PCNA activates the MutLγ endonuclease to promote meiotic crossing over.

During meiosis, crossover recombination connects homologous chromosomes to direct their accurate segregation1. Defective crossing over causes infertility, miscarriage and congenital disease. Each pair of chromosomes attains at least one crossover via the formation and biased resolution of recombination intermediates known as double Holliday junctions2,3. A central principle of crossover resolution is that the two Holliday junctions are resolved in opposite planes by targeting nuclease incisions to specific DNA strands4. The endonuclease activity of the MutLγ complex has been implicated in the resolution of crossovers5-10, but the mechanisms that activate and direct strand-specific cleavage remain unknown. Here we show that the sliding clamp PCNA is important for crossover-biased resolution. In vitro assays with human enzymes show that PCNA and its loader RFC are sufficient to activate the MutLγ endonuclease. MutLγ is further stimulated by a co-dependent activity of the pro-crossover factors EXO1 and MutSγ, the latter of which binds Holliday junctions11. MutLγ also binds various branched DNAs, including Holliday junctions, but does not show canonical resolvase activity, implying that the endonuclease incises adjacent to junction branch points to achieve resolution. In vivo, RFC facilitates MutLγ-dependent crossing over in budding yeast. Furthermore, PCNA localizes to prospective crossover sites along synapsed chromosomes. These data highlight similarities between crossover resolution and the initiation steps of DNA mismatch repair12,13 and evoke a novel model for crossover-specific resolution of double Holliday junctions during meiosis.

The fate of linear DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida glabrata: the role of homologous and non-homologous end joining.

In vivo assembly of plasmids has become an increasingly used process, as high throughput studies in molecular biology seek to examine gene function. In this study, we investigated the plasmid construction technique called gap repair cloning (GRC) in two closely related species of yeast - Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida glabrata. GRC utilizes homologous recombination (HR) activity to join a linear vector and a linear piece of DNA that contains base pair homology. We demonstrate that a minimum of 20 bp of homology on each side of the linear DNA is required for GRC to occur with at least 10% efficiency. Between the two species, we determine that S. cerevisiae is slightly more efficient at performing GRC. GRC is less efficient in rad52 deletion mutants, which are defective in HR in both species. In dnl4 deletion mutants, which perform less non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), the frequency of GRC increases in C. glabrata, whereas GRC frequency only minimally increases in S. cerevisiae, suggesting that NHEJ is more prevalent in C. glabrata. Our studies allow for a model of the fate of linear DNA when transformed into yeast cells. This model is not the same for both species. Most significantly, during GRC, C. glabrata performs NHEJ activity at a detectable rate (>5%), while S. cerevisiae does not. Our model suggests that S. cerevisiae is more efficient at HR because NHEJ is less prevalent than in C. glabrata. This work demonstrates the determinants for GRC and that while C. glabrata has a lower efficiency of GRC, this species still provides a viable option for GRC.