Collaborating functions of BLM and DNA topoisomerase I in regulating human rDNA transcription

Patrick M. Grierson, Samir Acharya, Joanna Groden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bloom's syndrome (BS) is an inherited disorder caused by loss of function of the recQ-like BLM helicase. It is characterized clinically by severe growth retardation and cancer predisposition. BLM localizes to PML nuclear bodies and to the nucleolus; its deficiency results in increased intra- and inter-chromosomal recombination, including hyper-recombination of rDNA repeats. Our previous work has shown that BLM facilitates RNA polymerase I-mediated rRNA transcription in the nucleolus (Grierson et al., 2012 [18]). This study uses protein co-immunoprecipitation and in vitro transcription/translation (IVTT) to identify a direct interaction of DNA topoisomerase I with the C-terminus of BLM in the nucleolus. In vitro helicase assays demonstrate that DNA topoisomerase I stimulates BLM helicase activity on a nucleolar-relevant RNA:DNA hybrid, but has an insignificant effect on BLM helicase activity on a control DNA:DNA duplex substrate. Reciprocally, BLM enhances the DNA relaxation activity of DNA topoisomerase I on supercoiled DNA substrates. Our study suggests that BLM and DNA topoisomerase I function coordinately to modulate RNA:DNA hybrid formation as well as relaxation of DNA supercoils in the context of nucleolar transcription.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)89-96
Number of pages8
JournalMutation Research - Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis
Volume743-744
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2013

Keywords

  • BLM helicase
  • Bloom's syndrome
  • DNA topoisomerase I
  • Nucleolus
  • RNA polymerase I
  • RRNA transcription

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