Nucleic Acids Research, 2002, Vol. 30, No. 15 3395-3400
© 2002 Oxford University Press
Increased telomere length and hypersensitivity to DNA damaging agents in an Arabidopsis KU70 mutant
Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, Sectie 2A, Wassenaarseweg 64, 2333 AL Leiden, The Netherlands
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +31 71 5274750; Fax: +31 71 5274999; Email: bundock{at}rulbim.leidenuniv.nl
We have identified a putative homologue of the KU70 gene (AtKU70) from Arabidopsis thaliana. In order to study its function in plants we have isolated an A.thaliana line that contains a T-DNA inserted into AtKU70. Plants homozygous for this insertion appear normal and are fertile. In other organisms the KU70 gene has been shown to play a role in the repair of DNA damage induced by ionising radiation (IR) and by radiomimetic chemicals such as methylmethane sulfonate (MMS). We show that AtKU70–/– plants are hypersensitive to IR and MMS, and thus the AtKU70 gene plays a similar role in DNA repair in plants as in other organisms. The KU70 gene also plays a role in maintaining telomere length. Yeast and mammalian cells deficient for Ku70 have shortened telomeres. When we studied the telomeres in the AtKU70–/– plants we found unexpectedly that they were significantly longer (>30 kb) than was found in wild-type plants (2–4 kb). We propose several hypotheses to explain this telomere lengthening in the AtKU70–/– plants.
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