Cells are constantly exposed to endogenous and exogenous sources of DNA damage that threaten their genomic integrity. The DDR is an ensemble of signaling pathways that detect, signal, and repair DNA lesions to sustain genome stability. At DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs), the DDR occurs mainly on two complementary platforms: γ-H2A.X-labeled chromatin and a resected single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) region typically coated with the ssDNA-binding complex RPA1,2.
UV-laser micro-irradiation of cells pre-sensitized with the thymidine analogue 5-bromo-2'deoxyuridine (BrdU) or the bisbenzimide ethoxide trihydrochloride (BBET, Hoechst 33342) DNA dye creates a mixture of DNA lesions including single-stranded breaks (SSBs) and DSBs which elicit a localized DDR on both the chromatin and ssDNA platforms3,4. Previous work showed that recruitment of genome maintenance factors to these two distinct platforms at DSB can be discriminated using high energy UV-A lasers (335-365 nm) combined with IF2,5. Microscopes equipped with such lasers are costly as they require a high energy laser and dedicated UV-A transmitting objectives making them far less prevalent in academic and pharmaceutical settings than laser-scanning confocal microscopes with 405 nm laser lines. The study of protein recruitment and exchange at micro-irradiated sites is also precluded by the laborious manual image analysis required to describe the dynamic behavior of genome maintenance factors.
Here, we show that the pre-sensitization of cells with BrdU or BBET nucleic acid stain followed by micro-irradiation using a 405 nm laser on a common confocal microscope allows the monitoring of genome maintenance factor dynamics at DNA lesions. Using γ-H2A.X or RPA complex subunits as platform markers together with z-stacking for greater depth of field and deconvolution for improved resolution allows the experimenter to discriminate factors that are locally recruited to DSBs from those that spread to large chromatin domains surrounding the initial lesion. This sub-classification according to distinct intra-nuclear compartments helps refine the potential roles of uncharacterized proteins recruited to micro-irradiated sites. Moreover, we provide convenient protocols and optimized pipelines to rapidly analyze the dynamics of genome maintenance factors using the open-source software Fiji (an ImageJ distribution)6,7,8. These refinements to current micro-irradiation methods render the study of the DDR possible in virtually any laboratory setting.