title: Lac operator repeats generate a traceable fragile site in mammalian cells.
abstract: One limitation for the study of chromosomal fragile sites is that they must be studied on metaphase spreads, after the breakage. We show here that bacterial lac operator (lacO) repeats are prone to spontaneous breakage, which when combined with a fluorescent lac repressor (lacR) has allowed us to track a fragile site through the cell cycle. By using this system, we show that Plk1-interacting checkpoint helicase (PICH) is already present at fragile sites during interphase, suggesting roles for this helicase beyond mitosis. In addition, we report that the oncogene Myc promotes the formation of anaphase bridges and micronuclei containing fragile-site sequences.
authors.affiliation: Genomic Instability Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid 28029, Spain.
authors.forename: Ariana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacome
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Capetillo
mesh_terms: D000705:Anaphase; D000818:Animals; D016590:Aphidicolin / Q000494:pharmacology; D043283:Chromosome Fragile Sites / Q000235:genetics*; D053960:DNA Breaks / Q000187:drug effects; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D007763:Lac Operon / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D048629:Micronuclei, Chromosome-Defective / Q000139:chemically induced; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D009875:Operator Regions, Genetic; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D016590:Aphidicolin