The general goal of the proposed research is to identify and define pathways that regulate homologous recombination as a DNA repair and DNA damage tolerance pathway in somatic cells. The fundamental approach is to use the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a lead organism and to establish novel mechanisms, which will be transferred by proof-of-principle experiments to humans to validate the general significance of the original paradigms.
The Specific Aims are: 1. Determine the mechanism of anti-recombination and crossover regulation by Srs2. Srs2 is an anti- recombinase that acts by dissociating Rad51 from ssDNA. In addition, Srs2 has been demonstrated genetically to limit crossover formation. Sub-aim A: We will determine the mechanism of crossover regulation by Srs2. We will determine the roles of Rad55-Rad57 and PCNA and their post-translational modifications on the Srs2 anti-recombination and anti-crossover activity. Sub-aim B: We will extend these findings to humans and determine which proteins proposed to exert Srs2 function are involved in crossover control. 2. Determine the mechanism of activation of Mus81-Mms4. Mus81-Mms4 is a structure-selective endonuclease that processes HR-dependent joint molecules. We have reconstituted in vitro the Cdc5 (Polo kinase)-mediated activation of Mus81-Mms4 and developed an experimental plan to differentiate between different mechanistic models of direct activation of the Mus81-Mms4 catalytic activity. Sub-aim A: We will establish the mechanism of activation using genetic and biochemical approaches in yeast. Sub-aim B: We will conduct proof-of-principle experiments to show that also human MUS81-EME1 is directly activated by Polo- kinase-mediated phosphorylation.

Public Health Relevance

Homologous recombination is a central DNA pathway that addresses complex DNA damage such as DNA double-stranded breaks or interstrand crosslinks, as well as stalled or broken replication forks. Such lesions are induced by ionizing radiation and other common modalities of DNA damaged-based anti-cancer therapy. The work in this proposal will establish novel paradigms for the regulation of homologous recombination that will lead to an improved mechanistic understanding of this critical DNA repair pathway. Such knowledge is fundamental is developing biology-based approaches to improve efficacy and reduce side effects of DNA damage-based anti-tumor therapy.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA092276-17
Application #
9671351
Study Section
Cancer Etiology Study Section (CE)
Program Officer
Oberdoerffer, Philipp
Project Start
2001-07-01
Project End
2021-03-31
Budget Start
2019-04-01
Budget End
2020-03-31
Support Year
17
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Davis
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
047120084
City
Davis
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
95618
Wright, William Douglass; Shah, Shanaya Shital; Heyer, Wolf-Dietrich (2018) Homologous recombination and the repair of DNA double-strand breaks. J Biol Chem 293:10524-10535
Piazza, Aurèle; Heyer, Wolf-Dietrich (2018) Multi-Invasion-Induced Rearrangements as a Pathway for Physiological and Pathological Recombination. Bioessays 40:e1700249
Piazza, Aurèle; Koszul, Romain; Heyer, Wolf-Dietrich (2018) A Proximity Ligation-Based Method for Quantitative Measurement of D-Loop Extension in S. cerevisiae. Methods Enzymol 601:27-44
Liu, Jie; Ede, Christopher; Wright, William D et al. (2017) Srs2 promotes synthesis-dependent strand annealing by disrupting DNA polymerase ?-extending D-loops. Elife 6:
Muñoz-Galván, Sandra; Tous, Cristina; Blanco, Miguel G et al. (2017) Correction for Muñoz-Galván et al., ""Distinct Roles of Mus81, Yen1, Slx1-Slx4, and Rad1 Nucleases in the Repair of Replication-Born Double-Strand Breaks by Sister Chromatid Exchange"". Mol Cell Biol 37:
Piazza, Aurèle; Wright, William Douglass; Heyer, Wolf-Dietrich (2017) Multi-invasions Are Recombination Byproducts that Induce Chromosomal Rearrangements. Cell 170:760-773.e15
Crawley, Jacqueline N; Heyer, Wolf-Dietrich; LaSalle, Janine M (2016) Autism and Cancer Share Risk Genes, Pathways, and Drug Targets. Trends Genet 32:139-146
McVey, Mitch; Khodaverdian, Varandt Y; Meyer, Damon et al. (2016) Eukaryotic DNA Polymerases in Homologous Recombination. Annu Rev Genet 50:393-421
Janke, Ryan; Kong, Jeremy; Braberg, Hannes et al. (2016) Nonsense-mediated decay regulates key components of homologous recombination. Nucleic Acids Res 44:5218-30
Fasching, Clare L; Cejka, Petr; Kowalczykowski, Stephen C et al. (2015) Top3-Rmi1 dissolve Rad51-mediated D loops by a topoisomerase-based mechanism. Mol Cell 57:595-606

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