R-looping was first described in 1976. Independent R-looping studies from the laboratories of Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp showed that protein coding adenovirus genes contained DNA sequences that were not present in the mature mRNA. Roberts and Sharp were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 for independently discovering introns. After their discovery in adenovirus, introns were found in a number of eukaryotic genes such as the eukaryotic ovalbumin gene (first by the O'Malley laboratory, then confirmed by other groups), hexon DNA, and extrachromosomal rRNA genes of Tetrahymena thermophila.
The potential for R-loops to serve as replication primers was demonstrated in 1980. In 1994, R-loops were demonstrated to be present in vivo through analysis of plasmids isolated from E. coli mutants carrying mutations in topoisomerase. This discovery of endogenous R-loops, in conjunction with rapid advances in genetic sequencing technologies, inspired a blossoming of R-loop research in the early 2000s that continues to this day.
More than 50 proteins that appear to influence R-loop accumulation, and while many of them are believed to contribute by sequestering or processing newly transcribed RNA to prevent re-annealing to the template, mechanisms of R-loop interaction for many of these proteins remain to be determined.
There are three main classes of enzyme that can remove RNA that becomes trapped in the duplex within an R-loop. RNaseH enzymes are the primary proteins responsible for the dissolution of R-loops, acting to degrade the RNA moiety in order to allow the two complementary DNA strands to anneal. Alternatively, Helicases act to unwind the RNA:DNA duplex so that RNA is released. Senataxin is one helicase that can move along ssRNA, and appears to be necessary for preventing R-loop formation at transcription pause sites. The third enzyme class capable of removing R-loops are branchpoint translocases such as FANCM, SMARCAL1 and ZRANB3 in humans or RecG in bacteria. Branchpoint translocases act on the double-stranded DNA adjacent to the DNA:RNA hybrid. By pushing at the branchpoint, they act to "zip up" the DNA and expel the trapped RNA. This makes branchpoint translocases efficient at removing both RNA and proteins that are bound to the R-loop structure. Branchpoint translocases may work together with RNaseH and helicases on some types of R-loops that occur at challenging structures.
When unscheduled R-loops form, they can cause damage by a number of different mechanisms. Exposed single-stranded DNA can come under attack by endogenous mutagens, including DNA-modifying enzymes such as activation-induced cytidine deaminase, and can block replication forks to induce fork collapse and subsequent double-strand breaks. As well, R-loops may induce unscheduled replication by acting as a primer.
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