Abstract

The Drosophila melanogaster RAD54 homolog, DmRAD54, is involved in the repair of radiation damage and recombination. R Kooistra , K Vreeken , J B Zonneveld , A de Jong , J C Eeken , C J Osgood , J M Buerstedde , P H Lohman and A Pastink Department of Radiation Genetics and Chemical Mutagenesis, MGC, Leiden University, The Netherlands. ABSTRACT The RAD54 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae plays a crucial role in recombinational repair of double-strand breaks in DNA. Here the isolation and functional characterization of the RAD54 homolog of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, DmRAD54, are described. The putative Dmrad54 protein displays 46 to 57% identity to its homologs from yeast and mammals. DmRAD54 RNA was detected at all stages of fly development, but an increased level was observed in early embryos and ovarian tissue. To determine the function of DmRAD54, a null mutant was isolated by random mutagenesis. DmRADS4-deficient flies develop normally, but the females are sterile. Early development appears normal, but the eggs do not hatch, indicating an essential role for DmRAD54 in development. The larvae of mutant flies are highly sensitive to X rays and methyl methanesulfonate. Moreover, this mutant is defective in X-ray-induced mitotic recombination as measured by a somatic mutation and recombination test. These phenotypes are consistent with a defect in the repair of double-strand breaks and imply that the RAD54 gene is crucial in repair and recombination in a multicellular organism. The results also indicate that the recombinational repair pathway is functionally conserved in evolution. CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article Mol. Cell. Biol. October 1997 vol. 17 no. 10 6097-6104 » Abstract PDF Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in ASM journals Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of MCB Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Citing articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kooistra, R. Articles by Pastink, A. Search for related content PubMed PubMed citation Articles by Kooistra, R. Articles by Pastink, A. Related Content Load related web page information Social Bookmarking CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? current issue January 2012, volume 32, issue 1 Spotlights in the Current Issue Architecture of the Yeast RNA Polymerase II Open Complex State and Regulation by TFIIF GATA-1 Establishes Cell-Type-Specific Autophagy as a Developmental Program Prickle Phosphorylation Regulates Its Localization and β-Catenin-Independent Wnt Signaling Alert me to new issues of MCB About MCB Subscribers Authors Reviewers Advertisers Inquiries from the Press Permissions & Commercial Reprints ASM Journals Public Access Policy MCB RSS Feeds 1752 N Street N.W. • Washington DC 20036 202.737.3600 • 202.942.9355 fax • journals@asmusa.org Print ISSN: 0270-7306 Online ISSN: 1098-5549 Copyright © 2011 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to MCB .asm.org, visit: http://intl- MCB .asm.org | More Info» var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5821458-11"); pageTracker._trackPageview();