Participation of UV-regulated Genes in the Response to Helix-distorting DNA Damage in the Thermoacidophilic Crenarchaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

Several species of Sulfolobales have been used as model organisms in the study of response mechanisms to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in hyperthermophilic crenarchaea. To date, the transcriptional responses of genes involved in the initiation of DNA replication, transcriptional regulation, protein phosphorylation, and hypothetical function have been observed in Sulfolobales species after UV irradiation. However, due to the absence of knockout experiments, the functions of these genes under in situ UV irradiation have not yet been demonstrated. In the present study, we constructed five gene knockout strains (cdc6-2, tfb3, rio1, and two genes encoding the hypothetical proteins, Saci_0951 and Saci_1302) of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and examined their sensitivities to UV irradiation. The knockout strains exhibited significant sensitivities to UV-B irradiation, indicating that the five UV-regulated genes play an important role in responses to UV irradiation in vivo. Furthermore, Δcdc6-2, Δrio1, ΔSaci_0951, and Δtfb3 were sensitive to a wide variety of helix-distorting DNA lesions, including UV-induced DNA damage, an intra-strand crosslink, and bulky adducts. These results reveal that cdc6-2, tfb3, rio1, and Saci_0951 are play more important roles in broad responses to helix-distorting DNA damage than in specific responses to UV irradiation.