Budding yeast Slx4 interacts with the structure-specific endonuclease Slx1 to ensure completion of ribosomal DNA replication. Slx4 also interacts with the Rad1-Rad10 endonuclease to control cleavage of 3' flaps during repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs). Here we describe the identification of human SLX4, a scaffold for DNA repair nucleases XPF-ERCC1, MUS81-EME1, and SLX1. SLX4 immunoprecipitates show SLX1-dependent nuclease activity toward Holliday junctions and MUS81-dependent activity toward other branched DNA structures. Furthermore, SLX4 enhances the nuclease activity of SLX1, MUS81, and XPF. Consistent with a role in processing recombination intermediates, cells depleted of SLX4 are hypersensitive to genotoxins that cause DSBs and show defects in the resolution of interstrand crosslink-induced DSBs. Depletion of SLX4 causes a decrease in DSB-induced homologous recombination. These data show that SLX4 is a regulator of structure-specific nucleases and that SLX4 and SLX1 are important regulators of genome stability in human cells.

ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia mutated), ATR (ATM- and Rad3-related) and DNA-PK (DNA-dependent protein kinase), important regulators of genome stability, belong to the PIKK (phosphoinositide 3-kinase-like kinase) family of protein kinases. In the present study, DNA-affinity chromatography was used to identify DNA-binding proteins phosphorylated by these kinases. This resulted in the identification of FUS (fused in sarcoma)/TLS (translocated in liposarcoma) as an in vitro target of the PIKKs. FUS is a member of the Ewing's sarcoma family of proteins that appears to play a role in regulating genome stability, since mice lacking FUS show chromosomal instability and defects in meiosis. The residues in FUS that are phosphorylated in vitro and in vivo were identified, and phospho-specific antibodies were generated to demonstrate that FUS becomes phosphorylated at Ser(42) in vivo, primarily in response to agents that cause DSBs (double-strand breaks). DSB-induced FUS phosphorylation in vivo at Ser(42) requires ATM and not DNA-PK. Although Ser(42) is retained in the oncogenic FUS-CHOP [C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein)-homologous protein 10] fusion generated by a t(12;16)(q13;p11) chromosomal translocation, Ser(42) in FUS-CHOP is not phosphorylated after DNA damage. These results identify FUS as a new target of the ATM-signalling pathway and strengthen the notion that FUS regulates genome stability.

Glucose-1-phosphate thymidylyltransferase (RmlA) catalyzes the condensation of glucose-1-phosphate (G1P) with deoxy-thymidine triphosphate (dTTP) to yield dTDP-d-glucose and pyrophosphate. This is the first step in the l-rhamnose biosynthetic pathway. l-Rhamnose is an important component of the cell wall of many microorganisms, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here we describe the first nanomolar inhibitors of P. aeruginosa RmlA. These thymine analogues were identified by high-throughput screening and subsequently optimized by a combination of protein crystallography, in silico screening, and synthetic chemistry. Some of the inhibitors show inhibitory activity against M. tuberculosis. The inhibitors do not bind at the active site of RmlA but bind at a second site remote from the active site. Despite this, the compounds act as competitive inhibitors of G1P but with high cooperativity. This novel behavior was probed by structural analysis, which suggests that the inhibitors work by preventing RmlA from undergoing the conformational change key to its ordered bi-bi mechanism.