DNMT3b protects centromere integrity by restricting R-loop-mediated DNA damage

Hsueh Tzu Shih, Wei Yi Chen, Hsin Yen Wang, Tung Chao, Hsien Da Huang, Chih Hung Chou, Zee Fen Chang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study used DNA methyltransferase 3b (DNMT3b) knockout cells and the functional loss of DNMT3b mutation in immunodeficiency-centromeric instability-facial anomalies syndrome (ICF) cells to understand how DNMT3b dysfunction causes genome instability. We demonstrated that R-loops contribute to DNA damages in DNMT3b knockout and ICF cells. More prominent DNA damage signal in DNMT3b knockout cells was due to the loss of DNMT3b expression and the acquirement of p53 mutation. Genome-wide ChIP-sequencing mapped DNA damage sites at satellite repetitive DNA sequences including (peri-)centromere regions. However, the steady-state levels of (peri-)centromeric R-loops were reduced in DNMT3b knockout and ICF cells. Our analysis indicates that XPG and XPF endonucleases-mediated cleavages remove (peri-)centromeric R-loops to generate DNA beaks, causing chromosome instability. DNMT3b dysfunctions clearly increase R-loops susceptibility to the cleavage process. Finally, we showed that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in centromere are probably repaired by error-prone end-joining pathway in ICF cells. Thus, DNMT3 dysfunctions undermine the integrity of centromere by R-loop-mediated DNA damages and repair.

Original languageEnglish
Article number546
JournalCell Death and Disease
Volume13
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2022

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