My lab uses fission yeast as a model system for studying DNA damage responses and the coordination of replication with repair. In particular we are interested in the pathways requiring Rqh1 and the Smc5/Smc6 complex. Rqh1 is a member of the RecQ family, which includes genes mutated in the human Bloom's and Werner's syndromes. These are rare genetic disorders characterized by genome instability, cancer susceptibility and in the case of Werner's syndrome premature aging, showing these processes to be important for the prevention of cancer.

SMC complexes are essential complexes involved in chromosome structure and segregation. The Smc5/6 complex is required for double strand break repair and we have recently shown that it is also required for repair at collapsed replication forks. Our current work focuses on the roles of Rqh1 and Smc5/6 in DNA repair, recombination and replication and the implications of these roles for genome stability.

For more information, see  the Genome Damage and Stability Centre.

Mizuno, Ken'ichi, Miyabe, Izumi, Schalbetter, Stephanie A, Carr, Antony M and Murray, Johanne M (2013) Recombination-restarted replication makes inverted chromosome fusions at inverted repeats. Nature, 493 (7431). pp. 246-249. ISSN 0028-0836

Mizuno, Ken'ichi, Miyabe, Izumi, Schalbetter, Stephanie, Carr, Antony and Murray, Johanne (2013) Recombination-restarted replication makes inverted chromosome fusions at inverted repeats. Nature, 493. pp. 246-249. ISSN 0028-0836

Tang, Zhaohua, Luca, Maria, Taggart-Murphy, Laura, Portillo, Jessica, Chang, Cathey, Guven, Ayse, Lin, Ren-Jang, Murray, Johanne and Carr, Antony (2012) Interacting factors and cellular localization of SR protein-specific kinase Dsk1. Experimental Cell Research, 318 (16). pp. 2071-2084. ISSN 0014-4827

Hu, Jiazhi, Sun, Lei, Shen, Fenfen, Chen, Yufei, Hua, Yu, Liu, Yang, Zhang, Mian, Hu, Yiren, Wang, Qingsong, Xu, Wei, Sun, Fei, Ji, Jianguo, Murray, Johanne M, Carr, Antony M and Kong, Daochun (2012) The intra-S phase checkpoint targets Dna2 to prevent stalled replication forks from reversing. Cell, 149 (6). pp. 1221-1232. ISSN 1097-4172

Bass, Kirstin L, Murray, Johanne M and O'Connell, Matthew J (2012) Brc1-dependent recovery from replication stress. Journal of Cell Science, 125 (11). pp. 2753-2764. ISSN 0021-9533

Murray, Johanne M, Stiff, Tom and Jeggo, Penny A (2012) DNA double-strand break repair within heterochromatic regions. Biochemical Society Transactions, 40 (1). pp. 173-178. ISSN 0300-5127

Tang, Zhaohua, Luca, Maria, Portillio, Jessica, Ngo, Benson, Chang, Cathey, Wen, Teresa, Murray, Johanne and Carr, Antony (2011) LAMMER kinase Kic1 is involved in pre-mRNA processing. Experimental Cell Research, 317 (16). pp. 2308-2320. ISSN 0014-4827

Tapia-Alveal, Claudia, Outwin, Emily A, Trempolec, Natalia, Dziadkowiec, Dorota, Murray, Johanne M and O'Connell, Matthew J (2010) SMC complexes and topoisomerase II work together so that sister chromatids can work apart. Cell Cycle, 9 (11). 2065 -2070 . ISSN 1538-4101

Mizuno, Ken'ichi, Lambert, Sarah, Baldacci, Giuseppe, Murray, Johanne M and Carr, Antony M (2009) Nearby inverted repeats fuse to generate acentric and dicentric palindromic chromosomes by a replication template exchange mechanism. Genes and Development , 23 (24). pp. 2876-2886. ISSN 0890-9369

Outwin, Emily A, Irmisch, Anja, Murray, Johanne M and O'Connell, Matthew J (2009) Smc5-Smc6-dependent removal of cohesin from mitotic chromosomes. Molecular and Cellular Biology, 29 (16). pp. 4363-4375. ISSN 0270-7306

Irmisch, Anja, Ampatzidou, Eleni, Mizuno, Ken'ichi, O'Connell, Matthew J and Murray, Johanne M (2009) Smc5/6 maintains stalled replication forks in a recombination-competent conformation. EMBO Journal , 28 (2). pp. 144-155. ISSN 0261-4189

Lee, Karen M, Nizza, Suzanne, Hayes, Thomas, Bass, Kirstin L, Irmisch, Anja, Murray, Johanne M and O'Connell, Matthew J (2007) Brc1-mediated rescue of Smc5/6 deficiency; requirement for multiple nucleases and a novel rad18 function. Genetics, 175 (4). pp. 1585-95. ISSN 0016-6731

Sheedy, Daniel M, Dimitrova, Dora, Rankin, Jessica K, Bass, Kirstin L, Lee, Karen M, Tapia-Alveal, Claudia, Harvey, Susan H, Murray, Johanne and O'Connell, Matthew J (2005) Brc1-mediated DNA repair and damage tolerance. Genetics, 171 (2). pp. 457-468. ISSN 0016-6731

Caspari, Thomas, Murray, Johanne M and Carr, Antony M (2002) Cdc2-cyclin B kinase activity links Crb2 and Rqh1-topoisomerase III. Genes and Development, 16 (10). pp. 1195-208. ISSN 0890-9369