Structural and functional analysis of the Crb2–BRCT2 domain reveals distinct roles in checkpoint signaling and DNA damage repair
Abstract
Schizosaccharomyces pombe Crb2 is a checkpoint mediator required for the cellular response to DNA damage. Like human 53BP1 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad9 it contains Tudor2 and BRCT2 domains. Crb2-Tudor2 domain interacts with methylated H4K20 and is required for recruitment to DNA dsDNA breaks. The BRCT2 domain is required for dimerization, but its precise role in DNA damage repair and checkpoint signaling is unclear. The crystal structure of the Crb2–BRCT2 domain, alone and in complex with a phosphorylated H2A.1 peptide, reveals the structural basis for dimerization and direct interaction with γ-H2A.1 in ionizing radiation-induced foci (IRIF). Mutational analysis in vitro confirms the functional role of key residues and allows the generation of mutants in which dimerization and phosphopeptide binding are separately disrupted. Phenotypic analysis of these in vivo reveals distinct roles in the DNA damage response. Dimerization mutants are genotoxin sensitive and defective in checkpoint signaling, Chk1 phosphorylation, and Crb2 IRIF formation, while phosphopeptide-binding mutants are only slightly sensitive to IR, have extended checkpoint delays, phosphorylate Chk1, and form Crb2 IRIF. However, disrupting phosphopeptide binding slows formation of ssDNA-binding protein (Rpa1/Rad11) foci and reduces levels of Rad22(Rad52) recombination foci, indicating a DNA repair defect.
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Footnotes
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↵3 Present address: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Medicine Building, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
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↵4 Corresponding authors.
↵4 E-MAIL Laurence.Pearl{at}icr.ac.uk; FAX 44-020-7970-6051.
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↵5 E-MAIL f.z.watts{at}sussex.ac.uk; FAX 44-1273-678-121.
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Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.
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Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.472808.
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- Received January 23, 2008.
- Accepted June 4, 2008.
- Copyright © 2008, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press