While the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is altering academia dynamics, those juggling remote work and domestic demands – including childcare - have already felt the impacts on productivity. Female authors are facing a decrease in papers submission rates since the beginning of the pandemic period. The reasons for this decline in women productivity need to be further investigated. Here we show the influence of gender, parenthood and race in academics productivity during the pandemic period, based on a survey answered by 3,345 Brazilian academics from various knowledge areas and research institutions. Findings revealed that male academics - especially childless ones - were the least affected group, whereas female academics, especially Black women and mothers, were the most impacted group. This scenario will leave long-term effects on the career progression of the most affected groups. The results presented here are crucial for the development of actions and policies that aim to avoid further deepening the gender gap in science. This particular situation we are facing during the pandemic demands institutional flexibility and academia should foster the discussion about actions to benefit Black scientists and academics with families in the post-pandemic scenario.

53BP1 plays multiple roles in mammalian DNA damage repair, mediating pathway choice and facilitating DNA double-strand break repair in heterochromatin. Although it possesses a C-terminal BRCT2 domain, commonly involved in phospho-peptide binding in other proteins, initial recruitment of 53BP1 to sites of DNA damage depends on interaction with histone post-translational modifications--H4K20me2 and H2AK13/K15ub--downstream of the early γH2AX phosphorylation mark of DNA damage. We now show that, contrary to current models, the 53BP1-BRCT2 domain binds γH2AX directly, providing a third post-translational mark regulating 53BP1 function. We find that the interaction of 53BP1 with γH2AX is required for sustaining the 53BP1-dependent focal concentration of activated ATM that facilitates repair of DNA double-strand breaks in heterochromatin in G1.

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe homologue of Mre11, Rad32, is required for repair of UV- and ionising radiation-induced DNA damage and meiotic recombination. In this study we have investigated the role of Rad32 and other DNA damage response proteins in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and telomere length maintenance in S.pombe . We show that NHEJ in S.pombe occurs by an error-prone mechanism, in contrast to the accurate repair observed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Deletion of the rad32 gene results in a modest reduction in NHEJ activity and the remaining repair events that occur are accurate. Mutations in two of the phosphoesterase motifs in Rad32 have no effect on the efficiency or accuracy of end joining, suggesting that the role of Rad32 protein may be to recruit another nuclease(s) for processing during the end joining reaction. We also analysed NHEJ in other DNA damage response mutants and showed that the checkpoint mutant rad3-d and two recombination mutants defective in rhp51 and rhp54 (homologues of S.cerevisiae RAD51 and RAD54 , respectively) are not affected. However disruption of rad22, rqh1 and rhp9/crb2 (homologues of the S.cerevisiae RAD52, SGS1 and RAD9 genes) resulted in increased NHEJ activity. Telomere lengths in the rad32, rhp9 and rqh1 null alleles were reduced to varying extents intermediate between the lengths observed in wild-type and rad3 null cells.

Schizosaccharomyces pombe Crb2 is a checkpoint mediator required for the cellular response to DNA damage. Like human 53BP1 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad9 it contains Tudor₂ and BRCT₂ domains. Crb2-Tudor₂ domain interacts with methylated H4K20 and is required for recruitment to DNA dsDNA breaks. The BRCT₂ domain is required for dimerization, but its precise role in DNA damage repair and checkpoint signaling is unclear. The crystal structure of the Crb2–BRCT₂ domain, alone and in complex with a phosphorylated H2A.1 peptide, reveals the structural basis for dimerization and direct interaction with γ-H2A.1 in ionizing radiation-induced foci (IRIF). Mutational analysis in vitro confirms the functional role of key residues and allows the generation of mutants in which dimerization and phosphopeptide binding are separately disrupted. Phenotypic analysis of these in vivo reveals distinct roles in the DNA damage response. Dimerization mutants are genotoxin sensitive and defective in checkpoint signaling, Chk1 phosphorylation, and Crb2 IRIF formation, while phosphopeptide-binding mutants are only slightly sensitive to IR, have extended checkpoint delays, phosphorylate Chk1, and form Crb2 IRIF. However, disrupting phosphopeptide binding slows formation of ssDNA-binding protein (Rpa1/Rad11) foci and reduces levels of Rad22(Rad52) recombination foci, indicating a DNA repair defect.

Regulation of protein synthesis is crucial for cells to maintain viability and to prevent unscheduled proliferation that could lead to tumorigenesis. Exposure to stress results in stalling of translation, with many translation initiation factors, ribosomal subunits and mRNAs being sequestered into stress granules or P bodies. This allows the re-programming of the translation machinery. Many aspects of translation are regulated by post-translational modification. Several proteomic screens have identified translation initiation factors as targets for sumoylation, although in many cases the role of this modification has not been determined. We show here that eIF4A2 is modified by SUMO, with sumoylation occurring on a single residue (K226). We demonstrate that sumoylation of eIF4A2 is modestly increased in response to arsenite and ionising radiation, but decreases in response to heat shock or hippuristanol. In arsenite-treated cells, but not in hippuristanol-treated cells, eIF4A2 is recruited to stress granules, suggesting sumoylation of eIF4A2 correlates with its recruitment to stress granules. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the inability to sumoylate eIF4A2 results in impaired stress granule formation, indicating a new role for sumoylation in the stress response.