Isolation of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe RAD54 homologue, rhp54+, a gene involved in the repair of radiation damage and replication fidelity.

The RAD54 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a putative helicase, which is involved in the recombinational repair of DNA damage. The RAD54 homologue of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, rhp54+, was isolated by using the RAD54 gene as a heterologous probe. The gene is predicted to encode a protein of ...
852 amino acids. The overall homology between the mutual proteins of the two species is 67% with 51% identical amino acids and 16% similar amino acids. A rhp54 deletion mutant is very sensitive to both ionizing radiation and UV. Fluorescence microscopy of the rhp54 mutant cells revealed that a large portion of the cells are elongated and occasionally contain aberrant nuclei. In addition, FACS analysis showed an increased DNA content in comparison with wild-type cells. Through a minichromosome-loss assay it was shown that the rhp54 deletion mutant has a very high level of chromosome loss. Furthermore, the rhp54 mutation in either a rad17 or a cdc2.3w mutant background (where the S-phase/mitosis checkpoint is absent) shows a significant reduction in viability. It is hypothesized that the rhp54+ gene is involved in the recombinational repair of UV and X-ray damage and plays a role in the processing of replication-specific lesions.
Mesh Terms:
Amino Acid Sequence, Base Sequence, DNA Helicases, DNA Repair, DNA Repair Enzymes, DNA, Fungal, Fungal Proteins, Gene Deletion, Genes, Fungal, Molecular Sequence Data, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins, Schizosaccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins, Sequence Analysis, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
J. Cell. Sci.
Date: Jan. 01, 1996
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