Rad50 Is Not Essential for the Mre11-Dependent Repair of DNA Double-Strand Breaks inHalobacteriumsp. Strain NRC-1

The genome of the halophilic archaeonHalobacterium sp. strain NRC-1 encodes homologs of the eukaryotic Mre11 and Rad50 proteins, which are involved in the recognition and end processing of DNA double-strand breaks in the homologous recombination repair pathway. We have analyzed the phenotype ofHalobacterium deletion mutants lackingmre11 and/orrad50 after exposure to UV-C radiation, an alkylating agent (N -methyl-N ′-nitro-N -nitrosoguanidine), and γ radiation, none of which resulted in a decrease in survival of the mutant strains compared to that of the background strain. However, a decreased rate of repair of DNA double-strand breaks in strains lacking themre11 gene was observed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. These observations led to the hypothesis that Mre11 is essential for the repair of DNA double-strand breaks inHalobacterium , whereas Rad50 is dispensable. This is the first identification of a Rad50-independent function for the Mre11 protein, and it represents a shift in theArchaea away from the eukaryotic model of homologous recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks.