Some
of the
genes
for these
proteins
are mutated
in
patients
who
have
diseases due to deficien-
cies in DNA repair.
The
I(u heterodimer is
the sensor that
detects
DNA
damage by binding to the broken
ends. The crystal structure in
Ft{liltL
}i.:.i5 shows
why
it
binds
only to ends. The
bulk of
the
pro-
tein extends
for
about two turns along one face
of DNA
(lower).
but
a narrow
bridge between
the subunits,
located in the center of the struc-
ture, completely encircles
DNA. This means
that
the
heterodimer needs to slip onto a free end.
I(u can bring broken ends
together by bind-
ing
two
DNA molecules. The ability of
I(u het-
erodimers to associate with one
another suggests
that the reaction might take
place
as
illustrated
in iiiirlhli=
.".ii.i*.
This would
predict
that the
li-
gase
would act by
binding in the region between
the bridges
on the individual heterodimers.
Pre-
sumably I(u
must
change
its
structure
in order
to be
released from DNA.
Deficiency
in DNA repair
causes
several
human diseases.
The
common
feature is that
an
inability to repair double-strand breaks
in
DNA leads
to
chromosomal
instability. The insta-
bility
is revealed by chromosomal aberrations,
which are associated with an
increased rate of
mutation, which in turn leads to an
increased
susceptibility
to cancer in
patients
with the dis-
ease. The basic cause can be
mutation in
path-
ways
that control DNA repair or
in
the
genes
that code
for
enzymes of the
repair complexes.
The
phenotypes
can be very similar, as
in the
case of Ataxia telangiectasia
(AT),
which
is
caused
by failure of a cell cycle checkpoint
path-
way, and Nijmegan
breakage syndrome
(NBS),
which
is
caused
by a mutation of a repair
enzyme. One
of the lessons that we
learned
from characterizing
the repair
pathways
is that
they
are conserved
in mammals,
yeast,
and
bacteria.
The
recessive human disorder of Bloom's
syndrome
is caused by mutations
in a helicase
gene
(called
BLM)
that
is homologous to recQ
oI E coli.
The mutation results in an
increased
frequency of
chromosomal breaks and sister
chromatid exchanges.
BLM associates with other
repair
proteins
as
part
of
a large complex. One
of the
proteins
with which
it interacts is hMLHl,
a
mismatch-repair
protein
that is the human
homolog of bacterial mutL.The
yeast
homologs
of these
two
proteins,
Sgsl and
MLHI, also asso-
ciate,
identifying these
genes
as
parts
of
a well-
conserved
repair
pathway.
Nijmegan breakage
syndrome
results
from mutations
in a
gene
coding for a
protein
i:*li*:i:
.r:i-:"ij'+ Nonhomologous
end
joining
requires recog-
nition
of the
broken ends,
trimming
of overhanging
ends
and/or
filting, fotlowed
by tigation.
i:t{iLli.i{: J{.i,.ilii
The Ku70-Ku80
heterodimer
binds along
two turns of the
DNA doubte
hetix and
surrounds
the
helix
atthe center ofthe
binding
site.
Photos
courtesy
ofJonathan
Go[dberg,
MemoriaI
Sloan-
Ketteri
ng Cancer
Center.
20.1.2
A Common
System
Repairs
Doubte-Strand
Breaks
517