Publication highlights

Our cells rely on DNA repair systems to prevent genome instability and cancer. One of the most accurate is homologous recombination, driven by RAD51 and assisted by five RAD51-like proteins whose roles were unclear. Using cryo-electron microscopy, biochemistry and single molecule analyses, Crick researchers show that these proteins assemble into two distinct complexes. The RAD51B complex helps initiate repair by assembling RAD51 filaments, while the XRCC3 complex plays the more ancient and conserved role: capping and stabilising RAD51 filament ends and promoting DNA strand pairing. This work uncovers a fundamental mechanism for genome protection and clarifies how mutations in RAD51-like genes contribute to cancer.

This study defined the mechanism leading to critically short telomeres in the absence of RTEL1 and showed that telomerase, which extends telomeres in normal cells, is pathological when forks encounter an obstacle within the telomere. We showed that replication forks stall and reverse at persistent t-loops, which creates a pseudo-telomere substrate that is inappropriately stabilised by telomerase. Removing telomerase or blocking replication fork reversal rescued telomere dysfunction in Rtel1 deficient cells. We proposed that when persistent t-loops stall the replisome, telomerase inhibits fork restart, triggering the excision of the t-loop by SLX1/4 and loss of a substantial part of the telomere.

This study was the first to demonstrate that RAD51 paralogues bind to and structurally remodel the pre-synaptic RAD-51-ssDNA filament to a stabilised, “open”, and flexible conformation, which facilitates strand exchange with the template duplex. We showed that RAD51 paralogues act by binding the end of the presynaptic filament, which induces a conformational change that stabilises RAD-51 bound to ssDNA and primes the filament for strand exchange. These observations established for the first time the underlying mechanism of HR stimulation by Rad51 paralogues and revealed a new paradigm for the action of HR mediator proteins.

Evidence suggested that the telomere adopts a lasso-like t-loop configuration, which safeguards chromosome ends from being recognised as DNA double strand breaks. However, the regulation and physiological importance of t-loops in end-protection was uncertain. This study uncovered a phospho-switch in TRF2 that coordinates the timely assembly and disassembly of t-loops during the cell cycle, which protects telomeres from replication stress and an unscheduled DNA damage response. These results were the first to definitively establish the t-loop as a physiologically important structure required to suppress checkpoint activation at telomere ends.

This work revealed that telomere protection is solved by distinct mechanisms in pluripotent and somatic tissues. In somatic cells, TRF2 sequesters the telomere within a t-loop, preventing telomere end-to-end fusions and inviability. In contrast, TRF2 is dispensable for telomere protection in pluripotent cells; ESCs lacking TRF2 grow normally, do not fuse their telomeres and form functional t-loops. Upon differentiation this unique attribute of stem cells is lost and TRF2 assumes its full role in end protection. The retention of end protection in the presence of t-loops, but absence of TRF2, confirmed that t-loops are a key mediator of telomere end protection irrespectively of how they form.

A study led by the West lab has found that blocking a specific protein could increase tumour sensitivity to treatment with PARP inhibitors. Their work suggests that combining treatments could lead to improved therapy for cancer patients.