San1 Deficiency Leads to Cardiomyopathy Due to Excessive R-Loop-Associated DNA Damage and Cardiomyocyte Hypoplasia

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2021

Publication Title

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Basis of Disease

Abstract

R-loops are naturally occurring transcriptional intermediates containing RNA/DNA hybrids. Excessive R-loops cause genomic instability, DNA damage, and replication stress. Senataxin-associated exonuclease (San1) is a protein that interacts with Senataxin (SETX), a helicase resolving R-loops. It remains unknown if R-loops-induced DNA damage plays a role in the heart, especially in the proliferative neonatal cardiomyocytes (CMs). San1−/− mice were generated using the CRISPR/Cas9 technique. The newborn San1−/− mice show no overt phenotype, but their hearts were smaller with larger, yet fewer CMs. CM proliferation was impaired with reduced cell cycle-related transcripts and proteins. S9.6 staining revealed that excessive R-loops accumulated in the nucleus of neonatal San1−/− CMs. Increased γH2AX staining on newborn and adult heart sections exhibited increased DNA damage. Similarly, San1−/− AC16-cardiomyocytes showed cumulative R-loops and DNA damage, leading to the activation of cell cycle checkpoint kinase ATR and PARP1 hyperactivity, arresting G2/M cell-cycle and CM proliferation. Together, the present study uncovers an essential role of San1 in resolving excessive R-loops that lead to DNA damage and repressing CM proliferation, providing new insights into a novel biological function of San1 in the neonatal heart. San1 may serve as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of hypoplastic cardiac disorders.

First Page

1

Last Page

13

PubMed ID

34339838

Volume

1867

Issue

11

Publisher

Elsevier

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