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  4. Oxidative stress at telomeres triggers internal DNA loops, TRF1 dissociation, and TRF2-dependent R-loops
 
research article

Oxidative stress at telomeres triggers internal DNA loops, TRF1 dissociation, and TRF2-dependent R-loops

Nguyen, Trang Thu  
•
Mazzucco, Giulia
•
Kyriacou, Eftychia  
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April 24, 2025
Nucleic Acids Research

Telomeres are the nucleoprotein structures at chromosome ends. Telomeres are particularly sensitive to oxidative stress, which can induce telomere damage, shortening, and premature cellular senescence. How oxidative damage influences telomere structure has not been defined. Here, we induce oxidative damage at telomeres using menadione, which damages mitochondria mimicking intrinsic oxidative stress. We find that oxidative stress induces at telomeres single-stranded DNA breaks, internal DNA loop structures, dissociation of the shelterin component TRF1, upregulation of TERRA long noncoding RNA, and increased DNA:RNA hybrid structures known as R-loops. R-loop formation is enhanced not only in cis at telomeres, which show increased TERRA transcription, but also in trans at telomeres at which TERRA transcription is not induced indicating post-transcriptional R-loop formation. Finally, we show that oxidative damage induced R-loop formation requires TRF2, whose R-loop promoting activity may be unleashed upon TRF1 dissociation from telomeres. Altogether, our findings uncover in response to oxidative stress major remodelling of telomeric DNA, RNA, and shelterin complexes, and they unravel a physiological role of TRF2's ability to stimulate TERRA R-loop formation. We propose that the identified structural changes may facilitate DNA damage signalling and repair pathways to maintain telomere integrity during development and aging.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1093/nar/gkaf285
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-105002743849

PubMed ID

40219969

Author(s)
Nguyen, Trang Thu  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Mazzucco, Giulia

Fondazione IFOM Istituto Firc di Oncologia Molecolare

Kyriacou, Eftychia  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Lunardi, Thomas  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Brandl, Leona  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Ahmed, Wareed  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Doksani, Ylli

Fondazione IFOM Istituto Firc di Oncologia Molecolare

Lingner, Joachim  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Date Issued

2025-04-24

Published in
Nucleic Acids Research
Volume

53

Issue

7

Article Number

gkaf285

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
UPLIN  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Concern Foundation Conquer Cancer Now

Bioimaging and Optics Platform at the School of Life Sciences of EPFL

SNSF-funded National Centre of Competence in Research RNA

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Available on Infoscience
April 29, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/249521
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