Nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) is the primary DNA repair pathway thought to underlie chromosomal translocations and other genomic rearrangements in somatic cells. The canonical NHEJ pathway, including DNA ligase IV (Lig4), suppresses genomic instability and chromosomal translocations, leading to the notion that a poorly defined, alternative NHEJ (alt-NHEJ) pathway generates these rearrangements. Here, we investigate the DNA ligase requirement of chromosomal translocation formation in mouse cells. Mammals have two other DNA ligases, Lig1 and Lig3, in addition to Lig4. As deletion of Lig3 results in cellular lethality due to its requirement in mitochondria, we used recently developed cell lines deficient in nuclear Lig3 but rescued for mitochondrial DNA ligase activity. Further, zinc finger endonucleases were used to generate DNA breaks at endogenous loci to induce translocations. Unlike with Lig4 deficiency, which causes an increase in translocation frequency, translocations are reduced in frequency in the absence of Lig3. Residual translocations in Lig3-deficient cells do not show a bias toward use of pre-existing microhomology at the breakpoint junctions, unlike either wild-type or Lig4-deficient cells, consistent with the notion that alt-NHEJ is impaired with Lig3 loss. By contrast, Lig1 depletion in otherwise wild-type cells does not reduce translocations or affect microhomology use. However, translocations are further reduced in Lig3-deficient cells upon Lig1 knockdown, suggesting the existence of two alt-NHEJ pathways, one that is biased toward microhomology use and requires Lig3 and a back-up pathway which does not depend on microhomology and utilizes Lig1. Chromosomal rearrangements are associated with many tumor types, as they are one way in which genes affecting cancer initiation and progression become mutated. One type of rearrangement is a chromosomal translocation, in which parts of two different chromosomes join together. Although infrequent, translocations occur when both chromosomes undergo breakage and the ends from different chromosomes join rather than the two ends from the same chromosome. Human and mouse cells have three known DNA ligases which catalyze the joining of DNA ends (Lig1, Lig3, and Lig4). Lig4 is important for joining the correct ends together, thereby suppressing translocations. In this report, the role of the other two DNA ligases is examined in a novel mouse cell system. Lig3 is found to be required for efficient chromosomal translocation formation, but in its absence Lig1 can substitute, although less efficiently and although the joining characteristics of the two DNA ligases differ. These studies define the hierarchy of the three DNA ligases in this type of genomic rearrangement.

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Mammalian cells contain three different DNA ligase enzymes, each with different properties but all involved in DNA replication and repair. Ligase III (Lig3) is known to form a complex with the nuclear DNA repair protein Xrcc1, and Lig3 null animals cannot be made. This raises the question of whether this nuclear role in base-excision repair (BER) is the critical function of Lig3 that maintains viability. Two groups reporting in this issue of Nature investigate different aspects of Lig3 function in vivo, both concluding that the catalytic activity of Lig3 is critical for mitochondrial DNA maintenance and viability, but unexpectedly, is dispensable for Xrcc1-mediated nuclear BER. These findings suggest that Lig3 mutations might cause some of the human syndromes associated with defects in the replication and/or repair of mitochondrial DNA. In the nucleus, a complex of DNA ligase III (Lig3) and Xrcc1 catalyses the last step of base excision repair. Inactivation of Lig3 in the mouse leads to early embryonic lethality, but the critical role played by Lig3 in viability is unknown. This study shows, using conditional knockouts of Lig3 in the nervous system and cardiac muscle, that its essential function is maintenance of mitochondrial DNA integrity. The results also indicate distinct functional roles for Lig3 and Xrcc1. DNA replication and repair in mammalian cells involves three distinct DNA ligases: ligase I (Lig1), ligase III (Lig3) and ligase IV (Lig4)1. Lig3 is considered a key ligase during base excision repair because its stability depends upon its nuclear binding partner Xrcc1, a critical factor for this DNA repair pathway2,3. Lig3 is also present in the mitochondria, where its role in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance is independent of Xrcc1 (ref. 4). However, the biological role of Lig3 is unclear as inactivation of murine Lig3 results in early embryonic lethality5. Here we report that Lig3 is essential for mtDNA integrity but dispensable for nuclear DNA repair. Inactivation of Lig3 in the mouse nervous system resulted in mtDNA loss leading to profound mitochondrial dysfunction, disruption of cellular homeostasis and incapacitating ataxia. Similarly, inactivation of Lig3 in cardiac muscle resulted in mitochondrial dysfunction and defective heart-pump function leading to heart failure. However, Lig3 inactivation did not result in nuclear DNA repair deficiency, indicating essential DNA repair functions of Xrcc1 can occur in the absence of Lig3. Instead, we found that Lig1 was critical for DNA repair, but acted in a cooperative manner with Lig3. Additionally, Lig3 deficiency did not recapitulate the hallmark features of neural Xrcc1 inactivation such as DNA damage-induced cerebellar interneuron loss6, further underscoring functional separation of these DNA repair factors. Therefore, our data reveal that the critical biological role of Lig3 is to maintain mtDNA integrity and not Xrcc1-dependent DNA repair.

In this study, the authors show that topoisomerase-1–DNA cleavage complex (Top1cc) accumulation may be involved in the onset of ataxia telangiectasia and spinocerebellar ataxia with axonal neuropathy 1. In addition, they find that ATM regulates Top1cc levels in a kinase activity– and double-stranded break repair–independent manner. DNA damage is considered to be a prime factor in several spinocerebellar neurodegenerative diseases; however, the DNA lesions underpinning disease etiology are unknown. We observed the endogenous accumulation of pathogenic topoisomerase-1 (Top1)-DNA cleavage complexes (Top1ccs) in murine models of ataxia telangiectasia and spinocerebellar ataxia with axonal neuropathy 1. We found that the defective DNA damage response factors in these two diseases cooperatively modulated Top1cc turnover in a non-epistatic and ATM kinase–independent manner. Furthermore, coincident neural inactivation of ATM and DNA single-strand break repair factors, including tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase-1 or XRCC1, resulted in increased Top1cc formation and excessive DNA damage and neurodevelopmental defects. Notably, direct Top1 poisoning to elevate Top1cc levels phenocopied the neuropathology of the mouse models described above. Our results identify a critical endogenous pathogenic lesion associated with neurodegenerative syndromes arising from DNA repair deficiency, indicating that genome integrity is important for preventing disease in the nervous system.

Defects in DNA single strand break repair (SSBR) can cause neurodegeneration. To better understand the function of SSBR in the nervous system, the authors ablated Xrcc1 in all of the neural progenitors of developing mice. This revealed that the postnatal differentiation of several types of cerebellar interneurons is particularly dependent on SSBR. Defective responses to DNA single strand breaks underlie various neurodegenerative diseases. However, the exact role of this repair pathway during the development and maintenance of the nervous system is unclear. Using murine neural-specific inactivation of Xrcc1, a factor that is critical for the repair of DNA single strand breaks, we found a profound neuropathology that is characterized by the loss of cerebellar interneurons. This cell loss was linked to p53-dependent cell cycle arrest and occurred as interneuron progenitors commenced differentiation. Loss of Xrcc1 also led to the persistence of DNA strand breaks throughout the nervous system and abnormal hippocampal function. Collectively, these data detail the in vivo link between DNA single strand break repair and neurogenesis and highlight the diverse consequences of specific types of genotoxic stress in the nervous system.