High-Copy-Number Expression of Sub2p, a Member of the RNA Helicase Superfamily, Suppresses hpr1-Mediated Genomic Instability

Abstract

We report on a novel role for a pre-mRNA splicing component in genome stability. The Hpr1 protein, a component of an RNA polymerase II complex and required for transcription elongation, is also required for genome stability. Deletion of HPR1 results in a 1,000-fold increase in genome instability, detected as direct-repeat instability. This instability can be suppressed by the high-copy-numberSUB2 gene, which is the Saccharomyces cerevisiae homologue of the human splicing factor hUAP56. Although SUB2 is essential, conditional alleles grown at the permissive temperature complement the essential function of SUB2 yet reveal nonessential phenotypes. These studies have uncovered a role for SUB2 in preventing genome instability. The genomic instability observed in sub2 mutants can be suppressed by high-copy-numberHPR1. A deletion mutant of CDC73, a component of a PolII complex, is also unstable for direct repeats. This too is suppressed by high-copy-number SUB2. Thus, defects in both the transcriptional machinery and the pre-mRNA splicing machinery can be sources of genome instability. The ability of a pre-mRNA splicing factor to suppress the hyperrecombination phenotype of a defective PolII complex raises the possibility of integrating transcription, RNA processing, and genome stability or a second role for SUB2.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are very grateful to Alan Weiner and Robert J. Lake for discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. We are especially to grateful to Christine Guthrie and Amy Kistler for providing the sub2 conditional allele plasmids and for communication of unpublished results. We thank Judith Jaehning for plasmids and discussion of unpublished results.

This work was supported by NIH grant GM30439. Computing was supported by NSF grant BIR-9318128.