XRCC5

Description

The XRCC5 (X-ray repair cross complementing 5) is a protein-coding gene located on chromosome 2.

Ku80 is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the XRCC5 gene. Together, Ku70 and Ku80 make up the Ku heterodimer, which binds to DNA double-strand break ends and is required for the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway of DNA repair. It is also required for V(D)J recombination, which utilizes the NHEJ pathway to promote antigen diversity in the mammalian immune system. In addition to its role in NHEJ, Ku is required for telomere length maintenance and subtelomeric gene silencing. Ku was originally identified when patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were found to have high levels of autoantibodies to the protein.

== Nomenclature == Ku80 has been referred to by several names including:

Lupus Ku autoantigen protein p80 ATP-dependent DNA helicase 2 subunit 2 X-ray repair complementing defective repair in Chinese hamster cells 5 X-ray repair cross-complementing 5 (XRCC5)

== Epigenetic repression == The protein expression level of Ku80 can be repressed by epigenetic hypermethylation of the promoter region of gene XRCC5 which encodes Ku80. In a study of 87 matched pairs of primary tumors of non-small-cell lung carcinoma and nearby normal lung tissue, 25% of the tumors had loss of heterozygosity at the XRCC5 locus and a similar percentage of tumors had hypermethylation of the promoter region of XRCC5. Low protein expression of Ku80 was significantly associated with low mRNA expression and with XRCC5 promoter hypermethylation but not with LOH of the gene.

== Senescence == Mouse mutants with homozygous defects in Ku80 experience an early onset of senescence. Ku80(-/-) mice exhibit aging-related pathology (osteopenia, atrophic skin, hepatocellular degeneration, hepatocellular inclusions, hepatic hyperplastic foci and age-specific mortality).

Single-stranded DNA-dependent ATP-dependent helicase that plays a key role in DNA non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) by recruiting DNA-PK to DNA. Required for double-strand break repair and V(D)J recombination. Also has a role in chromosome translocation. The DNA helicase II complex binds preferentially to fork-like ends of double-stranded DNA in a cell cycle-dependent manner. It works in the 3'- 5' direction. During NHEJ, the XRCC5-XRRC6 dimer performs the recognition step: it recognizes and binds to the broken ends of the DNA and protects them from further resection. Binding to DNA may be mediated by XRCC6. The XRCC5-XRRC6 dimer acts as a regulatory subunit of the DNA-dependent protein kinase complex DNA-PK by increasing the affinity of the catalytic subunit PRKDC to DNA by 100-fold. The XRCC5-XRRC6 dimer is probably involved in stabilizing broken DNA ends and bringing them together. The assembly of the DNA-PK complex to DNA ends is required for the NHEJ ligation step. The XRCC5-XRRC6 dimer probably also acts as a 5'-deoxyribose-5-phosphate lyase (5'-dRP lyase), by catalyzing the beta-elimination of the 5' deoxyribose-5-phosphate at an abasic site near double-strand breaks. XRCC5 probably acts as the catalytic subunit of 5'- dRP activity, and allows to 'clean' the termini of abasic sites, a class of nucleotide damage commonly associated with strand breaks, before such broken ends can be joined. The XRCC5- XRRC6 dimer together with APEX1 acts as a negative regulator of transcription. In association with NAA15, the XRCC5- XRRC6 dimer binds to the osteocalcin promoter and activates osteocalcin expression. As part of the DNA-PK complex, involved in the early steps of ribosome assembly by promoting the processing of precursor rRNA into mature 18S rRNA in the small-subunit processome. Binding to U3 small nucleolar RNA, recruits PRKDC and XRCC5/Ku86 to the small-subunit processome. Plays a role in the regulation of DNA virus-mediated innate immune response by assembling into the HDP-RNP complex, a complex that serves as a platform for IRF3 phosphorylation and subsequent innate immune response activation through the cGAS-STING pathway.

XRCC5 is also known as KARP-1, KARP1, KU80, KUB2, Ku86, NFIV.

Associated Diseases

WES Whole Exome Sequencing

Clinical Exome Sequencing