The Neurospora crassa UVS-3 epistasis group encodes homologues of the ATR/ATRIP checkpoint control system

DNA interstrand crosslink repair by XPF-ERCC1 homologue confers ultraviolet resistance in Neurospora crassa

Ultraviolet (UV) light is a mutagen that causes DNA damage. Some UV-sensitive Neurospora crassa strains have been reported to exhibit a partial photoreactivation defect (PPD) phenotype, and the possible cause of this has been unknown for more than half a century. In this study, in the process of elucidating the possible causes of a PPD phenotype, we discovered that the XPF homologue MUS-38 is involved in repairing the UV-induced DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) in N. crassa. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the Δmus-38 and Δmus-44 strains to ICL agents was significantly higher than that of other nucleotide excision repair (NER)-related gene knockout (KO) strains, indicating that the MUS-38/MUS-44 complex is involved in an NER-independent ICL repair mechanism. Based on reports concerning the mammalian homologues XPF and ERCC1 we obtained separation-of-function mutants defective only in NER in mus-38 and mus-44. Additionally, the photoreactivation ability of these mutants was significantly higher than that of the KO strains. These results indicate that the PPD phenotype is caused by a defect in the repair-ability of ICL induced by UV and that an NER-independent ICL repair by MUS-38 and MUS-44 confers resistance to UV in N. crassa.

Emergence and evolutionary analysis of the human DDR network: implications in comparative genomics and downstream analyses

The DNA damage response (DDR) is a crucial signaling network that preserves the integrity of the genome. This network is an ensemble of distinct but often overlapping subnetworks, where different components fulfill distinct functions in precise spatial and temporal scenarios. To understand how these elements have been assembled together in humans, we performed comparative genomic analyses in 47 selected species to trace back their emergence using systematic phylogenetic analyses and estimated gene ages. The emergence of the contribution of posttranslational modifications to the complex regulation of DDR was also investigated. This is the first time a systematic analysis has focused on the evolution of DDR subnetworks as a whole. Our results indicate that a DDR core, mostly constructed around metabolic activities, appeared soon after the emergence of eukaryotes, and that additional regulatory capacities appeared later through complex evolutionary process. Potential key posttranslational modifications were also in place then, with interacting pairs preferentially appearing at the same evolutionary time, although modifications often led to the subsequent acquisition of new targets afterwards. We also found extensive gene loss in essential modules of the regulatory network in fungi, plants, and arthropods, important for their validation as model organisms for DDR studies.

Neurospora mrc1 homologue is involved in replication stability and is required for normal cell growth and chromosome integrity in mus-9 and mus-21 mutants

Stalled replication forks easily collapse and such structures can induce DNA strand breaks or toxic recombination products. Therefore, factors involved in stabilization of replication should be important for genome integrity. In our previous study, loss of both ATM and ATR homologues was shown to cause growth defects and chromosome instability in Neurospora crassa. To elucidate the relationships between these defects and replication instability, we focused on one of the viable replication factors, mrc1. We identified an mrc1 homologue from the N. crassa genome database. The mrc1 disruptant was sensitive to the replication inhibitor hydroxyurea (HU) and delayed restart of the cell cycle from HU treatment. Importantly, HU treatment induced histone H2A phosphorylation in the mrc1 mutant but not in the wild type. Furthermore, the HU-induced H2A phosphorylation was completely dependent on the ATM homologue mus-21, and dysfunction of mus-21 increased HU sensitivity of the mrc1 mutant. These results indicate that Neurospora mrc1 is important for stabilization of replication forks and that loss of mrc1 causes activation of the DNA damage checkpoint. Unexpectedly, loss of mrc1 did not affect cell growth, but the deletion of mrc1 reduced hyphal growth speed and conidia viability in the mus-9 and mus-21 mutants. The mrc1 mus-9 and mrc1 mus-21 double mutants also showed accumulation of micronuclei, which is a typical marker of chromosome instability. These results imply that activation of the checkpoint pathway can protect cells from instability of DNA replication caused by loss of mrc1.

Exploring the processes of DNA repair and homologous integration in Neurospora

This review offers a personal perspective on historical developments related to our current understanding of DNA repair, recombination, and homologous integration in Neurospora crassa. Previous reviews have summarized and analyzed the characteristics of Neurospora DNA repair mutants. The early history is reviewed again here as a prelude to a discussion of the molecular cloning, annotation, gene disruption and reverse genetics of Neurospora DNA repair genes. The classical studies and molecular analysis are then linked in a perspective on new directions in research on mutagen-sensitive mutants.

ATM and ATR homologes of Neurospora crassa are essential for normal cell growth and maintenance of chromosome integrity

Genome integrity is maintained by many cellular mechanisms in eukaryotes. One such mechanism functions during the cell cycle and is known as the DNA damage checkpoint. In the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa, mus-9 and mus-21 are homologes of two key factors of the mammalian DNA damage checkpoint, ATR and ATM, respectively. We previously showed that mus-9 and mus-21 mutants are sensitive to DNA damage and that each mutant shows a characteristic growth defect: conidia from the mus-9 mutant have reduced viability and the mus-21 mutant exhibits slow hyphal growth. However, the relationship between these two genes has not been determined because strains carrying both mus-9 and mus-21 mutations could not be obtained. To facilitate analysis of a strain deficient in both mus-9 and mus-21, we introduced a specific mutation to the kinase domain of MUS-9 to generate a temperature-sensitive mus-9 allele (mus-9(ts)) which shows increased mutagen sensitivity at 37 degrees C. Then we crossed this strain with a mus-21 mutant to obtain a mus-9(ts) mus-21 double mutant. Growth of the mus-9(ts) mus-21 double mutant did not progress at the restrictive temperature (37 degrees C). Even at the permissive temperature (25 degrees C), this strain exhibited a higher mutagen sensitivity than that of the mus-9 and mus-21 single mutants, as well as slow hyphal growth and low viability of conidia. These results indicate that the mus-9(ts) mutation causes hypomorphic phenotypes in the mus-21 mutant and that these two genes regulate different pathways. Interestingly, we observed accumulation of micronuclei in the conidia of this double mutant, and such micronuclei were likely to correlate with spontaneous DSBs. Our results suggest that both mus-9 and mus-21 pathways are involved in DNA damage response, normal growth and maintenance of chromosome integrity, and that at least one of the pathways must be functional for survival.

Genetic analysis of CHK1 and CHK2 homologues revealed a unique cross talk between ATM and ATR pathways in Neurospora crassa

DNA damage checkpoint is an important mechanism for organisms to maintain genome integrity. In Neurospora crassa, mus-9 and mus-21 are homologues of ATR and ATM, respectively, which are pivotal factors of DNA damage checkpoint in mammals. A N. crassa clock gene prd-4 has been identified as a CHK2 homologue, but its role in DNA damage response had not been elucidated. In this study, we identified another CHK2 homologue and one CHK1 homologue from the N. crassa genome database. As disruption of these genes affected mutagen tolerance, we named them mus-59 and mus-58, respectively. The mus-58 mutant was sensitive to hydroxyurea (HU), but the mus-59 and prd-4 mutants showed the same HU sensitivity as that of the wild-type strain. This indicates the possibility that MUS-58 is involved in replication checkpoint and stabilization of stalled forks like mammalian CHK1. Phosphorylation of MUS-58 and MUS-59 was observed in the wild-type strain in response to mutagen treatments. Genetic relationships between those three genes and mus-9 or mus-21 indicated that the mus-9 mutation was epistatic to mus-58, and mus-21 was epistatic to prd-4. These relationships correspond to two signal pathways, ATR-CHK1 and ATM-CHK2 that have been established in mammalian cells. However, both the mus-9 mus-59 and mus-21 mus-58 double mutants showed an intermediate level between the two parental strains for CPT sensitivity. Furthermore, these double mutants showed severe growth defects. Our findings suggest that the DNA damage checkpoint of N. crassa is controlled by unique mechanisms.