Efficiency of nonhomologous DNA end joining varies among somatic tissues, despite similarity in mechanism

Sharma, Sheetal and Choudhary, Bibha and Raghavan, Sathees C (2011) Efficiency of nonhomologous DNA end joining varies among somatic tissues, despite similarity in mechanism. In: Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 68 (4). pp. 661-676.

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Abstract

Failure to repair DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) can lead to cell death or cancer. Although nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) has been studied extensively in mammals, little is known about it in primary tissues. Using oligomeric DNA mimicking endogenous DSBs, NHEJ in cell-free extracts of rat tissues were studied. Results show that efficiency of NHEJ is highest in lungs compared to other somatic tissues. DSBs with compatible and blunt ends joined without modifications, while noncompatible ends joined with minimal alterations in lungs and testes. Thymus exhibited elevated joining, followed by brain and spleen, which could be correlated with NHEJ gene expression. However, NHEJ efficiency was poor in terminally differentiated organs like heart, kidney and liver. Strikingly, NHEJ junctions from these tissues also showed extensive deletions and insertions. Hence, for the first time, we show that despite mode of joining being generally comparable, efficiency of NHEJ varies among primary tissues of mammals.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences
Publisher:	Springer
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Springer.
Keywords:	DNA double-strand break;DSB repair;NHEJ;DNA damage;Genomic instability;Lung cancer;Heart
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Biochemistry
Date Deposited:	08 Apr 2011 06:16
Last Modified:	08 Apr 2011 06:16
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/36047

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