The TFIIH subunits p44/p62 act as a damage sensor during nucleotide excision repair

Abstract

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) protects the genome following exposure to diverse types of DNA damage, including UV light and chemotherapeutics. Mutations in mammalian NER genes lead to diseases such as xeroderma pigmentosum, trichothiodystrophy, and Cockayne syndrome. In eukaryotes, the major transcription factor TFIIH is the central hub of NER. The core components of TFIIH include the helicases XPB, XPD, and five ‘structural’ subunits. Two of these structural TFIIH proteins, p44 and p62 remain relatively unstudied; p44 is known to regulate the helicase activity of XPD during NER whereas p62’s role is thought to be structural. However, a recent cryo-EM structure shows that p44, p62, and XPD make extensive contacts within TFIIH, with part of p62 occupying XPD’s DNA binding site. This observation implies a more extensive role in DNA repair beyond the structural integrity of TFIIH. Here, we show that p44 stimulates XPD’s ATPase but upon encountering DNA damage, further stimulation is only observed when p62 is part of the ternary complex; suggesting a role for the p44/p62 heterodimer in TFIIH’s mechanism of damage detection. Using single molecule imaging, we demonstrate that p44/p62 independently interacts with DNA; it is seen to diffuse, however, in the presence of UV-induced DNA lesions the complex stalls. Combined with the analysis of a recent cryo-EM structure we suggest that p44/p62 acts as a novel DNA-binding entity within TFIIH that is capable of recognizing DNA damage. This revises our understanding of TFIIH and prompts more extensive investigation into the core subunits for an active role during both DNA repair and transcription.