Genetic effects of photoactivated psoralens during meiosis in DNA repair mutant pso3-1 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Role of PSO genes in the repair of photoinduced interstrand cross-links and photooxidative damage in the DNA of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Recent progress in elucidating the molecular structure of the PSSO genes PSO2 to PSO7 is presented. Their role in DNA repair and mutagenesis is discussed in the light of the putative proteins encoded in the respective ORFs and with the knowledge of recent progress in biological and biochemical experimentation. The role of the RecA protein in some steps of DNA repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is presented and discussed.

The PSO4 gene of S. cerevisiae is important for sporulation and the meiotic DNA repair of photoactivated psoralen lesions

We have evaluated the effect of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pso4-1 mutation in sporulation and DNA repair during meiosis. We have found that pso4-1 cells were arrested in an early step of meiosis, before premeiotic DNA synthesis, and hence did not produce spores. These results suggest that the PSO4 gene may act at the start point of the cell cycle, as do some SPO and CDC genes. The pso4-1 mutant cells are specifically sensitive to 8-MOP- and 3-CPs-photoinduced lesions, and are found to be severely affected in meiotic recombination as well as impaired in the mutagenic response, as previously described for mitosis. This means that the PSO4 gene is important for the repair 8-MOP-photoinduced lesions, mainly double-strand breaks, and the processing of these lesions into recombinogenic intermediates.