title: A human short open reading frame (sORF)-encoded polypeptide that stimulates DNA end joining.
abstract: The recent discovery of numerous human short open reading frame (sORF)-encoded polypeptides (SEPs) has raised important questions about the functional roles of these molecules in cells. Here, we show that a 69-amino acid SEP, MRI-2, physically interacts with the Ku heterodimer to stimulate DNA double-strand break ligation via nonhomologous end joining. The characterization of MRI-2 suggests that this SEP may participate in DNA repair and underscores the potential of SEPs to serve important biological functions in mammalian cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Slavoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, Rockford, Illinois 60612.
authors.forename: Jinho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 and.
authors.forename: Bogdan A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Budnik
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, Rockford, Illinois 60612. Electronic address: hanakahi@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Leslyn A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hanakahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. Electronic address: saghatelian@chemistry.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saghatelian
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; D059766:DNA End-Joining Repair / Q000502:physiology*; D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D000072200:Ku Autoantigen; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004265:DNA Helicases; C106893:XRCC5 protein, human; D000072200:Ku Autoantigen
keywords: DNA Repair; Peptide Interactions; Peptides; Protein-Protein Interactions; Proteomics; Short ORF