Old Passengers as New Drivers: Chromosomal Passenger Proteins Engage in Translesion Synthesis

Survivin is known for its dual biological role in apoptosis inhibition and mitotic progression. In addition to its being part of the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC), recent findings suggest additional roles for Survivin in the DNA damage response, further contributing to therapy resistance. In this study, we investigated the role of Survivin and the CPC proteins in the cellular response to irradiation with a focus on DNA replication processes. As is known, ionizing radiation leads to an increased expression of Survivin and its accumulation in nuclear foci, which we now know to be specifically localized to centromeric heterochromatin. The depletion of Survivin and Aurora B increases the DNA damage marker γH2AX, indicative of an impaired repair capacity. The presence of Survivin and the CPC in nuclear foci that we already identified during the S phase co-localize with the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), further implying a potential role during replication. Indeed, Survivin knockdown reduced replication fork speed as assessed via DNA fiber assays. Mechanistically, we identified a PIP-box motif in INCENP mediating the interaction with PCNA to assist in managing damage-induced replication stress. Survivin depletion forces cells to undergo unphysiological genome replication via mitotic DNA synthesis (MiDAS), resulting in chromosome breaks. Finally, we revealed that Aurora B kinase liberates Pol η by phosphorylating polymerase delta-interacting protein 2 (POLDIP2) to resume the replication of damaged sites via translesion synthesis. In this study, we assigned a direct function to the CPC in the transition from stalled replication forks to translesion synthesis, further emphasizing the ubiquitous overexpression of Survivin particularly in tumors. This study, for the first time, assigns a direct function to the chromosomal passenger complex, CPC, including Survivin, Aurora B kinase, Borealin, and INCENP, in the transition from stalled replication forks (involving PCNA binding) to translesion synthesis (liberating Pol η by phosphorylating POLDIP2), and thus in maintaining genomic integrity.