Anti-MRC1 Monoclonal antibody, clone 20.3 [PerCP-eFluor® 710]

To ensure correct DNA replication, eukaryotes have signaling pathways that respond to replication-associated DNA damage and trigger repair. In both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a complex of proteins, including the cullin protein Rtt101p and two adapter proteins Mms22p and Mms1p, is important for proper response to replication stress. We have investigated this system in Candida albicans. In this pathogen, Mms22p is important for recovery from DNA replication damage induced by agents including methylmethane sulfonate, camptothecin, and ionizing radiation. Although no clear ortholog of Mms1p has been identified in C. albicans, loss of either Mms22p or Rtt101p generates similar damage sensitivity, consistent with a common function. In S. cerevisiae, the Mrc1p-Csm3p-Tof1p complex stabilizes stalled replication forks and activates a replication checkpoint and interacts with Mms22p. A similar complex in S. pombe, consisting of the Tof1p and Csm3p orthologs Swi1p and Swi3p, along with the fission yeast Mrc1p, genetically also interacts with Mms22p. Intriguingly in C. albicans only Mrc1p and Csm3p appear involved in damage repair, and Mms22p is required for responding to DNA damage agents in MRC1 or CSM3 conditional mutants. In C. albicans, although the loss of RAD57 greatly impairs response in the pathogen to many DNA-damaging agents, lethality due to camptothecin damage requires concomitant loss of Rad57p and Mms22p, suggesting that Mms22p is only essential for homologous recombination induced by camptothecin. These results establish that although C. albicans uses conserved cellular modules to respond to DNA damage and replication blocks, the specific details of these modules differ significantly from the S. cerevisiae model.

The RecQ helicase Sgs1p forms a complex with the type 1 DNA topoisomerase Top3p that resolves double Holliday junctions resulting from Rad51-mediated exchange. We find, however, that Sgs1p functions independently of both Top3p and Rad51p to stimulate the checkpoint kinase Rad53p when replication forks stall due to dNTP depletion on hydroxyurea. Checkpoint activation does not require Sgs1p function as a helicase, and correlates with its ability to bind the Rad53p kinase FHA1 motif directly. On the other hand, Sgs1p's helicase activity is required together with Top3p and the strand-exchange factor Rad51p, to help stabilise DNA polymerase e at stalled replication forks. In this function, the Sgs1p/Top3p complex acts in parallel to the Claspin-related adaptor, Mrc1p, although the sgs1 and mrc1 mutations are epistatic for Rad53p activation. We thus identify two distinct pathways through which Sgs1p contributes to genomic integrity: checkpoint kinase activation requires Sgs1p as a noncatalytic Rad53p-binding site, while the combined Top3p/Sgs1p resolvase activity contributes to replisome stability and recovery from arrested replication forks.