UPF1 promotes the formation of R loops to stimulate DNA double-strand break repair

Ngo, Greg H. P., Grimstead, Julia W. and Baird, Duncan M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8408-5467 2021. UPF1 promotes the formation of R loops to stimulate DNA double-strand break repair. Nature Communications 12 , 3849. 10.1038/s41467-021-24201-w

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Abstract

DNA-RNA hybrid structures have been detected at the vicinity of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) occurring within transcriptional active regions of the genome. The induction of DNA-RNA hybrids strongly affects the repair of these DSBs, but the nature of these structures and how they are formed remain poorly understood. Here we provide evidence that R loops, three-stranded structures containing DNA-RNA hybrids and the displaced single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) can form at sub-telomeric DSBs. These R loops are generated independently of DNA resection but are induced alongside two-stranded DNA-RNA hybrids that form on ssDNA generated by DNA resection. We further identified UPF1, an RNA/DNA helicase, as a crucial factor that drives the formation of these R loops and DNA-RNA hybrids to stimulate DNA resection, homologous recombination, microhomology-mediated end joining and DNA damage checkpoint activation. Our data show that R loops and DNA-RNA hybrids are actively generated at DSBs to facilitate DNA repair.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Medicine
Additional Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher:	Nature Research
ISSN:	2041-1723
Funders:	Cancer Research UK
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 June 2021
Date of Acceptance:	7 June 2021
Last Modified:	08 May 2023 01:33
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/141789

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