Requirement of Rad18 protein for replication through DNA lesions in mouse and human cells

Jung Hoon Yoon, Satya Prakash, Louise Prakash

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

In yeast, the Rad6-Rad18 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme plays a critical role in promoting replication although DNA lesions by translesion synthesis (TLS). In striking contrast, a number of studies have indicated that TLS can occur in the absence of Rad18 in human and other mammalian cells, and also in chicken cells. In this study, we determine the role of Rad18 in TLS that occurs during replication in human and mouse cells, and show that in the absence of Rad18, replication of duplex plasmids containing a cis-syn TT dimer or a (6-4) TT photoproduct is severely inhibited in human cells and that mutagenesis resulting from TLS opposite cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and (6-4) photoproducts formed at the TT, TC, and CC dipyrimidine sites in the chromosomal cII gene in UV-irradiated mouse cells is abolished. From these and other observations with Rad18, we conclude that the Rad6-Rad18 enzyme plays an essential role in promoting replication through DNA lesions by TLS in mammalian cells. In contrast, the dispensability of Rad18 for TLS in chicken DT40 cells would suggest that the role of the Rad6-Rad18 enzyme complex has diverged considerably between chicken and mammals, raising the possibility that TLS mechanisms differ among them.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7799-7804
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume109
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - May 15 2012

Keywords

  • Human rad6-rad18 enzyme
  • Lesion bypass
  • UV damage

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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