Scaffolding Protein Involved In DNA Repair (SPIDR)

An emerging concept is the BLM helicase collaborates with the homologous recombination (HR) machinery to help avoid undesirable HR events and to achieve a high degree of fidelity during the HR reaction. SPIDR independently interacts with BLM and RAD51 and promotes the formation of a BLM/RAD51-containing complex of biological importance. Consistent with its role as a scaffolding protein for the assembly of BLM and RAD51 foci, cells depleted of SPIDR show increased rate of sister chromatid exchange and defects in HR. Moreover, SPIDR depletion leads to genome instability and causes hypersensitivity to DNA damaging agents. Through providing a scaffold for the cooperation of BLM and RAD51 in a multifunctional DNA-processing complex, SPIDR not only regulates the efficiency of HR, but also dictates the specific HR pathway