In eukaryotes, recombination occurs in both meiosis and mitosis. Meiotic recombination ensures accurate chromosome disjunction, whereas mitotic recombination is important in the repair of DNA lesions, particularly double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs). The importance of the homologous recombination (HR) pathway in the repair of DNA damage is indicated by the evolutionary conservation of many of the HR proteins from yeast to humans, and by the deleterious consequences of mutations in the pathway;for example, individuals lacking the HR protein BRCA1 are at high risk for developing breast cancer. Paradoxically, although HR repairs the genome, it can also have genome-destabilizing effects. In cells heterozygous for a tumor suppressor gene, mitotic recombination can lead to loss of heterozygosity (LOH), resulting in a cancer-prone homozygous cell. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to understand the mechanism of mitotic recombination, both spontaneous events and events induced by ultraviolet light (UV) and ? rays. Among the questions that will be examined are: 1) what types of DNA damage initiate spontaneous HR events?;2) are certain chromosome regions preferred sites for spontaneous recombination events?;3) are the HR events stimulated by UV light or ? rays similar to spontaneous HR events?;4) what are the consequences of DNA damage induced at different points in the cell cycle? All of these issues will be addressed in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a novel method for selecting crossovers, and microarrays capable of high-resolution (<1 kb) mapping of LOH events.
Specific Aim I is to examine spontaneous mitotic crossovers and associated non-reciprocal recombination events (gene conversions), focusing on a 1 Mb region of chromosome IV that represents about 10% of the yeast genome. Hotspots for recombination previously identified in this interval will be analyzed in detail to determine their mechanism of action. The mechanism of mitotic gene conversion will be examined by analyzing yeast strains with mutations that eliminate DNA mismatch repair and the processing of broken DNA ends. Spontaneous crossovers will also be compared to recombination events induced by the site-specific HO endonuclease.
Specific Aim II is to characterize recombination events stimulated by UV or ? rays. Genome- wide mapping of LOH events will be performed in cells irradiated in G1 or G2 of the cell cycle. These studies will clarify whether UV introduces recombinogenic DSBs. In addition, these experiments will determine the fraction of ? ray induced-DSBs that produce LOH events.
Specific Aim III is to investigate a novel pattern of chromosome segregation in which one pair of sister chromatids segregates to one daughter cell, and the other pair segregates into the other daughter cell, mimicking a meiosis I segregation. This pattern of segregation produces two cells with uniparental disomy, a phenomenon associated with tumor cells.

Public Health Relevance

The exchange of DNA sequences between pairs of chromosomes (recombination) can occur in either mitotic cells or meiotic cells. If an individual is heterozygous for a recessive mutation in a tumor suppressor gene, mitotic recombination can lead to the formation of a cell that is likely to develop into a cancer. Spontaneous mitotic recombination and recombination events induced by DNA damage (ultraviolet and y- radiation) will be analyzed throughout the genome in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01GM024110-37S1
Application #
8651563
Study Section
Radiation Therapeutics and Biology Study Section (RTB)
Program Officer
Janes, Daniel E
Project Start
1988-08-01
Project End
2016-06-30
Budget Start
2013-07-01
Budget End
2014-06-30
Support Year
37
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$18,840
Indirect Cost
$6,840
Name
Duke University
Department
Genetics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
044387793
City
Durham
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27705
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Kiktev, Denis A; Sheng, Ziwei; Lobachev, Kirill S et al. (2018) GC content elevates mutation and recombination rates in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115:E7109-E7118
Zhang, Ke; Wu, Xue-Chang; Zheng, Dao-Qiong et al. (2017) Effects of Temperature on the Meiotic Recombination Landscape of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. MBio 8:
Zhao, Ying; Dominska, Margaret; Petrova, Aleksandra et al. (2017) Properties of Mitotic and Meiotic Recombination in the Tandemly-Repeated CUP1 Gene Cluster in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 206:785-800
Omer, Sumita; Lavi, Bar; Mieczkowski, Piotr A et al. (2017) Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Mutations Accumulated in rad27? Yeast Strains with Defects in the Processing of Okazaki Fragments Indicates Template-Switching Events. G3 (Bethesda) 7:3775-3787
Yin, Yi; Dominska, Margaret; Yim, Eunice et al. (2017) High-resolution mapping of heteroduplex DNA formed during UV-induced and spontaneous mitotic recombination events in yeast. Elife 6:
Zheng, Dao-Qiong; Zhang, Ke; Wu, Xue-Chang et al. (2016) Global analysis of genomic instability caused by DNA replication stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113:E8114-E8121
Andersen, Sabrina L; Zhang, Aimee; Dominska, Margaret et al. (2016) High-Resolution Mapping of Homologous Recombination Events in rad3 Hyper-Recombination Mutants in Yeast. PLoS Genet 12:e1005938
O'Connell, Karen; Jinks-Robertson, Sue; Petes, Thomas D (2015) Elevated Genome-Wide Instability in Yeast Mutants Lacking RNase H Activity. Genetics 201:963-75
Yin, Yi; Petes, Thomas D (2015) Recombination between homologous chromosomes induced by unrepaired UV-generated DNA damage requires Mus81p and is suppressed by Mms2p. PLoS Genet 11:e1005026

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