Disease relevance of spn-A

• However, the sterility of spn-A mutant females prevented a thorough analysis of the role of Rad51 in meiosis [1].

High impact information on spn-A

• Strand pairing by Rad54 and Rad51 is enhanced by chromatin [2].
• Rad54 is related to the ATPase subunits of chromatin-remodeling factors, whereas Rad51 is related to bacterial RecA [2].
• Our study further demonstrates that in Drosophila the Rad51-dependent homologous recombination pathway is not essential for DNA repair in the soma, unless exposed to DNA damaging agents [3].
• Yeast Rad51 mutants are viable but show meiosis defects [3].
• We therefore propose that under normal conditions a second, Rad51-independent, repair pathway prevents the lethal effects of DNA damage [3].

Biological context of spn-A

• In this study, we generated transgenic animals that express spn-A dsRNA under control of an inducible promoter, and examined the effects of inhibiting expression of spn-A on DNA repair, meiotic recombination and meiotic chromosome pairing and segregation [1].
• DmRad51/spnA null mutants are viable but oogenesis is disrupted by the activation of a meiotic recombination checkpoint [3].
• To examine the function of Drosophila Rad51 (DmRad51) in cell cycle regulation and apoptosis, DmRad51 protein was overexpressed using a heat shock-inducible promoter or the UAS-GAL4 binary expression system [4].
• We observed that ubiquitous expression of DmRad51 protein in flies carrying hsp26- Rad51 or UAS- Rad51 transgenes was lethal [4].
• Characterization of Drosophila Rad51/SpnA protein in DNA binding and embryonic development [5].

Anatomical context of spn-A

• Rad51 is a conserved protein essential for recombinational repair of double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) in somatic cells and during meiosis in germ cells [3].
• SpnA is also shown to interact with meiotic chromosomes during prophase I in the primary spermatocytes of hsp26-spnA transgenic flies [5].

Other interactions of spn-A

• Epistasis experiments suggest that REC acts after the Rad51 ortholog SPN-A but before the endonuclease MEI-9 [6].

References