Isolation of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe RAD54 homologue, rhp54+, a gene involved in the repair of radiation damage and replication fidelity.

The RAD54 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a putative helicase, which is involved in the recombinational repair of DNA damage. The RAD54 homologue of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, rhp54+, was isolated by using the RAD54 gene as a heterologous probe. The gene is predicted to encode a protein of 852 amino acids. The overall homology between the mutual proteins of the two species is 67% with 51% identical amino acids and 16% similar amino acids. A rhp54 deletion mutant is very sensitive to both ionizing radiation and UV. Fluorescence microscopy of the rhp54 mutant cells revealed that a large portion of the cells are elongated and occasionally contain aberrant nuclei. In addition, FACS analysis showed an increased DNA content in comparison with wild-type cells. Through a minichromosome-loss assay it was shown that the rhp54 deletion mutant has a very high level of chromosome loss. Furthermore, the rhp54 mutation in either a rad17 or a cdc2.3w mutant background (where the S-phase/mitosis checkpoint is absent) shows a significant reduction in viability. It is hypothesized that the rhp54+ gene is involved in the recombinational repair of UV and X-ray damage and plays a role in the processing of replication-specific lesions.