UC Riverside

DNA polymerase η (Pol η) catalyzes accurate bypass of ultraviolet light-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, and it also functions in several other related processes, including bypassing DNA with unusual structures. Here, we performed unbiased proteome-wide profiling of Pol η-interacting proteins by using two independent approaches, i.e., proximity labeling and affinity pull-down followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. We identified several helicases, including DHX9, as novel Pol η-interacting proteins. Additionally, ChIP-Seq analysis showed that Pol η is enriched at guanine quadruplex (G4) structure sites in chromatin. Moreover, Pol η promotes the recruitment of DHX9 to G4 structure loci in chromatin and facilitates DHX9-mediated unwinding of G4 structures. Deficiency in Pol η or DHX9 leads to attenuated replication across G4 regions in genomic DNA. Together, we unveiled the interaction between Pol η and DHX9 and demonstrated that the interaction promotes the replicative bypass of G4 structures in chromatin.