Mutual correction of faulty PCNA subunits in temperature-sensitive lethal mus209 mutants of Drosophila melanogaster

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) functions in DNA replication as a processivity factor for polymerases δ and ε, and in multiple DNA repair processes. We describe two temperature-sensitive lethal alleles (mus209^B1 and mus209²⁷³⁵) of the Drosophila PCNA gene that, at temperatures permissive for growth, result in hypersensitivity to DNA- damaging agents, suppression of position-effect variegation, and female sterility in which ovaries are underdeveloped and do not produce eggs. We show by mosaic analysis that the sterility of mus209^B1 is partly due to a failure of germ-line cells to proliferate. Strikingly, mus209^B1 and mus209²⁷³⁵ interact to restore partial fertility to heteroallelic females, revealing additional roles for PCNA in ovarian development, meiotic recombination, and embryogenesis. We further show that, although mus209^B1 and mus209²⁷³⁵ homozygotes are each defective in repair of transposase- induced DNA double-strand breaks in somatic cells, this defect is substantially reversed in the heteroallelic mutant genotype. These novel mutations map to adjacent sites on the three-dimensional structure of PCNA, which was unexpected in the context of this observed interallelic complementation. These mutations, as well as four others we describe, reveal new relationships between the structure and function of PCNA.