Dds20 operates in Cds1-independent mechanism of tolerance to UV-induced DNA damage in Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells

Repair of DNA double-stranded breaks caused by ionizing radiation or cellular metabolization, homologous recombination, is an evolutionary conserved process controlled by RAD52 group genes. Genes of recombinational repair also play a leading role in the response to DNA damage caused by UV light. Cells with deletion in gene dds20 of recombinational repair were shown to manifest hypersensitivity to the action of UV light at lowered incubation temperature. Epistatic analysis revealed that dds20+ is not a member of the NER and UVER gene groups responsible for the repair of DNA damage induced by UV light. The Dds protein has functions in the Cds1-independent mechanism of UV damage tolerance of DNA.