Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-9-2021

Comments

This article is the author’s final published version in Cell Reports, Volume 34, Issue 10, March 2021, Article number 108820.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.108820. Copyright © Chandramouly et al.

Abstract

DNA polymerase θ (Polθ) confers resistance to chemotherapy agents that cause DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) at double-strand breaks (DSBs), such as topoisomerase inhibitors. This suggests Polθ might facilitate DPC repair by microhomology-mediated end-joining (MMEJ). Here, we investigate Polθ repair of DSBs carrying DPCs by monitoring MMEJ in Xenopus egg extracts. MMEJ in extracts is dependent on Polθ, exhibits the MMEJ repair signature, and efficiently repairs 5' terminal DPCs independently of non-homologous end-joining and the replisome. We demonstrate that Polθ promotes the repair of 5' terminal DPCs in mammalian cells by using an MMEJ reporter and find that Polθ confers resistance to formaldehyde in addition to topoisomerase inhibitors. Dual deficiency in Polθ and tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 2 (TDP2) causes severe cellular sensitivity to etoposide, which demonstrates MMEJ as an independent DPC repair pathway. These studies recapitulate MMEJ in vitro and elucidate how Polθ confers resistance to etoposide.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

PubMed ID

33691100

Language

English

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