Mismatch repair enhances convergent transcription-induced cell death at trinucleotide repeats by activating ATR

[Display omitted] •Mismatch repair pathway enhance convergent transcription-induced cell death at CAG repeats.•MutSβ and MutLα act in the same pathway to induce cell death during convergent transcription.•MSH2, MSH3 and MLH1 activate ATR at CAG repeats during convergent transcription. Trinucleotide repeat (TNR) expansion beyond a certain threshold results in some 20 incurable neurodegenerative disorders where disease anticipation positively correlates with repeat length. Long TNRs typically display a bias toward further expansion during germinal transmission from parents to offspring, and then are highly unstable in somatic tissues of affected individuals. Understanding mechanisms of TNR instability will provide insights into disease pathogenesis. Previously, we showed that enhanced convergent transcription at long CAG repeat tracks induces TNR instability and cell death via ATR activation. Components of TC-NER (transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair) and RNaseH enzymes that resolve RNA/DNA hybrids oppose cell death, whereas the MSH2 component of MMR (mismatch repair) enhances cell death. The exact role of the MMR pathway during convergent transcription-induced cell death at CAG repeats is not well understood. In this study, we show that siRNA knockdowns of MMR components—MSH2, MSH3, MLHI, PMS2, and PCNA—reduce DNA toxicity. Furthermore, knockdown of MSH2, MLH1, and PMS2 significantly reduces the frequency of ATR foci formation. These observations suggest that MMR proteins activate DNA toxicity by modulating ATR foci formation during convergent transcription.