Studies on mammalian mutants defective in rejoining double-strand breaks in DNA

Mutants with defects in the rejoining of DNA double-strand breaks (dsbs) have been identified and characterised from E. coli and the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. More recently, 3 mammalian cell mutants with defective dsb rejoining have also been described. These mutants are xrs, XR-1 and L5178Y/S, and they are derived from at least two distinct complementation groups. The aim of this article is to review the current status of the studies with these mammalian cell mutants which are defective in dsb rejoining and, in particular, to compare their properties with those mutants identified from lower organisms. Possible mechanistic differences in the process of dsb rejoining between prokaryotes and lower and higher eukaryotes are discussed. All the mammalian mutants defective in dsb rejoining, are sensitive primarily to ionising radiation with little cross-sensitivity to UV-radiation. This is similar to the rad52 mutants of S. cerevisiae but contrasts to the majority of the E. coli mutants with defective dsb rejoining. Where studied, the mammalian cell mutants show enhanced resistance to ionizing radiation in late S/G2 phase, which, in one case, correlates with an enhanced ability to rejoin dsbs. This, together with other evidence, suggests that two mechanisms of dsb rejoining may exist in higher eukaryotes, one which operates uniquely in S/G2 phase and a second mechanism operating throughout the cell cycle and dependent upon the xrs and XR-1 gene products (although whether the xrs and XR-1 dependent pathways are distinct cannot at present be ascertained). Since duplicate homologues will be present in late S/G2 phase cells, this pathway may involve a recombinational mechanism. The xrs-dependent pathway might involve illegitimate recombination, but the xrs mutants do not appear to have a major defect in homologous recombination (involving plasmid DNA) and in this respect are distinct from rad52 mutants.