An underlying mechanism for the increased mutagenesis of lagging-strand genes inBacillus subtilis

Abstract

We previously reported that lagging-strand genes accumulate mutations faster than those encoded on the leading strand inBacillus subtilis. Although we proposed that orientation-specific encounters between replication and transcription underlie this phenomenon, the mechanism leading to the increased mutagenesis of lagging-strand genes remained unknown. Here, we report that the transcription-dependent and orientation-specific differences in mutation rates of genes require theB. subtilisY-family polymerase, PolY1 (yqjH). We find that without PolY1, association of the replicative helicase, DnaC, and the recombination protein, RecA, with lagging-strand genes increases in a transcription-dependent manner. These data suggest that PolY1 promotes efficient replisome progression through lagging-strand genes, thereby reducing potentially detrimental breaks and single-stranded DNA at these loci. Y-family polymerases can alleviate potential obstacles to replisome progression by facilitating DNA lesion bypass, extension of D-loops, or excision repair. We find that the nucleotide excision repair (NER) proteins UvrA, UvrB, and UvrC, but not RecA, are required for transcription-dependent asymmetry in mutation rates of genes in the two orientations. Furthermore, we find that the transcription-coupling repair factor Mfd functions in the same pathway as PolY1 and is also required for increased mutagenesis of lagging-strand genes. Experimental and SNP analyses ofB. subtilisgenomes show mutational footprints consistent with these findings. We propose that the interplay between replication and transcription increases lesion susceptibility of, specifically, lagging-strand genes, activating an Mfd-dependent error-prone NER mechanism. We propose that this process, at least partially, underlies the accelerated evolution of lagging-strand genes.