PRDX1 Counteracts Catastrophic Telomeric Cleavage Events That Are Triggered by DNA Repair Activities Post Oxidative Damage

Telomeres are prone to damage inflicted by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidized telomeric DNA and nucleotide substrates inhibit telomerase, causing telomere shortening. In addition, ROS can induce telomeric single-strand DNA breaks (SSBs). The peroxiredoxin-PRDX1 is enriched in telomeric chromatin and this counteracts ROS-induced telomere damage. Here, we identify DNA processing after oxidative stress as a main source of telomeric DNA cleavage events in the absence of PRDX1. In PRDX1-depleted cells, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-dependent telomeric repair is often incomplete, giving persistent SSBs that are converted into telomeric double-strand breaks during replication, leading to rapid telomere shortening. Interestingly, PARP1 inhibition dampens telomere shortening, triggering stabilization of the homologous recombination (HR) factor BRCA1 and RAD51-mediated repair of telomeres. Overall, our results reveal that, in the absence PRDX1, incomplete PARP1-dependent DNA repair and competition between PARP1 and HR cause ROS-induced telomeric catastrophe.

Infection-induced host translational blockage inhibits immune responses and epithelial renewal in the Drosophila gut

Sveta Chakrabarti, Bruno Lemaitre

Typically, immune responses control the pathogen, while repair and stress pathways limit damage caused by pathogenesis. The relative contribution of damage to the outcome of pathogenesis and the mechanistic links between the immune and repair pathways are poorly understood. Here, we analyze how the entomopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas entomophila induces irreversible damage to the Drosophila gut. We find that P. entomophila ingestion induces a global translational blockage that impairs both immune and repair programs in the fly gut. P. entomophila-induced translational inhibition is dependent on bacterial pore forming toxins and reactive oxygen species produced by the host in response to infection. Translational arrest is mediated through activation of the GCN2 kinase and inhibition of the TOR pathway as a consequence of host damage. Together, our study draws a model of pathogenesis in which bacterial inhibition of translation by excessive activation of stress responsive pathways inhibits both immune and regenerative epithelial responses.

Cell Press2012

The contribution of the host stress response to the pathogenesis of Pseudomonas entomophila in the Drosophila intestine

Sveta Chakrabarti

Recently, several studies done in Drosophila have revealed that efficient and rapid recovery from bacterial infection in the gut is possible only when bacterial clearance by the immune system is coordinated with repair through renewal of the epithelium damaged by infection. In this thesis, I have analyzed how the entomopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas entomophila affects the immune response and epithelium renewal. A microarray analysis first showed that P. entomophila is recognized by the Drosophila immune system since ingestion of this bacterium stimulated the expression of antimicrobial peptide genes by the Imd pathway. In addition, stress and damage related pathways were strongly induced by P. entomophila, which correlate with its capacity to inflict severe damage. While antibacterial genes were induced in the gut following infection with P. entomophila, the immune response was not productive due to a general inhibition of translation that affected all the newly synthesized transcripts. Furthermore, the blockage of translation also inhibited the repair program by blocking the production of JAK-STAT ligands (upd3, upd2) and growth factors, which stimulate the intestinal stem cells proliferation and differentiation. I next analyzed the pathways that link cellular damage to reduction of translation. Using a genetic approach, I showed that inhibition of translation was induced by two signaling pathways: i) the phosphorylation of elongation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) by the stress kinase GCN2 and ii) the inhibition of the TOR pathway by the AMPK kinase. Both kinases sense metabolic deprivation, suggesting that cellular damages induced by P. entomophila induce a state of “starvation”. Inhibition of translation is usually an adaptive cellular response to adjust the metabolism to the energy status of the cells. The observation that GCN2-deficient flies survived better than wild-type flies to P. entomophila indicates that pathogenesis is linked to an over-activation of stress pathways that usually help to endure the consequence of an infection. In this in vivo model of infection, I also showed that the reduction of translation was a consequence of cellular damage to the intestine caused by host-derived reactive oxygen species (through the activity of Duox) and by the direct action of a pore-forming toxin produced by the pathogen. As a consequence of this translational arrest, flies succumbed P. entomophila infection because they were unable to repair gut damage. Finally, I showed that inhibition of translation also had a strong influence on innate immune responses observed upon P. entomophila infection. The specific activation of a systemic immune response (antimicrobial peptides produced by the fat body) observed upon P. entomophila infection could be recapitulated by feeding flies with a non-lethal pathogen and an inhibitor of translation. Hence, I showed translation inhibition could be an important feature that shapes the immune response. The p38 MAPK family is involved in stress and immunity in both mammals and Drosophila. In Drosophila, three p38-MAPK-encoding genes, p38a, p38b and p38c, have been identified but their function in the gut immune response is poorly characterized. In the second part of my thesis, I have analyzed the role of these three p38 MAPKs in Drosophila intestinal immunity, especially p38c, which is strongly enriched in the gut. I first confirmed that the three p38 are involved kinases are involved in the defense to oral infection with pathogenic (but non-lethal) bacteria such as Erwinia carotovora 15. Surprisingly, p38c mutant flies were more resistant to P. entomophila and did not show the reduction in translation observed in wild-type flies. Interestingly, the transcription of the ROS producing enzyme Duox was reduced in p38c raising the hypothesis that p38 contributes to P. entomophila pathogenicity by activating Duox. Furthermore, I have obtained preliminary data indicating that p38c and the transcription factor ATF-3 act in the same pathway contributing the host immune response and lipid metabolism. Together, my thesis reveals the complex cross-talks between stress and immune pathways during microbial infection. While, it shows that stress pathways usually contribute to endure the damage caused by infection, excessive activation of these pathways can contribute to pathogenesis.

EPFL2013

Identification and characterization of proteins that protect human telomeres from fragility

Anna Christina Näger

Difficulties to replicate telomeres - the ends of our chromosomes - can cause telomere shortening andgenome instability. These difficulties are due to the repetitive DNA sequence and distinct structures at telomeresthat challenge the semi-conservative DNA replication machinery. Among the proteins that help toovercome the obstacles to telomere replication are factors known to be mutated in genetic diseases (forinstance WRN, BLM, RTEL1, CTC1), but we suspect that there are still factors and pathways unknown.DNA replication defects at telomeres manifest as smeary or multiple telomeric fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH) signals on metaphase chromosomes - commonly called telomere fragility. To identify proteinsthat protect human telomeres from fragility, we depleted 71 proteins (including 8 controls) from HeLa cellsusing siRNA pools and analysed their metaphase chromosomes for fragile telomeres. The majority of theseproteins had been identified by QTIP-iPOND - a proteomic analysis of chromatin near telomere replicationforks. Among the 71 proteins that were depleted in the siRNA screen, we identified 29 novel proteins thatprevent telomere fragility and are therefore crucial to maintain genome stability. The telomere fragilityscreen validated QTIP-iPOND as a technique to identify telomere replication proteins. The hits identified inour telomere fragility screen may for example have functions in regulating telomeric chromatin compositionand compaction, regulating transcription of the telomeric long non-coding RNA TERRA and its associationwith telomeric chromatin, dealing with replication stress and stalled replication forks, modulating DNAdamage signalling and repair, modulating sister chromatid cohesion, and preventing oxidative stress.One of the 29 novel proteins identified in the telomere fragility screen is chromobox 8 (CBX8) whose functionat telomeres was investigated in further detail in this study. CBX8 is a component of the canonical polycombrepressive complex 1 (PRC1), an epigenetic regulator of gene expression. However, CBX8 also hasfunctions that are independent of the PRC1 complex. We show that human CBX8 prevents telomere fragilitycaused by RNA-DNA hybrids which could stall replication forks and induce homologous recombination.CBX8 depletion or knockout did however not affect telomeric RNA-DNA hybrid levels. We hypothesize thatCBX8 may be involved in repair activities at stalled replication forks that arise when the replisome encounterspersistent RNA-DNA hybrids. Moreover, we found that CBX8 localizes to telomeric repeat-binding factor2 (TRF2)-deficient telomeres in a manner that is dependent on RNA-DNA hybrids and ATM signalling.We demonstrate that H3K27me3 (trimethylated histone 3 lysine 27) marks, which have previously beensuggested to help recruitment of CBX proteins to chromatin via the CBX chromodomain, are dispensable forCBX8 recruitment to TRF2-deficient telomeres. Furthermore, we found that CBX8 promotes non-homologousend joining (NHEJ)-mediated telomere fusions of dysfunctional telomeres. We therefore hypothesizethat CBX8 is involved in repair activities that influence the DNA repair pathway choice at TRF2-deficient telomeres.