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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2008, p. 5210-5216, Vol. 190, No. 15
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00292-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Rad50 Is Not Essential for the Mre11-Dependent Repair of DNA Double-Strand Breaks in Halobacterium sp. Strain NRC-1{triangledown}

A. Kish and J. DiRuggiero*

Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Received 26 February 2008/ Accepted 18 May 2008

The genome of the halophilic archaeon Halobacterium sp. strain NRC-1 encodes homologs of the eukaryotic Mre11 and Rad50 proteins, which are involved in the recognition and end processing of DNA double-strand breaks in the homologous recombination repair pathway. We have analyzed the phenotype of Halobacterium deletion mutants lacking mre11 and/or rad50 after exposure to UV-C radiation, an alkylating agent (N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine), and {gamma} radiation, none of which resulted in a decrease in survival of the mutant strains compared to that of the background strain. However, a decreased rate of repair of DNA double-strand breaks in strains lacking the mre11 gene was observed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. These observations led to the hypothesis that Mre11 is essential for the repair of DNA double-strand breaks in Halobacterium, whereas Rad50 is dispensable. This is the first identification of a Rad50-independent function for the Mre11 protein, and it represents a shift in the Archaea away from the eukaryotic model of homologous recombination repair of DNA double-strand breaks.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Biology. Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Phone: (410) 516-8498. Fax: (410) 516-5213. E-mail: jdiruggiero{at}jhu.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 23 May 2008.

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2008, p. 5210-5216, Vol. 190, No. 15
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00292-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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