is identical in CAN1-LYP1 and CAN1-ALP1
alignments. (C) The ORF of ALP1 is shown. Regions of
homology between the ALP1 and LYP1 genes that are
longer than 4 bp are boxed. Breakpoints are numbered 29 to 35, with the
most 5' breakpoint having the lowest number; numbered green
boxes indicate LYP1-ALP1 breakpoints, and numbered dotted-line
boxes indicate ALP1-LYP1 breakpoints that were part of
CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 rearrangements. Breakpoint 34 was
observed in LYP1-ALP1 rearrangements as well as in
ALP1-LYP1
rearrangements.
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FIG. 3. Frequencies
of CAN1-LYP1, CAN1-ALP1, and LYP1-ALP1
rearrangement breakpoints in homology blocks of varying lengths. The
expected distribution assumes a random distribution of
breakpoints.
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TABLE 3. Expected
and observed frequencies of translocation breakpoints in homology
blocks of various lengthsa
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TABLE 4. Lengths
of homology blocks with breakpoint occurrences in sgs1 mutants
with defects in cell cycle checkpoints, homologous
recombination, chromatin assembly, or the DNA helicase Rrm3
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rad24
and sgs1
asf1
double mutants that showed two additional
breakpoints between LYP1 and ALP1, resulting in even
more complex CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations. These
additional breakpoints were assigned on the basis of 1-bp
discontinuities in the LYP1 or ALP1 alignment that
corresponded to the ALP1 or LYP1 gene, respectively.
All LYP1-ALP1 breakpoints occurred in homology blocks of at
least 5 bp, and above this threshold longer homology blocks were
favored over shorter homology blocks (Fig.
3; Table
3). In fact, 60% of the 47
breakpoints were located in the same 41-bp homology block (Fig.
2C, breakpoint 29),
occurring with 31-fold higher frequency than expected by chance, while
another 8 (17%) were located in the same 29-bp homology block (Fig.
2C, breakpoint 35),
occurring with 12-fold higher frequency than expected. A
rad51
mutation did not force rearrangements into
shorter LYP1-ALP1 homology blocks or into regions without
homology, as demonstrated by similar average homology block lengths in
rad51
and RAD strains (35.8 bp and 36.7 bp,
respectively). This disparity between the Rad51 independency of
CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocation rates, Rad51 dependency of
homology block length in CAN1-LYP1 translocations, and its
lack with respect to LYP1-ALP1 rearrangements suggests that
Rad51-independent mechanisms mediate the formation of secondary
LYP1-ALP1 rearrangements (this pathway could involve Rad59,
although we did not test this), whereas Rad51-dependent and
Rad51-independent processes can mediate the formation of
interchromosomal CAN1-LYP1 translocations with similar
effectiveness but Rad51-dependent processes are used
preferentially. The Rad52 dependency of translocations between
CAN1 and LYP1 or ALP1, as indicated by the
absence of CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations in the
sgs1
mec3
rad52
triple mutant,
suggests that a Rad59-dependent HR pathway may be partially redundant
with a Rad51-dependent HR pathway in promoting the initial HR event
leading to the CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations. In addition to translocations between CAN1 and LYP1, translocations between CAN1 and ALP1 were observed in this study. All 18 CAN1-ALP1 breakpoints were confined to a 248-bp region of 76% sequence identity (Fig. 2B, breakpoints 15 to 28). Like CAN1-LYP1 and LYP1-ALP1 breakpoints, CAN1-ALP1 breakpoints occurred 3 to 20 times more frequently in larger homology blocks than expected, while no breakpoints were observed in regions with less than 4 bp of homology (Tables 3 and 4; Fig. 2B).
Note that we have excluded the possibility that CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations may have been generated by translocation of CAN1 to a preexisting LYP1-ALP1 gene fusion on chromosome 14 (which could have resulted from unequal sister chromatid conversion or intrachromatid crossover between the two inverted homeologous genes) by confirming by PCR that the predicted LYP1-ALP1 rearrangements were not present in the clones containing GCRs and that intact ALP1 and LYP1 genes were present (data not shown). The presence of intact LYP1 and ALP1 genes in all GCR clones tested and the absence of ALP1-CAN1 rearrangements in all 12 tested GCR clones with CAN1-ALP1 translocations (data not shown) indicates that CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 rearrangements are nonreciprocal events, most likely generated by break-induced replication (BIR), rather than reciprocal events that occurred during G2/M. Since ALP1-CAN1 rearrangements are not selected against in our assay, reciprocal translocations in G2/M would predict an equal association of CAN1-ALP1 translocation chromosomes with a chromosome 14 that contains an intact ALP1 gene or an ALP1-CAN1 rearrangement, which we did not observe in this study.
The most overrepresented breakpoint location identified in this study is the 41-bp LYP1-ALP1 homology block. The observed 31-fold-higher-than-expected frequency of breakpoints in this location supports the correlation between longer regions of sequence identity and increased HR. However, the only threefold overrepresentation of the nearby 47-bp LYP1-ALP1 homology block shows that length of sequence identity is not the only determining factor for translocation target sites, but that structure and location of the homology block may also be important predictors of their suitability as an HR hotspot. In fact, the two most overrepresented LYP1-ALP1 breakpoints are not the longest blocks, but they are the first and the last homology block within the 173-bp homeologous region in the LYP1-ALP1 alignment (Fig. 2C, breakpoints 29 and 35), and they are preceded or followed by relatively long regions, 76 bp and 70 bp, respectively, that do not contain any homology blocks of at least 6 bp. This may suggest that the border between nonhomologous regions and regions of significant sequence identity may favor HR.
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mutation caused a modest
increase in the rate of translocations but did not result in the
recovery of translocations between CAN1 and ALP1 or
LYP1. However, combining an sgs1
mutation
with additional defects in other DNA metabolic pathways often resulted
in increased rates of translocations involving the divergent gene
CAN1, ALP1, or LYP1. This was observed when
an sgs1
mutation was combined with mutations causing
defects in the DNA damage checkpoint sensors Mec3 and Rad24, the DNA
damage checkpoint protein Rad9, the replication checkpoint protein
Rfc5, the checkpoint kinase and telomere length maintenance factor
Tel1, the DNA helicase Rrm3, and the chromatin assembly factors Cac1
and Asf1, but not the checkpoint kinases Mec1 and Rad53 and the
Tsa1-dependent oxidative damage response pathway. A diversity of
CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations was observed, containing as many
as four breakpoints that were preferentially located in regions of
extended homology, suggesting these translocations were formed by HR.
Where tested, these translocations were eliminated by a
rad52
mutation but not by a rad51
mutation, indicating that the divergent sequence translocations were
primarily formed by a Rad52-dependent HR pathway and that a
Rad51-independent HR pathway could also promote translocations. An
msh2
or an msh6
mutation in
combination with mutations found to interact with an
sgs1
mutation did not result in increased
translocations between CAN1 and ALP1 or
LYP1, indicating that Sgs1 plays a unique role in suppressing
translocations between divergent sequences rather than simply acting in
the MMR pathway that suppresses homeologous recombination. A striking feature of our results is the observation that 66% of the translocations involving CAN1, ALP1, and LYP1 involved two or more apparent translocation events. Assuming that these events are mediated by HR, there are two types of models that might explain these types of translocations (Fig. 4). All of the multiply translocated chromosomes appear to involve translocation from CAN1 to LYP1. Due to the opposite orientation of CAN1 and LYP1 relative to their respective centromeres, a translocation from CAN1 to LYP1 would yield a dicentric chromosome, which, as suggested by the first model, would then be predicted to break during cell division and undergo secondary rearrangements, yielding monocentric CAN1-ALP1, CAN1-LYP1-ALP1, or CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocation (Fig. 4, model 1). The CAN1-ALP1 translocations could also be generated by a single interchromosomal recombination event between CAN1 and ALP1. A general mechanism involving multiple, independent recombination events seems unlikely for several reasons: (i) the rate of a complex event would be expected to be the product of the rates of the individual steps, and given the rate of single translocation events is low, the observation of translocations involving two or more independent events seems unlikely; (ii) the formation of CAN1-ALP1 translocations needs to involve only one event, yet these translocations are less frequent (28%) than the CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations (72%) that require two events, which is surprising unless there is selection against the CAN1-ALP1 translocations due to formation of active CAN1-ALP1 fusion genes (which we did not test), or ALP1 is a less favorable translocation target than LYP1 despite similar sequence identity and presence of comparable homology blocks; (iii) the CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations, which would involve four events, would be predicted to be much more rare (square of the rate of two-event CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations) than observed; and (iv) it is not clear what would select for CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations, as all intermediate translocations containing ALP1 would no longer be dicentric and would not be subject to further breakage and translocation. An alternative model suggests that translocations may have formed as the result of repairing a single DNA break on chromosome 5 in CAN1 by BIR coupled with multiple DNA template switches (Fig. 4, model 2). This model suggests that all of the translocations are the product of a single, concerted series of events, which seems more consistent with the observed high frequency of translocation involving two or more rearrangements. A combination of factors, such as the location of ALP1 and LYP1 on the same chromosome arm, their close proximity (889 bp), and the presence of 173-bp regions of 93% sequence identity within LYP1 and ALP1 that are only separated by 2,530 bp, may have facilitated misannealing of the invading strand with the center of ALP1 after copying the 5' end of LYP1 and dissociating from it, thereby facilitating the formation of complex translocations in our system. Since all sgs1 mutants with complex translocations between CAN1, LYP1, and/or ALP1 were mismatch repair proficient, it is possible that after the initial exchange between LYP1 and ALP1 occurred a LYP1-ALP1 heteroduplex intermediate was formed, and patchy rather than continuous mismatch correction, instead of multiple chromosome breakages or template switches, yielded the two CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations rather than CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations. Note that if this mechanism did occur, mismatch repair deficiency would only be expected to eliminate the CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations and not the CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations.
![]() View larger version (20K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 4. Models
for the formation of complex translocations between CAN1,
ALP1, and LYP1. (A) Location of
CAN1 ("C") on chromosome 5 and ALP1
("A") and LYP1 ("L") on the
same arm of chromosome 14, facing in opposite directions. (B)
Model 1 shows formation of complex translocations as a result of
multiple chromosome breaks. A single DNA break in chromosome 5 leads to
invasion of the related LYP1 gene on chromosome 14, forming a
D loop and initiating DNA synthesis to the end of chromosome 14 to
yield a dicentric CAN1-LYP1 chromosome (a). A second
independent DNA break similarly leads to recombination between
LYP1 and ALP1, which is in the opposite orientation
of LYP1, transforming the dicentric chromosome into a stable,
monocentric CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 chromosome (b). Similarly,
recombination between CAN1 and ALP1 upstream of the
original CAN1-LYP1 breakpoint eliminates any LYP1
sequence from the translocation chromosome and transforms the
CAN1-LYP1 chromosome into a CAN1-ALP1 chromosome (c).
CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations may have formed as a
result of four independent break-mediated
recombination events of the type described for step a above
sequentially, leading to generation of a dicentric CAN1-LYP1
translocation, a CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 monocentric translocation, a
CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1 dicentric translocation, and finally a
CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 monocentric translocation. A related
but alternative mechanism follows the two-break mechanism described for
step a above, except that after initiating repair of the second DNA
break in the CAN1-LYP1 chromosome by invading homologous
sequences of ALP1 followed by short patch DNA synthesis, what
occurs is dissociation from ALP1 and reinvasion of homologous
sequences of LYP1, followed by another cycle of short patch
DNA synthesis, dissociation, and reinvasion of homologous sequences of
ALP1, after which DNA synthesis proceeds to the chromosome end
(d). (B) Model 2 shows formation of complex translocations as
a result of a single chromosome break in CAN1. Instead of
forming a dicentric CAN1-LYP1 chromosome first, translocations
may have formed by a single event, which may or may not have involved
DNA template switching during DNA synthesis. CAN1-ALP1
translocations could be generated by repairing a DNA break in
chromosome 5 through interchromosomal recombination between
CAN1 and ALP1 (a). Discontinuous extension of the
invading 3' end could lead to the incorporation of multiple
related DNA sequences: two cycles of strand invasion, DNA synthesis,
and dissociation, first into LYP1 and then into the nearby
ALP1, would lead to CAN1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations if
dissociation and reannealing occur after LYP1-specific
sequence has been copied (b); they would lead to CAN1-ALP1
translocations if dissociation from LYP1 and annealing to
ALP1 occur prior to copying of LYP1-specific sequence
at a homology block shared by all three genes, as is the case for 94%
(17/18) of CAN1-ALP1 breakpoints (c); or four cycles of
dissociation and reannealing would lead to
CAN1-LYP1-ALP1-LYP1-ALP1 translocations (d). In all of the
models discussed above, recombination most likely involves BIR, because
the cells lose the region of chromosome 5 between CAN1 and the
telomere but appear to retain an intact copy of chromosome 14 as
evidenced by the presence of wild-type copies of LYP1 and
ALP1.
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single mutants is modest and is most strikingly
revealed when sgs1
mutations are combined with
defects in other pathways that are important for maintaining genome
stability. Here we observed three types of genetic interactions with
sgs1
mutations: cases where no genetic interaction
was observed; cases resulting in a synergistic increase in the GCR rate
without the occurrence of translocations involving divergent sequences;
and cases resulting in small to large synergistic increases in the GCR
rate along with significantly increased rates of translocations
involving divergent sequences. Combined with the results of previous
studies, our results suggest two distinct scenarios occur. In some
cases the synergistic interaction with sgs1
results
in increased damage, but the lesions may not normally be substrates for
HR and hence there is no effect of sgs1
on
suppression of HR between divergent sequences (Fig.
5). Examples of this include the interaction between sgs1
and the mec1
and rad53
mutations
that result in checkpoint defects or a tsa1
mutation
that results in increased oxidative damage to DNA. In other cases the
synergistic interaction with sgs1
usually, but
possibly not always, results in increased damage yielding lesions that
are substrates for HR, and hence there is an effect of
sgs1
on suppression of HR between divergent sequences
(Fig. 5). Examples of this
include the interaction between sgs1
and the
checkpoint-defective mutations rad9
,
rad24
, mec3
, and rfc5-1,
the checkpoint kinase-defective mutation tel1
, the
rrm3
mutation that results in replication fork
stalling, and the cac1
and asf1
mutations that result in defective chromatin assembly during DNA
replication. Overall, these results raise the possibility that
replication errors that can be processed by HR, as suggested by a
number of studies (2,
8,
45,
46,
77), can be aberrantly
acted on by HR to yield translocations, and that Tel1-dependent
checkpoints may be critical to suppression of these replication errors
or could act at later steps in the translocation suppression process
(Fig. 5). The observation
that a tel1
mutation did not cause as large a
synergistic increase in divergent sequence translocations in
combination with an sgs1
mutation as
rad24
, mec3
, and rfc5-1
mutations did raises the possibility that Mec1 might be partially
redundant with Tel1 (18,
57,
62,
80), although we did not
test this.
![]() View larger version (21K): [in a new window] |
FIG. 5. Model
for the suppression of homology-driven translocations in the absence of
Sgs1 helicase. Replication stress as well as defects in DNA damage
checkpoints, the DNA replication checkpoint, and chromatin assembly can
lead to increased levels of HR-dependent translocations in
sgs1 mutants, while lack of the checkpoint kinase
Mec1 or Rad53 or a defective oxidative response preferentially leads to
other GCR types, such as de novo telomere additions and translocations
without homology at the breakpoint (see the text for
details).
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and msh6
mutations did not
lead to CAN1/LYP1/ALP1 translocations in any of the permissive
genetic backgrounds tested suggests that failure to suppress
homeologous recombination was not the primary cause for the increased
rate of translocations between divergent DNA sequences observed in
sgs1
mutants. However, the difference between
sgs1
and MMR mutations seen here could reflect a key
mechanistic feature of the events studied. It is possible that MMR
proteins might be more effective at suppressing the intrachromosomal
recombination events measured in most previous studies compared to the
interchromosomal recombination events assayed here. Additionally, the
DNA sequences surrounding the homeologous genes may influence the
activity of MMR proteins; for example, it was proposed that
recombination between homeologous sequences may not be affected by MMR
proteins if recombination is initiated within regions of nonhomology
surrounding the homeologous sequences, whereas MMR proteins play an
important role in the suppression of recombination between homeologous
sequences embedded in homology
(72). It is also possible
that MMR, in contrast to Sgs1, cannot act to suppress translocations
resulting from HR between sequences with the high levels of divergence
studied here. In human tumors, MMR defects lead to mono- and
dinucleotide repeat (microsatellites) instability (MIN)
(25,
43,
48,
68), but MMR-defective
tumors usually do not show chromosomal instability (CIN)
(33,
43,
50). However, a subset of
tumor cell lines is known to show both MIN and CIN
(1,
32,
90). The results
presented here are consistent with the observation that MMR-defective
tumors do not usually show CIN and suggest that the reason for this is
that suppression of homeologous recombination by MMR proteins may not
be a major mechanism for the suppression of genome rearrangements. Our
results also suggest that those MMR-defective tumor cell lines showing
MIN and CIN (1,
32,
90) may contain an
additional genetic defect inactivating a function that normally helps
prevent genome instability.
Highly elevated levels of genetic
exchange between identical sequences resulting in SCEs and symmetrical
QRs are a hallmark of BS. Chromosomal aberrations including
translocations have also been described in BS patients
(4,
39,
71,
85,
102). Furthermore, the
repeated observation of partial or complete loss of chromosome 7 in
bone marrow cells of BS patients with acute lymphoblastic or
myeloblastic leukemia may indeed suggest that lack of BLM can increase
the frequency of specific, recurring chromosomal rearrangements
(4,
39,
71,
85). However,
translocation breakpoints from BS cells have not yet been cloned and
sequenced, so little is known about the mechanisms that produce these
translocations. Previous results showing that defects in the S.
cerevisiae BLM homolog SGS1 result in increased
recombination and altered control of crossing over and gene conversion
(38,
100,
104) suggest how defects
in BLM might result in increased SCEs and QRs. The results
presented here showing that Sgs1 functions to prevent inappropriate
recombination between highly diverged DNA sequences with minimal
regions of identity, which would normally be excluded from HR during
mitosis, suggest that such sequences may become effective target sites
of chromosomal rearrangements in BS cells, leading to the
translocations and other chromosome aberrations seen in BS cells.
Moreover, HR between short interspersed elements, of which the 300-bp
Alu element is the most abundant (
106 copies/human
genome), has been implicated as a major mutational mechanism in
numerous common diseases with recurrent rearrangements
(9). This raises the
possibility that elevated short interspersed element-mediated
recombination may also contribute to the increased formation of
chromosomal rearrangements in BS. Similarly, elevation of nonallelic HR
between region-specific, low-copy repeats, which are known mediators of
recurrent rearrangements in the human genome, may contribute to
chromosome rearrangements in BS. Recently the tumor suppressor protein
p53 has also been implicated in the regulation of spontaneous HR
(54; reviewed in
reference 7), specifically
in the suppression of DNA exchange between imperfectly homologous DNA
sequences (5) and the
suppression of HR induced by inhibition of replication
(78), further
highlighting the importance of stringent regulation of HR, like that
mediated by Sgs1 in order to maintain stability of the repetitive human
genome.
.
This work was supported by NIH grants GM26017 and GM50006 to R.D.K.
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