Sequence conservation of the rad21 Schizosaccharomyces pombe DNA double-strand break repair gene in human and mouse

Journal Article · Sun Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996 · Genomics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1006/geno.1996.0466· OSTI ID:486316

McKay, M J; Troelstra, C; Kanaar, R ^[1]

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1. Erasmus Univ., Rotterdam (Netherlands); and others

The rad21 gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe is involved in the repair of ionizing radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks. The isolation of mouse and human putative homologs of rad21 is reported here. Alignment of the predicted amino acid sequence of Rad21 with the mammalian proteins showed that the similarity was distributed across the length of the proteins, with more highly conserved regions at both termini. The mHR21{sup sp} (mouse homolog of Rad21, S. pombe) and hHR21{sup sp} (human homolog of Rad21, S. pombe) predicted proteins were 96% identical, whereas the human and S. pombe proteins were 25% identical and 47% similar. RNA blot analysis showed that mHR21{sup sp} mRNA was abundant in all adult mouse tissues examined, with highest expression in testis and thymus. In addition to a 3.1-kb constitutive mRNA transcript, a 2.2-kb transcript was present at a high level in postmeiotic spermatids, while expression of the 3.1-kb mRNA in testis was confined to the meiotic compartment. hHR21{sup sp} mRNA was cell-cycle regulated in human cells, increasing in late S phase to a peak in G2 phase. The level of hHR21{sup sp} transcripts was not altered by exposure of normal diploid fibroblasts to 10 Gy ionizing radiation. In situ hybridization showed that mHR21{sup sp} resided on chromosome 15D3, whereas hHR21{sup sp} localized to the syntenic 8q24 region. Elevated expression of mHR21{sup sp} in testis and thymus supports a possible role for the rad21 mammalian homologs in V(D)J and meiotic recombination, respectively. Cell cycle regulation of rad21, retained from S. pombe to human, is consistent with a conservation of function between S. pombe and human rad21 genes. 62 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.

• OSTI ID: 486316
• Journal Information: Genomics, Journal Name: Genomics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 36; ISSN GNMCEP; ISSN 0888-7543
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
AMINO ACID SEQUENCE
ANIMAL CELLS
CELL CYCLE
CHROMOSOMES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DNA
DNA HYBRIDIZATION
DNA REPAIR
DNA SEQUENCING
DNA-CLONING
FLUORESCENCE
GENE RECOMBINATION
GENE REGULATION
GENES
GENETIC MAPPING
GENETIC RADIATION EFFECTS
HUMAN CHROMOSOME 8
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MAN
MEIOSIS
MESSENGER-RNA
MICE
NUCLEOTIDES
SACCHAROMYCES
STRAND BREAKS
STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS
TESTES
THYMUS
TISSUE DISTRIBUTION
TRANSCRIPTION