Collisions between the DNA replication machinery and co-transcriptional R-loops can impede DNA synthesis and are a major source of genomic instability in cancer cells. How cancer cells deal with R-loops to proliferate is poorly understood. Here we show that the ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling INO80 complex promotes resolution of R-loops to prevent replication-associated DNA damage in cancer cells. Depletion of INO80 in prostate cancer PC3 cells leads to increased R-loops. Overexpression of the RNA:DNA endonuclease RNAse H1 rescues the DNA synthesis defects and suppresses DNA damage caused by INO80 depletion. R-loops co-localize with and promote recruitment of INO80 to chromatin. Artificial tethering of INO80 to a LacO locus enabled turnover of R-loops in cis. Finally, counteracting R-loops by INO80 promotes proliferation and averts DNA damage-induced death in cancer cells. Our work suggests that INO80-dependent resolution of R-loops promotes DNA replication in the presence of transcription, thus enabling unlimited proliferation in cancers.

Reference:

Prendergast L, McClurg UL, Hristova R, Berlinguer-Palmini R, Greener S, Veitch K, Hernandez I, Pasero P, Rico D, Higgins JMG, Gospodinov A, and Papamichos-Chronakis M. (2020). Resolution of R-loops by INO80 promotes DNA replication and maintains cancer cell proliferation and viability. Nature Communications, 2020 Sep 10;11(1):4534.