DNA-Damage Response during Mitosis Induces Whole-Chromosome Missegregation

TLDR: It is shown that when DNA damage is induced during mitosis, the DDR unexpectedly induces errors in the segregation of entire chromosomes, thus linking structural and numerical chromosomal instabilities.

Abstract: Many cancers display both structural (s-CIN) and numerical (w-CIN) chromosomal instabilities. Defective chromosome segregation during mitosis has been shown to cause DNA damage that induces structural rearrangements of chromosomes (s-CIN). In contrast, whether DNA damage can disrupt mitotic processes to generate whole chromosomal instability (w-CIN) is unknown. Here we show that activation of the DNA damage response (DDR) during mitosis selectively stabilizes kinetochore-microtubule (k-MT) attachments to chromosomes through Aurora-A and Plk1 kinases, thereby increasing the frequency of lagging chromosomes during anaphase. Inhibition of DDR proteins, ATM or Chk2, abolishes the effect of DNA damage on k-MTs and chromosome segregation, whereas activation of the DDR in the absence of DNA damage is sufficient to induce chromosome segregation errors. Finally, inhibiting the DDR during mitosis in cancer cells with persistent DNA damage suppresses inherent chromosome segregation defects. Thus, DDR during mitosis inappropriately stabilizes k-MTs creating a link between s-CIN and w-CIN.