ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE HUMAN MRE11 HOMOLOG

Mutation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RAD52 epistasis group gene, M RE11, blocks meiotic recombination, confers profound sensitivity to do uble-strand break damage, and has a hyperrecombinational phenotype in mitotic cells. We isolated a highly conserved human MRE11 homologue us ing a two-hybrid screen for DNA Ligase I-interacting proteins. Human M RE11 shares approximately 50% identity with its yeast counterpart over the N-terminal half of the protein. MRE11 is expressed at the highest levels in proliferating tissues, but is also observed in other tissue s. The MRE11 locus maps to human chromosome 11q21 in a region frequent ly associated with cancer-related chromosomal abnormalities. A MRE11-r elated locus was found on chromosome 7q11.2-q11.3. (C) 1995 Academic P ress Inc.