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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Owen Davies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Breast cancer susceptibility gene II (BRCA2) is central in homologous recombination (HR). In meiosis, BRCA2 binds to MEILB2 to localize to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Here, we identify BRCA2 and MEILB2-associating protein 1 (BRME1), which functions as a stabilizer of MEILB2 by binding to an α-helical N-terminus of MEILB2 and preventing MEILB2 self-association. BRCA2 binds to the C-terminus of MEILB2, resulting in the formation of the BRCA2-MEILB2-BRME1 ternary complex. In Brme1 knockout (Brme1−/−) mice, the BRCA2-MEILB2 complex is destabilized, leading to defects in DSB repair, homolog synapsis, and crossover formation. Persistent DSBs in Brme1−/− reactivate the somatic-like DNA-damage response, which repairs DSBs but cannot complement the crossover formation defects. Further, MEILB2-BRME1 is activated in many human cancers, and somatically expressed MEILB2-BRME1 impairs mitotic HR. Thus, the meiotic BRCA2 complex is central in meiotic HR, and its misregulation is implicated in cancer development.
Author(s): Zhang J, Gurusaran M, Fujiwara Y, Zhang K, Echbarthi M, Vorontsov E, Guo R, Pendlebury DF, Alam I, Livera G, Emmanuelle M, Wang PJ, Nandakumar J, Davies OR, Shibuya H
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nature Communications
Year: 2020
Volume: 11
Online publication date: 28/04/2020
Acceptance date: 03/04/2020
Date deposited: 02/08/2021
ISSN (electronic): 2041-1723
Publisher: Nature Research
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15954-x
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15954-x
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