STATEMENTSchizosaccharomyces pombe DNA translocases Rrp1 and Rrp2 modulate centromere and telomere maintenance pathways and dysregulation of their activity leads to genome instability.
ABSTRACTHomologous recombination (HR) is a DNA repair mechanism that ensures, together with heterochromatin machinery, the proper replication, structure and function of telomeres and centromeres that is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity. Schizosaccharomyces pombe Rrp1 and Rrp2 participate in HR and are orthologues of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Uls1, a SWI2/SNF2 DNA translocase and SUMO-Targeted Ubiquitin Ligase. We show that Rrp1 or Rrp2 upregulation leads to chromosome instability and growth defects. These phenotypes depend on putative DNA translocase activities of Rrp1 and Rrp2. Either Rrp1 or Rrp2 overproduction results in a reduction in global histone levels, suggesting that Rrp1 and Rrp2 may modulate nucleosome dynamics. In addition we show that Rrp2, but not Rrp1, acts at telomeres. We propose that this role depends on the previously described interaction between Rrp2 and Top2. We conclude that Rrp1 and Rrp2 have important roles for centromere and telomere function and maintenance, contributing to the preservation of genome stability during vegetative cell growth. PLoS Genet. 8, e1002985. Choi, E. S., Cheon, Y., Kang, K. and Lee, D. (2017). The Ino80 complex mediates epigenetic centromere propagation via active removal of histone H3. Nat. Commun. 8, 529. . (2009). The role of novel genes rrp1(+) and rrp2(+) in the repair of DNA damage in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. DNA Repair (Amst). 8, 627-636. Involvement of Schizosaccharomyces pombe rrp1+ and rrp2 + in the Srs2-and Swi5/Sfr1-dependent pathway in response to DNA damage and replication inhibition.Allshire, R. C. (1996). Mutations in the fission yeast silencing factors clr4+ and rik1+ disrupt the localisation of the chromo domain protein Swi6p and impair centromere function.