The crosstalk of DNA and RNA damage in modulating genome stability

Yuan Liu

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida International University

DNA damage plays a major role in causing genome instability, mutations, and human cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. However, recent studies have shown that RNA can also modulate DNA damage and repair, causing genome instability by sustaining R-loops during gene transcription. Moreover, RNA can serve as a template to guide DNA damage repair, and RNA modifications, N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A), and inosine (I) can also modulate DNA damage repair, governing genome stability. We recently found that RNA and DNA damage could mutually alter their repair mediated by DNA repair enzymes, suggesting that DNA and RNA damage can crosstalk to modulate genome stability and disease progression. In this talk, we will discuss our recent discoveries about RNA damage in modulating DNA repair gene expression by altering m⁶A profiles on DNA repair gene transcripts. We will then discuss how RNA damage can affect DNA repair enzymatic activities and the potential roles of the crosstalk of RNA and DNA damage repair in modulating disease progression and prevention.

Dear Professor Gerasimova,

My student Eman Taher and I would very appreciate it if you could assign our talks/poster in the Biochemistry/Chemical Biology session on Saturday, June 1. Because of our time restriction. We apologize for causing you the inconvenience.

Many thanks again for the great opportunity and great help and support!

Yuan