The cellular phenotype of Roberts syndrome fibroblasts as revealed by ectopic expression of ESCO2

Sister acts: coordinating DNA replication and cohesion establishment

The ring-shaped cohesin complex links sister chromatids and plays crucial roles in homologous recombination and mitotic chromosome segregation. In cycling cells, cohesin's ability to generate cohesive linkages is restricted to S phase and depends on loading and establishment factors that are intimately connected to DNA replication. Here we review how cohesin is regulated by the replication machinery, as well as recent evidence that cohesin itself influences how chromosomes are replicated.

Eco1 is important for DNA damage repair in S. cerevisiae

The cohesin network has an essential role in chromosome segregation, but also plays a role in DNA damage repair. Eco1 is an acetyltransferase that targets subunits of the cohesin complex and is involved in both the chromosome segregation and DNA damage repair roles of the network. Using budding yeast as a model system, we find that mutations in Eco1, including a genocopy of a human Roberts syndrome allele, do not cause gross defects in chromosome cohesion. We examined how mitotic and meiotic DNA damage repair is affected by mutations in Eco1. Strains containing mutations in Eco1 are sensitive to DNA damaging agents that cause double-strand breaks, such as X-rays and bleomycin. While meiotic crossing over is relatively unaffected in strains containing the Roberts mutation, reciprocal mitotic crossovers occur with extremely low frequency in this mutant background. Our results suggest that Eco1 promotes the reciprocal exchange of chromosome arms and maintenance of heterozygosity during mitosis.

Diagnostic Overlap between Fanconi Anemia and the Cohesinopathies: Roberts Syndrome and Warsaw Breakage Syndrome

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a recessively inherited disease characterized by multiple symptoms including growth retardation, skeletal abnormalities, and bone marrow failure. The FA diagnosis is complicated due to the fact that the clinical manifestations are both diverse and variable. A chromosomal breakage test using a DNA cross-linking agent, in which cells from an FA patient typically exhibit an extraordinarily sensitive response, has been considered the gold standard for the ultimate diagnosis of FA. In the majority of FA patients the test results are unambiguous, although in some cases the presence of hematopoietic mosaicism may complicate interpretation of the data. However, some diagnostic overlap with other syndromes has previously been noted in cases with Nijmegen breakage syndrome. Here we present results showing that misdiagnosis may also occur with patients suffering from two of the three currently known cohesinopathies, that is, Roberts syndrome (RBS) and Warsaw breakage syndrome (WABS). This complication may be avoided by scoring metaphase chromosomes—in addition to chromosomal breakage—for spontaneously occurring premature centromere division, which is characteristic for RBS and WABS, but not for FA.

Cohesinopathies, gene expression, and chromatin organization

The cohesin protein complex is best known for its role in sister chromatid cohesion, which is crucial for accurate chromosome segregation. Mutations in cohesin proteins or their regulators have been associated with human diseases (termed cohesinopathies). The developmental defects observed in these diseases indicate a role for cohesin in gene regulation distinct from its role in chromosome segregation. In mammalian cells, cohesin stably interacts with specific chromosomal sites and colocalizes with CTCF, a protein that promotes long-range DNA interactions, implying a role for cohesin in genome organization. Moreover, cohesin defects compromise the subnuclear position of chromatin. Therefore, defects in the cohesin network that alter gene expression and genome organization may underlie cohesinopathies.

Regulators of the cohesin network

Chromosome cohesion is the term used to describe the cellular process in which sister chromatids are held together from the time of their replication until the time of separation at the metaphase to anaphase transition. In this capacity, chromosome cohesion, especially at centromeric regions, is essential for chromosome segregation. However, cohesion of noncentromeric DNA sequences has been shown to occur during double-strand break (DSB) repair and the transcriptional regulation of genes. Cohesion for the purposes of accurate chromosome segregation, DSB repair, and gene regulation are all achieved through a similar network of proteins, but cohesion for each purpose may be regulated differently. In this review, we focus on recent developments regarding the regulation of this multipurpose network for tying DNA sequences together. In particular, regulation via effectors and posttranslational modifications are reviewed. A picture is emerging in which complex regulatory networks are capable of differential regulation of cohesion in various contexts.