PubMed · 7493013
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G Geller, B A Bernhardt, K Helzlsouer, N A Holtzman, M Stefanek, P M Wilcox. 1995. Informed consent and BRCA1 testing.. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1295-364
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The tumor suppressor protein breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein (BRCA1) plays a central role in maintaining genome stability through its involvement in DNA damage repair, transcriptional regulation, and cell-cycle control. BRCA1 functions as an obligate heterodimer with its binding partner, the BRCA1-associated RING domain protein 1 (BARD1), to coordinate accurate DNA repair. While the structured N- and C-terminal domains of BRCA1 have been well-characterized, the large central region encoded largely by exon 11 that comprises ~ 80% of the protein, is intrinsically disordered, and remains poorly structurally characterized. This intrinsically disordered region (IDR) harbors critical interaction interfaces for key proteins involved in genome maintenance, including RAD50, RAD51, MYC, and RB. Here, we report the backbone resonance assignments of a BRCA1 IDR construct spanning residues 467-696, providing a foundation for future studies aimed at understanding how the disordered central region of BRCA1 contributes to homologous recombination, interactions with BARD1, and overall BRCA1 tumor suppressor function.
Breast Cancer Gene 1 (BRCA1) is a critical regulator of genome integrity whose dysfunction greatly increases lifetime risk of breast and ovarian cancers. While BRCA1 has been extensively studied in the contexts of adult biology and cancer, its diverse functions, including homologous recombination-mediated DNA repair, cell cycle checkpoint activation, protein ubiquitination, and transcriptional regulation, have many underexplored implications. In early embryonic development, the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) and subsequent developmental processes place extraordinary demands on DNA replication fidelity, cell cycle regulation, transcriptional activation, and chromatin remodeling. These critical processes overlap strikingly with canonical functions of BRCA1, yet its function in early development is poorly characterized. In this review, we investigate BRCA1 conservation across species and connect its well-established functions to findings from developmental studies to assess its role in development. We highlight evidence of BRCA1 mitigating genome integrity loss from diverse sources, maintaining the proliferative activity needed for successful germ layer formation and early tissue morphogenesis, and regulating transcription and epigenetic modifications. Together, this synthesis supports a model where BRCA1 acts as a multi-functional and dynamic regulator of early embryogenesis. Building on this, we propose outstanding questions that could further illuminate these developmental roles. Characterization of BRCA1 in early development may not only provide important insight into the origin and progression of cancer susceptibility but may also elucidate fundamental mechanisms shaping early development.
SSCP and heteroduplex analysis (HA) continue to be the most popular methods of mutation detection due to their simplicity, high sensitivity and low cost. The advantages of these methods are most clearly visible when large genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are scanned for scattered unknown mutations and/or when a large number of DNA samples is screened for specific mutations. Here we describe a novel combined SSCP/duplex analysis adapted to the modern capillary electrophoresis (CE) system, which takes advantage of multicolor labeling of DNA fragments and laser-induced fluorescence detection. In developing this method, we first established the optimum conditions for homoduplex and heteroduplex analysis by CE. These were determined based on comprehensive analysis of representative Tamra-500 markers and BRCA1 fragments at different concentrations of sieving polymer and temperatures in the presence or absence of glycerol. The intrinsic features of DNA duplex structures are discussed in detail to explain differences in the migration rates between various types of duplexes. When combined SSCP/duplex analysis was carried out in single conditions, those found to be optimal for analysis of duplexes, all 31 BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, polymorphisms and variants tested were detected. It is worth noting that the panel of analyzed sequence variants was enriched in base substitutions, which are usually more difficult to detect. The sensitivity of mutation detection in the SSCP portion alone was 90%, and that in the duplex portion was 81% in the single conditions of electrophoresis. As is also shown here, the proposed combined SSCP/duplex analysis by CE has the potential of being applied to the analysis of pooled genomic DNA samples, and to multiplex analysis of amplicons from different gene fragments. These modifications may further reduce the costs of analysis, making the method attractive for large scale application in SNP scanning and screening.