Studies of DNA Repair in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. I. Characterization of a New Allele of RAD6. II. Investigation of Events in the First Cell Cycle after DNA Damage

摘要

Studies in two independent, but related, areas of DNA repair have been carried out in Saccharomyces cerevisiae; characterization of a new allele in the RAD6 gene which suggests that the gene is multifunctional, and utilization of photoreactivation as a probe of events occurring during the first cell cycle after DNA damage. Strains carrying the new allele, designated rad6-4, are as sensitive to uv and ionizing radiation as those carrying rad6-1 or rad6-3 but, unlike them, are capable of induced mutagenesis and sporulation. Although rad6-4 may well be a missense mutation, the evidence shows that it is unlikely that this phenotype is due to leakiness. Instead, the data suggest that the RAD6 gene is multifunctional. One function is necessary to recover from DNA damage in an error-free manner, and the other is concerned with mutagenic processes and sporulation. Rad6-1 and rad6-3 strains are deficient in both of these functions, while rad6-4 strains are deficient only in the error-free function. The loss of photoreversibility (LOP) of ultraviolet induced mutations to arginine independence in an excision defective strain carrying arg4-17 examines the events occurring in the first cell cycle after DNA damage. LOP is dependent upon de novo protein synthesis. LOP begins immediately after UV irradiation, before semiconservative DNA synthesis takes place, and is complete after four hours in growth medium.There is no evidence indicating whether the normal function of the protein is involved in excision repair, or in one of the two repair processes believed to be inducible; induced mutagenesis or recombinational repair. (ERA citation 05:014270)