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. 2002 Feb;160(2):471–479. doi: 10.1093/genetics/160.2.471

Roles for Caenorhabditis elegans rad-51 in meiosis and in resistance to ionizing radiation during development.

Cinzia Rinaldo 1, Paolo Bazzicalupo 1, Sara Ederle 1, Massimo Hilliard 1, Adriana La Volpe 1
PMCID: PMC1461995  PMID: 11861554

Abstract

We have investigated the role of Caenorhabditis elegans RAD-51 during meiotic prophase and embryogenesis, making use of the silencing effect of RNA interference (RNAi). rad-51 RNAi leads to severe defects in chromosome morphology in diakinesis oocytes. We have explored the effect of rad-51 RNAi in mutants lacking fundamental components of the recombination machinery. If double-strand breaks are prevented by spo-11 mutation, rad-51 RNAi does not affect chromosome appearance. This is consistent with a role for RAD-51 downstream of the initiation of recombination. In the absence of MRE-11, as in the absence of SPO-11, RAD-51 depletion has no effect on the chromosomes, which appear intact, thus indicating a role for MRE-11 in DSB induction. Intriguingly, rad-51 silencing in oocytes that lack MSH-5 leads to chromosome fragmentation, a novel trait that is distinct from that seen in msh-5 mutants and in rad-51 RNAi oocytes, suggesting new potential roles for the msh-5 gene. Silencing of the rad-51 gene also causes a reduction in fecundity, which is suppressed by mutation in the DNA damage checkpoint gene rad-5, but not in the cell death effector gene ced-3. Finally, RAD-51 depletion is also seen to affect the soma, resulting in hypersensitivity to ionizing radiation in late embryogenesis.

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Selected References

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