An underlying mechanism for the increased mutagenesis of lagging-strand genes in Bacillus subtilis
Abstract
Replication and transcription can occur concurrently and use the same DNA template. This can cause genomic instability such as common fragile site instability in eukaryotes, and accelerated evolution of lagging-strand genes in bacteria. Here, we report an underlying mechanism that increases mutation rates of lagging-strand genes in Bacillus subtilis. We find that this process is mediated through the transcription-dependent activity of the Y-family polymerase, PolY1, in transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair. We find that PolY1, likely through this mechanism, reduces the potentially problematic impacts of specifically lagging-strand transcription on replisome progression and genomic instability. This work shows that gene orientation, together with transcription, can cause differential activities of repair mechanisms, specifically increasing mutagenesis in lagging-strand genes.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- March 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1416651112
- Bibcode:
- 2015PNAS..112E1096M