Nucleotide excision repair (NER) guarantees genome integrity against UV light-induced DNA damage. After UV irradiation, cells have to cope with a general transcriptional block. To ensure UV lesions repair specifically on transcribed genes, NER is coupled with transcription in an extremely organized pathway known as transcription-coupled repair. In highly metabolic cells, more than 60% of total cellular transcription results from RNA polymerase I activity. Repair of the mammalian transcribed ribosomal DNA has been scarcely studied. UV lesions severely block RNA polymerase I activity and the full transcription-coupled repair machinery corrects damage on actively transcribed ribosomal DNAs. After UV irradiation, RNA polymerase I is more bound to the ribosomal DNA and both are displaced to the nucleolar periphery. Importantly, the reentry of RNA polymerase I and the ribosomal DNA is dependent on the presence of UV lesions on DNA and independent of transcription restart.
During DNA Repair, ribosomal DNA and RNA polymerase I (rDNA/RNAP1) are reorganized within the nucleolus. Until now, the proteins and the molecular mechanism governing this reorganisation remained unknown.Here we show that Nuclear Myosin I (NMI) and Nuclear Beta Actin (ACTβ) are essential for the proper reorganisation of the nucleolus, after completion of the DNA Repair reaction.In NMI and ACTβ depleted cells, the rDNA/RNAP1 complex can be displaced at the periphery of the nucleolus after DNA damage but cannot re-enter within the nucleolus after completion of the DNA Repair. Both proteins act concertedly in this process. NMI binds the damaged rDNA at the periphery of the nucleolus, while ACTβ brings the rDNA back within the nucleolus after DNA repair completion.Our results reveal a previously unidentified function for NMI and ACTβ and disclose how these two proteins work in coordination to re-establish the proper rDNA position after DNA repair.
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