Recombination In Yeast Research Articles

Stress Activated Protein Kinase Pathway Modulates Homologous Recombination in Fission Yeast

Rad52 is a key player in homologous recombination (HR), a DNA repair pathway that is dedicated to double strand breaks repair and recovery of perturbed replication forks. Here we show that fission yeast Rad52 homologue is phosphorylated when S phase cells are exposed to ROS inducers such as ultraviolet A radiation or hydrogen peroxide, but not to ultraviolet C or camptothecin. Phosphorylation does not depend on kinases Chk1, Rad3, Tel1 or Cdc2, but depends on a functional stress activated protein kinase (SAPK) pathway and can be partially prevented by anti-oxidant treatment. Indeed, cells lacking Sty1, the major fission yeast MAP kinase of the SAPK pathway, do not display Rad52 phosphorylation and have UVA induced Rad52 foci that persist longer if compared to wild type cells. In addition, spontaneous intrachromosomal HR is diminished in cells lacking Sty1 and, more precisely, gene conversion is affected. Moreover, HR induced by site-specific arrest of replication forks is twice less efficient in cells that do not express Sty1. Importantly, impairing HR by deletion of the gene encoding the recombinase Rhp51 leads to Sty1 dependent Rad52 phosphorylation. Thus, SAPK pathway impinges on early step of HR through phosphorylation of Rad52 in cells challenged by oxidative stress or lacking Rhp51 and is required to promote spontaneous gene conversion and recovery from blocked replication forks.

Targeting G with TAL Effectors: A Comparison of Activities of TALENs Constructed with NN and NK Repeat Variable Di-Residues

The DNA binding domain of Transcription Activator-Like (TAL) effectors can easily be engineered to have new DNA sequence specificities. Consequently, engineered TAL effector proteins have become important reagents for manipulating genomes in vivo. DNA binding by TAL effectors is mediated by arrays of 34 amino acid repeats. In each repeat, one of two amino acids (repeat variable di-residues, RVDs) contacts a base in the DNA target. RVDs with specificity for C, T and A have been described; however, among RVDs that target G, the RVD NN also binds A, and NK is rare among naturally occurring TAL effectors. Here we show that TAL effector nucleases (TALENs) made with NK to specify G have less activity than their NN-containing counterparts: fourteen of fifteen TALEN pairs made with NN showed more activity in a yeast recombination assay than otherwise identical TALENs made with NK. Activity was assayed for three of these TALEN pairs in human cells, and the results paralleled the yeast data. The in vivo data is explained by in vitro measurements of binding affinity demonstrating that NK-containing TAL effectors have less affinity for targets with G than their NN-containing counterparts. On targets for which G was substituted with A, higher G-specificity was observed for NK-containing TALENs. TALENs with different N- and C-terminal truncations were also tested on targets that differed in the length of the spacer between the two TALEN binding sites. TALENs with C-termini of either 63 or 231 amino acids after the repeat array cleaved targets across a broad range of spacer lengths – from 14 to 33 bp. TALENs with only 18 aa after the repeat array, however, showed a clear optimum for spacers of 13 to 16 bp. The data presented here provide useful guidelines for increasing the specificity and activity of engineered TAL effector proteins.

A set of dual promoter vectors for high throughput cloning, screening, and protein expression in eukaryotic and prokaryotic systems from a single plasmid

BackgroundThe ability to produce the same recombinant protein in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells offers many experimental opportunities. However, the cloning of the same gene into multiple plasmids is required, which is time consuming, laborious and still may not produce soluble, stable protein in sufficient quantities. We have developed a set of expression vectors that allows for ligation-independent cloning and rapid functional screening for protein expression in both E. coli and S. cerevisiae.ResultsA set of expression vectors was made that can express the same open reading frame in E. coli (via the T7 phage promoter) and in S. cerevisiae (via the CUP1 or MET25 promoter). These plasmids also contain the essential elements for replication and selection in both cell types and have several advantages: they allow for cloning of genes by homologous recombination in yeast, protein expression can be determined before plasmid isolation and sequencing, and a GST-fusion tag is added to aid in soluble expression and purification. We have also included a TEV recognition site that allows for the specific cleavage of the fusion proteins to yield native proteins.ConclusionsThe dual promoter vectors can be used for rapid cloning, expression, and purification of target proteins from both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems with the ability to study post-translation modifications.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Dmc1 and Rad51 Proteins Preferentially Function with Tid1 and Rad54 Proteins, Respectively, to Promote DNA Strand Invasion during Genetic Recombination

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Dmc1 and Tid1 proteins are required for the pairing of homologous chromosomes during meiotic recombination. This pairing is the precursor to the formation of crossovers between homologs, an event that is necessary for the accurate segregation of chromosomes. Failure to form crossovers can have serious consequences and may lead to chromosomal imbalance. Dmc1, a meiosis-specific paralog of Rad51, mediates the pairing of homologous chromosomes. Tid1, a Rad54 paralog, although not meiosis-specific, interacts with Dmc1 and promotes crossover formation between homologs. In this study, we show that purified Dmc1 and Tid1 interact physically and functionally. Dmc1 forms stable nucleoprotein filaments that can mediate DNA strand invasion. Tid1 stimulates Dmc1-mediated formation of joint molecules. Under conditions optimal for Dmc1 reactions, Rad51 is specifically stimulated by Rad54, establishing that Dmc1-Tid1 and Rad51-Rad54 function as specific pairs. Physical interaction studies show that specificity in function is not dictated by direct interactions between the proteins. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that Rad51-Rad54 function together to promote intersister DNA strand exchange, whereas Dmc1-Tid1 tilt the bias toward interhomolog DNA strand exchange.

Exclusion of the 750‐kb genetically unstable region at Xq27 as a candidate locus for prostate malignancy in HPCX1‐linked families

Several linkage studies provided evidence for the presence of the hereditary prostate cancer locus, HPCX1, at Xq27-q28. The strongest linkage peak of prostate cancer overlies a variable region of ~750 kb at Xq27 enriched by segmental duplications (SDs), suggesting that the predisposition to prostate cancer may be a genomic disorder caused by recombinational interaction between SDs. The large size of SDs and their sequence similarity make it difficult to examine this region for possible rearrangements using standard methods. To overcome this problem, direct isolation of a set of genomic segments by in vivo recombination in yeast (a TAR cloning technique) was used to perform a mutational analysis of the 750 kb region in X-linked families. We did not detect disease-specific rearrangements within this region. In addition, transcriptome and computational analyses were performed to search for nonannotated genes within the Xq27 region, which may be associated with genetic predisposition to prostate cancer. Two candidate genes were identified, one of which is a novel gene termed SPANXL that represents a highly diverged member of the SPANX gene family, and the previously described CDR1 gene that is expressed at a high level in both normal and malignant prostate cells, and mapped 210 kb of upstream the SPANX gene cluster. No disease-specific alterations were identified in these genes. Our results exclude the 750-kb genetically unstable region at Xq27 as a candidate locus for prostate malignancy. Adjacent regions appear to be the most likely candidates to identify the elusive HPCX1 locus.

Assembly of Large, High G+C Bacterial DNA Fragments in Yeast

The ability to assemble large pieces of prokaryotic DNA by yeast recombination has great application in synthetic biology, but cloning large pieces of high G+C prokaryotic DNA in yeast can be challenging. Additional considerations in cloning large pieces of high G+C DNA in yeast may be related to toxic genes, to the size of the DNA, or to the absence of yeast origins of replication within the sequence. As an example of our ability to clone high G+C DNA in yeast, we chose to work with Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, which has an average G+C content of 55%. We determined that no regions of the chromosome are toxic to yeast and that S. elongatus DNA fragments over ~200 kb are not stably maintained. DNA constructs with a total size under 200 kb could be readily assembled, even with 62 kb of overlapping sequence between pieces. Addition of yeast origins of replication throughout allowed us to increase the total size of DNA that could be assembled to at least 454 kb. Thus, cloning strategies utilizing yeast recombination with large, high G+C prokaryotic sequences should include yeast origins of replication as a part of the design process.

DNA Polymerase δ and ζ Switch by Sharing Accessory Subunits of DNA Polymerase δ

Translesion DNA synthesis is an important branch of the DNA damage tolerance pathway that assures genomic integrity of living organisms. The mechanisms of DNA polymerase (Pol) switches during lesion bypass are not known. Here, we show that the C-terminal domain of the Pol ζ catalytic subunit interacts with accessory subunits of replicative DNA Pol δ. We also show that, unlike other members of the human B-family of DNA polymerases, the highly conserved and similar C-terminal domains of Pol δ and Pol ζ contain a [4Fe-4S] cluster coordinated by four cysteines. Amino acid changes in Pol ζ that prevent the assembly of the [4Fe-4S] cluster abrogate Pol ζ function in UV mutagenesis. On the basis of these data, we propose that Pol switches at replication-blocking lesions occur by the exchange of the Pol δ and Pol ζ catalytic subunits on a preassembled complex of accessory proteins retained on DNA during translesion DNA synthesis.

A simple, rapid and efficient way to obtain infectious clones of potyviruses

The availability of an infectious cDNA clone is a prerequisite for genetic studies on RNA viruses. However, despite important improvement in molecular biology techniques during the last decades, obtaining such clones often remains tedious, time-consuming and rather unpredictable. In the case of potyviruses, cDNA clones are frequently unstable due to the toxicity of some viral proteins for bacteria. The problem can be overcome by inserting introns into the viral sequence but this requires additional steps in the cloning process and depends on the availability of suitable restriction sites in the viral sequence or adjunction of such sites by mutagenesis. Homologous recombination in yeast rather than in vitro restriction and ligation can be used to build infectious clones or other viral constructs. This paper describes how, by using recombination in yeast and fusion PCR, infectious intron-containing clones were obtained within a few weeks for two strains of watermelon mosaic virus (WMV, Potyvirus), whereas previous attempts using "classical" cloning techniques had failed repeatedly. Using the same approach, intronless infectious clones of two other potyviruses, zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) and papaya ringspot virus (PRSV), were obtained in less than two weeks.

Rapid generation of long tandem DNA repeat arrays by homologous recombination in yeast to study their function in mammalian genomes

We describe here a method to rapidly convert any desirable DNA fragment, as small as 100 bp, into long tandem DNA arrays up to 140 kb in size that are inserted into a microbe vector. This method includes rolling-circle phi29 amplification (RCA) of the sequence in vitro and assembly of the RCA products in vivo by homologous recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The method was successfully used for a functional analysis of centromeric and pericentromeric repeats and construction of new vehicles for gene delivery to mammalian cells. The method may have general application in elucidating the role of tandem repeats in chromosome organization and dynamics. Each cycle of the protocol takes ~ two weeks to complete.

PCR-directed in vivo plasmid construction using homologous recombination in baker's yeast.

A variety of applications require the creation of custom-designed plasmids, including transgenic reporters, heterologous gene fusions, and phenotypic rescue plasmids. These plasmids are created traditionally using restriction digests and in vitro ligation reactions, but these techniques are dependent on available restriction sites and can be laborious given the size and number of fragments to be ligated. The baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides a powerful platform to create nearly any plasmid through PCR-directed yeast-mediated ligation. This technique can ligate complex plasmids of up to 50 kilobasepairs (kb) in vivo to produce plasmids with precisely defined sequences.

Genome-wide survey of post-meiotic segregation during yeast recombination

BackgroundWhen mismatches in heteroduplex DNA formed during meiotic recombination are left unrepaired, post-meiotic segregation of the two mismatched alleles occurs during the ensuing round of mitosis. This gives rise to somatic mosaicism in multicellular organisms and leads to unexpected allelic combinations among progeny. Despite its implications for inheritance, post-meiotic segregation has been studied at only a few loci.ResultsBy genotyping tens of thousands of genetic markers in yeast segregants and their clonal progeny, we analyzed post-meiotic segregation at a genome-wide scale. We show that post-meiotic segregation occurs in close to 10% of recombination events. Although the overall number of markers affected in a single meiosis is small, the rate of post-meiotic segregation is more than five orders of magnitude larger than the base substitution mutation rate. Post-meiotic segregation took place with equal relative frequency in crossovers and non-crossovers, and usually at the edges of gene conversion tracts. Furthermore, post-meiotic segregation tended to occur in markers that are isolated from other heterozygosities and preferentially at polymorphism types that are relatively uncommon in the yeast species.ConclusionsOverall, our survey reveals the genome-wide characteristics of post-meiotic segregation. The results show that post-meiotic segregation is widespread in meiotic recombination and could be a significant determinant of allelic inheritance and allele frequencies at the population level.

Genetic disassembly and combinatorial reassembly identify a minimal functional repertoire of type III effectors in Pseudomonas syringae

The virulence of Pseudomonas syringae and many other proteobacterial pathogens is dependent on complex repertoires of effector proteins injected into host cells by type III secretion systems. The 28 well-expressed effector genes in the repertoire of the model pathogen P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 were deleted to produce polymutant DC3000D28E. Growth of DC3000D28E in Nicotiana benthamiana was symptomless and 4 logs lower than that of DC3000ΔhopQ1-1, which causes disease in this model plant. DC3000D28E seemed functionally effectorless but otherwise WT in diagnostic phenotypes relevant to plant interactions (for example, ability to inject the AvrPto-Cya reporter into N. benthamiana). Various effector genes were integrated by homologous recombination into native loci or by a programmable or random in vivo assembly shuttle (PRIVAS) system into the exchangeable effector locus in the Hrp pathogenicity island of DC3000D28E. The latter method exploited dual adapters and recombination in yeast for efficient assembly of PCR products into programmed or random combinations of multiple effector genes. Native and PRIVAS-mediated integrations were combined to identify a minimal functional repertoire of eight effector genes that restored much of the virulence of DC3000ΔhopQ1-1 in N. benthamiana, revealing a hierarchy in effector function: AvrPtoB acts with priority in suppressing immunity, enabling other effectors to promote further growth (HopM1 and HopE1), chlorosis (HopG1), lesion formation (HopAM1-1), and near full growth and symptom production (AvrE, HopAA1-1, and/or HopN1 functioning synergistically with the previous effectors). DC3000D28E, the PRIVAS method, and minimal functional repertoires provide new resources for probing the plant immune system.

Conserved Meiotic Machinery in Glomus spp., a Putatively Ancient Asexual Fungal Lineage

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) represent an ecologically important and evolutionarily intriguing group of symbionts of land plants, currently thought to have propagated clonally for over 500 Myr. AMF produce multinucleate spores and may exchange nuclei through anastomosis, but meiosis has never been observed in this group. A provocative alternative for their successful and long asexual evolutionary history is that these organisms may have cryptic sex, allowing them to recombine alleles and compensate for deleterious mutations. This is partly supported by reports of recombination among some of their natural populations. We explored this hypothesis by searching for some of the primary tools for a sustainable sexual cycle—the genes whose products are required for proper completion of meiotic recombination in yeast—in the genomes of four AMF and compared them with homologs of representative ascomycete, basidiomycete, chytridiomycete, and zygomycete fungi. Our investigation used molecular and bioinformatic tools to identify homologs of 51 meiotic genes, including seven meiosis-specific genes and other “core meiotic genes” conserved in the genomes of the AMF Glomus diaphanum (MUCL 43196), Glomus irregulare (DAOM-197198), Glomus clarum (DAOM 234281), and Glomus cerebriforme (DAOM 227022). Homology of AMF meiosis-specific genes was verified by phylogenetic analyses with representative fungi, animals (Mus, Hydra), and a choanoflagellate (Monosiga). Together, these results indicate that these supposedly ancient asexual fungi may be capable of undergoing a conventional meiosis; a hypothesis that is consistent with previous reports of recombination within and across some of their populations.

PCRless library mutagenesis via oligonucleotide recombination in yeast

The directed evolution of biomolecules with new functions is largely performed in vitro, with PCR mutagenesis followed by high-throughput assays for desired activities. As synthetic biology creates impetus for generating biomolecules that function in living cells, new technologies are needed for performing mutagenesis and selection for directed evolution in vivo. Homologous recombination, routinely exploited for targeted gene alteration, is an attractive tool for in vivo library mutagenesis, yet surprisingly is not routinely used for this purpose. Here, we report the design and characterization of a yeast-based system for library mutagenesis of protein loops via oligonucleotide recombination. In this system, a linear vector is co-transformed with single-stranded mutagenic oligonucleotides. Using repair of nonsense codons engineered in three different active-site loops in the selectable marker TRP1 as a model system, we first optimized the recombination efficiency. Single-loop recombination was highly efficient, averaging 5%, or 4.0×10(5) recombinants. Multiple loops could be simultaneously mutagenized, although the efficiencies dropped to 0.2%, or 6.0×10(3) recombinants, for two loops and 0.01% efficiency, or 1.5×10(2) recombinants, for three loops. Finally, the utility of this system for directed evolution was tested explicitly by selecting functional variants from a mock library of 1:10(6) wild-type:nonsense codons. Sequencing showed that oligonucleotide recombination readily covered this large library, mutating not only the target codon but also encoded silent mutations on either side of the library cassette. Together these results establish oligonucleotide recombination as a simple and powerful library mutagenesis technique and advance efforts to engineer the cell for fully in vivo directed evolution.

Characterization of the Meiosis‐Specific Recombinase Dmc1 ofPneumocystis

The life cycle of Pneumocystis, which causes life-threatening pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients, remains poorly defined. In the present study, we have identified and characterized an orthologue of dmc1, a gene specific for meiotic recombination in yeast, in 3 species of Pneumocystis. dmc1 is a single-copy gene that is transcribed as ∼1.2-kb messenger RNA, which encodes a protein of 336-337 amino acids. Pneumocystis Dmc1 was 61%-70% identical to those from yeast. Confocal microscopy results indicated that the expression of Dmc1 is primarily confined to the cyst form of Pneumocystis. By sequence analysis of 2 single-copy regions of the human Pneumocystis jirovecii genome, we can infer multiple recombination events, which are consistent with meiotic recombination in this primarily haploid organism. Taken together, these studies support the occurrence of a sexual phase in the life cycle of Pneumocystis.

Fluostatins Produced by the Heterologous Expression of a TAR Reassembled Environmental DNA Derived Type II PKS Gene Cluster

Culture independent approaches for accessing small molecules produced by uncultured bacteria are often hampered by the inability to easily clone environmental DNA (eDNA) fragments large enough to capture intact biosynthetic gene clusters that can be used in heterologous expression studies. Here we show that homology screening of eDNA megalibraries for clones containing natural product biosynthetic genes, coupled with transformation-assisted recombination (TAR) in yeast, can be used to access large, functionally intact, natural product gene clusters from the environment. The eDNA derived gene cluster reported here was functionally reconstructed from two overlapping cosmid clones using TAR. The isolation and structure elucidation of three new fluostatins (F, G, and H) produced by this TAR reconstructed gene cluster is described.

Integrated Mimicry of B Cell Antibody Mutagenesis Using Yeast Homologous Recombination

Antibody affinity maturation proceeds in vivo via a combination of point mutations, insertions, deletions, and combinatorial shuffling of light chains or portions of the heavy chain, thereby reducing the probability of trapping in local affinity optima in sequence space. In vivo homologous recombination in yeast can be exploited to mimic the broad spectrum of mutational types deployed by B cells, incorporating both receptor revision and receptor editing together with polymerase-directed point mutagenesis. This method was used to effect a 10,000-fold affinity improvement in an anti-peptide single-chain antibody in three rounds of mutagenesis and screening, and a 1,000-fold affinity improvement in an anti-protein single-chain antibody in a single round. When recombinational mutagenesis (CDR or chain shuffling) was directly compared to error-prone PCR, the recombinational approach yielded greater affinity improvement with substantially reduced divergence from germline sequences, demonstrating an advantage of simultaneously testing a broad range of mutational strategies.

Is the control of recombination conserved among diverse eukaryotes?

Is the control of recombination conserved among diverse eukaryotes?

Fitness Epistasis among 6 Biosynthetic Loci in the Budding Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We generated all possible haploid and homozygous diploid genotypes at 6 biosynthetic loci in yeast and scored their fitness to examine whether there was any pattern of weak synergistic epistasis, which is a requirement of the deterministic mutation model for the evolution of sex. We measured 4 components of fitness: haploid growth rate, haploid mating efficiency, diploid growth rate, and diploid sporulation efficiency. We found that in agreement with previous work in yeast, epistasis tended to be small in magnitude and variable in sign, regardless of the fitness component measured. The number of background mutations had either no effect or no consistent effect on epistasis distributions. For every combination of 2 loci in a mutation-free background, we also generated all heterozygous genotypes so that we could partition diploid epistasis into additive x additive, additive x dominance, and dominance x dominance epistasis. Our main interest was in determining whether dominance by dominance epistasis was large and negative, which is a requirement of diploid models with inbreeding to explain high levels of recombination. Dominance by dominance epistasis estimates obtained by partitioning diploid epistasis for growth rates were both positive and negative. With the caveat that our results are based on only 6 biosynthetic loci, epistasis for fitness is not supported as an explanation for the maintenance of sex or the high rate of meiotic recombination in yeast.

Constitutive Lymphoid Expression of the Nuclear Form of RNase H1 Is Associated with a Developmental Bottleneck at the Pro-B Cell Stage of B Cell Differentiation.

Abstract 4702The development of B lymphocytes and the process of lineage determination are initiated by expression of a set of transcriptional regulators leading to V(D)J recombination events initiated by double-strand DNA breaks. Subsequently, these recombinations form DNAs that permit transcription of immunoglobulin genes and translation of the corresponding mRNAs, first by joining the V(D)J DNA sequences, then by recombination, that generates various isotypes of immunoglobulins by class-switch recombination (CSR). Formation of R-loops, regions containing RNA/DNA hybrid and a displaced single-stranded DNA, have been shown to lead to recombination in bacteria, yeast, HeLa and chick cells. Expression in each of these cases of excess ribonuclease H1 (RNase H1), a class of enzymes that degrade RNA in RNA/DNA hybrids, has ameliorated the deleterious effects and decreased recombinational events associated with R-loop formation. R-loops have been observed following transcription of the switch regions that occurs during CSR. The possibility that R-loops are important in V(D)J recombination has not been addressed, and whether ribonucleases H (RNases H) play a role in this process is still uncertain. Transgenic (TG) mice that overexpress RNase H1 in B and T cells (M27F7) were employed in this study. FACS analysis of hematopoietic cells from TG mice revealed a decrease in pre-B cells in the bone marrow. The data indicate a block at the pro-B to pre-B stage of B cell development, which may be the result of apoptosis due to the failure to generate a productive VH-D-JH rearrangement and expression of the pre-B cell receptor. A few B cells that successfully passed these checkpoints predominately differentiated into marginal zone and B1a cells in the peripheral lymphoid organs of the TG mice. These data suggest that R-loops are important in H chain gene rearrangement.This research is supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Disclosures:No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.