Open AccessRNA abasic sites in yeast and human cells
Author(s) -
Yaojuan Liu,
Yesenia Rodriguez,
Robert L. Ross,
Ruoxia Zhao,
Jason A. Watts,
Christopher Grunseich,
Alan Bruzel,
Dongjun Li,
Joshua Burdick,
Rajendra Prasad,
Robert J. Crouch,
Patrick A. Limbach,
S.H. Wilson,
Vivian G. Cheung
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2011511117
Subject(s) - ap site , dna glycosylase , rna , dna (apurinic or apyrimidinic site) lyase , ap endonuclease , dna , nucleic acid , ribosomal rna , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , endonuclease , dna repair , gene
Significance Missing bases or abasic sites in the DNA were discovered in the 1960s and spawned the field of DNA repair and advanced our understanding of cancer and aging. In contrast, abasic sites in the RNA are not known except for the site in ribosomal RNA induced by the plant poison ricin. Here, we uncover RNA abasic sites in yeast and human cells, which are not as rare as assumed; there are about three abasic sites per million ribonucleotides. We identify a glycosylase that generates RNA abasic sites and an AP endonuclease that processes these sites. Additionally, we showed that RNA abasic sites are coupled to a regulatory nucleic acid structure, known as an R-loop, suggesting their role in RNA processing.