Processing of 3'-Phosphoglycolate-Terminated DNA Double-StrandBreaks by Artemis Nuclease

The Artemis nuclease is required for V(D)J recombination and for repair of an as yet undefined subset of radiation-induced DNA double-strand breaks. To assess the possibility that Artemis functions on oxidatively modified double-strand break termini, its activity toward model DNA substrates, bearing either 3{prime}-hydroxyl or 3{prime}-phosphoglycolate moieties, was examined. A 3{prime}-phosphoglycolate had little effect on Artemis-mediated trimming of long 3{prime} overhangs (>9 nucleotides), which were efficiently trimmed to 4-5 nucleotides. However, 3{prime}-phosphoglycolates on overhangs of 4-5 bases promoted selective Artemis-mediated trimming of a single 3{prime}-terminal nucleotide, while at least 2 nucleotides were trimmed from identical hydroxyl-terminated substrates. Artemis also efficiently removed a single nucleotide from a phosphoglycolate-terminated 3-base 3{prime} overhang, while leaving an analogous hydroxyl-terminated overhang largely intact. Such removal was dependent upon Ku, DNA-dependent protein kinase, and ATP. Together, these data suggest that Artemis-mediated cleavage of 3{prime} overhangs requires a minimum of 2 nucleotides, or a nucleotide plus a phosphoglycolate, 3{prime} to the cleavage site. Shorter 3{prime}-phosphoglycolate-terminated overhangs and blunt ends were also processed by Artemis, but much less efficiently. Consistent with the in vitro substrate specificity of Artemis, human cells lacking Artemis exhibited hypersensitivity to X-rays, bleomycin and neocarzinostatin, which all induce 3{prime}-phosphoglycolate-terminated double-strand breaks. Collectively, these results suggest that 3{prime}-phosphoglycolate termini and/or specific classes of DNA ends that arise from such blocked termini are relevant Artemis substrates in vivo