The ATPase Irc20 facilitates Rad51 chromatin enrichment during homologous recombination in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Deena Jalal, Jisha Chalissery, Mehwish Iqbal, Ahmed H. Hassan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) constitute one of the most cytotoxic forms of DNA damage and pose a significant threat to cell viability, survival, and homeostasis. DSBs have the potential to promote aneuploidy, cell death and potentially deleterious mutations that promote tumorigenesis. Homologous recombination (HR) is one of the main DSB repair pathways and while being essential for cell survival under genotoxic stress, it requires proper regulation to avoid chromosome rearrangements. Here, we characterize the Saccharomyces cerevisiae E3 ubiquitin ligase/putative helicase Irc20 as a regulator of HR. Using purified Irc20, we show that it can hydrolyze ATP in the presence and absence of DNA, but does not increase access to DNA within a nucleosome. In addition, we show that both the ATPase and ubiquitin ligase activities of Irc20 are required for suppressing the spontaneous formation of recombination foci. Finally, we demonstrate a role for Irc20 in promoting Rad51 chromatin association and the removal of Rad52 recombinase from chromatin, thus facilitating subsequent HR steps and directing recombination to more error-free modes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103019
JournalDNA Repair
Volume97
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2021

Keywords

  • DNA repair
  • Homologous recombination
  • Irc20
  • SUMO
  • Ubiquitin ligase

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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