title: Fungal cryptochrome with DNA repair activity reveals an early stage in cryptochrome evolution.
abstract: DASH (Drosophila, Arabidopsis, Synechocystis, Human)-type cryptochromes (cry-DASH) belong to a family of flavoproteins acting as repair enzymes for UV-B-induced DNA lesions (photolyases) or as UV-A/blue light photoreceptors (cryptochromes). They are present in plants, bacteria, various vertebrates, and fungi and were originally considered as sensory photoreceptors because of their incapability to repair cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) lesions in duplex DNA. However, cry-DASH can repair CPDs in single-stranded DNA, but their role in DNA repair in vivo remains to be clarified. The genome of the fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus contains a single gene for a protein of the cryptochrome/photolyase family (CPF) encoding a cry-DASH, cryA, despite its ability to photoreactivate. Here, we show that cryA expression is induced by blue light in a Mad complex-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrate that CryA is capable of binding flavin (FAD) and methenyltetrahydrofolate (MTHF), fully complements the Escherichia coli photolyase mutant and repairs in vitro CPD lesions in single-stranded and double-stranded DNA with the same efficiency. These results support a role for Phycomyces cry-DASH as a photolyase and suggest a similar role for cry-DASH in mucoromycotina fungi.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Sevilla, 41080 Sevilla, Spain;
authors.forename: Victor G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Tagua
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Photobiology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-University, 35032 Marburg, Germany;
authors.forename: Marcell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pausch
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Photobiology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-University, 35032 Marburg, Germany;
authors.forename: Maike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eckel
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Sevilla, 41080 Sevilla, Spain;
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Sevilla, 41080 Sevilla, Spain;
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miralles-Durán
authors.affiliation: Área de Genética, Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Catalina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.affiliation: Área de Genética, Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Arturo P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Eslava
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Photobiology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-University, 35032 Marburg, Germany;
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pokorny
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Sevilla, 41080 Sevilla, Spain; batschau@staff.uni-marburg.de corrochano@us.es.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Corrochano
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology and Photobiology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-University, 35032 Marburg, Germany; batschau@staff.uni-marburg.de corrochano@us.es.
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Batschauer
mesh_terms: D056931:Cryptochromes / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000502:physiology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D010800:Phycomyces / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011740:Pyrimidine Dimers
chemical_list: D056931:Cryptochromes; D011740:Pyrimidine Dimers
keywords: Phycomyces; cryptochrome; evolution; mucoromycotina; photolyase