The Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of Gen1/Yen1 resolvases links DNA damage signaling to DNA double-strand break repair.

• Main Authors: Aymeric P Bailly, Alasdair Freeman, Julie Hall, Anne-Cécile Déclais, Arno Alpi, David M J Lilley, Shawn Ahmed, Anton Gartner
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010-07-01
• Series: PLoS Genetics
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2908289?pdf=render
• ISSN: 1553-7390; 1553-7404

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) can be repaired by homologous recombination (HR), which can involve Holliday junction (HJ) intermediates that are ultimately resolved by nucleolytic enzymes. An N-terminal fragment of human GEN1 has recently been shown to act as a Holliday junction resolvase, but little is known about the role of GEN-1 in vivo. Holliday junction resolution signifies the completion of DNA repair, a step that may be coupled to signaling proteins that regulate cell cycle progression in response to DNA damage. Using forward genetic approaches, we identified a Caenorhabditis elegans dual function DNA double-strand break repair and DNA damage signaling protein orthologous to the human GEN1 Holliday junction resolving enzyme. GEN-1 has biochemical activities related to the human enzyme and facilitates repair of DNA double-strand breaks, but is not essential for DNA double-strand break repair during meiotic recombination. Mutational analysis reveals that the DNA damage-signaling function of GEN-1 is separable from its role in DNA repair. GEN-1 promotes germ cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via a pathway that acts in parallel to the canonical DNA damage response pathway mediated by RPA loading, CHK1 activation, and CEP-1/p53-mediated apoptosis induction. Furthermore, GEN-1 acts redundantly with the 9-1-1 complex to ensure genome stability. Our study suggests that GEN-1 might act as a dual function Holliday junction resolvase that may coordinate DNA damage signaling with a late step in DNA double-strand break repair.