Premium
Fission yeast Rad50 stimulates sister chromatid recombination and links cohesion with repair
Author(s) -
Hartsuiker E.,
Vaessen E.,
Carr A.M.,
Kohli J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1093/emboj/20.23.6660
Subject(s) - biology , establishment of sister chromatid cohesion , homologous recombination , rad50 , dna repair , genetics , postreplication repair , homology directed repair , flp frt recombination , chromatid , sister chromatids , saccharomyces cerevisiae , genetic recombination , replication protein a , dna replication , nucleotide excision repair , dna , gene , chromosome , recombination , dna binding protein , transcription factor
To study the role of Rad50 in the DNA damage response, we cloned and deleted the Schizosaccharo myces pombe RAD50 homologue. The deletion is sensitive to a range of DNA‐damaging agents and shows dynamic epistatic interactions with other recombination–repair genes. We show that Rad50 is necessary for recombinational repair of the DNA lesion at the mating‐type locus and that rad50 Δ shows slow DNA replication. We also find that Rad50 is not required for slowing down S phase in response to hydroxy urea or methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) treatment. Interestingly, in rad50 Δ cells, the recombination frequency between two homologous chromosomes is increased at the expense of sister chromatid recombination. We propose that Rad50, an SMC‐like protein, promotes the use of the sister chromatid as the template for homologous recombinational repair. In support of this, we found that Rad50 functions in the same pathway for the repair of MMS‐induced damage as Rad21, the homologue of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Scc1 cohesin protein. We speculate that Rad50 interacts with the cohesin complex during S phase to assist repair and possibly re‐initiation of replication after replication fork collapse.