RNase H1 facilitates recombinase recruitment by degrading DNA-RNA hybrids during meiosis.
Chao LiuLiying WangYanan LiMengmeng GuoJun HuTeng WangMengjing LiZhuo YangRuoyao LinWei XuYinghong ChenMengcheng LuoFei GaoJia-Yu ChenQianwen SunHongbin LiuBo SunWei LiPublished in: Nucleic acids research (2023)
DNA-RNA hybrids play various roles in many physiological progresses, but how this chromatin structure is dynamically regulated during spermatogenesis remains largely unknown. Here, we show that germ cell-specific knockout of Rnaseh1, a specialized enzyme that degrades the RNA within DNA-RNA hybrids, impairs spermatogenesis and causes male infertility. Notably, Rnaseh1 knockout results in incomplete DNA repair and meiotic prophase I arrest. These defects arise from the altered RAD51 and DMC1 recruitment in zygotene spermatocytes. Furthermore, single-molecule experiments show that RNase H1 promotes recombinase recruitment to DNA by degrading RNA within DNA-RNA hybrids and allows nucleoprotein filaments formation. Overall, we uncover a function of RNase H1 in meiotic recombination, during which it processes DNA-RNA hybrids and facilitates recombinase recruitment.