DNA replication under the Rigi Kulm. EMBO workshop on 'Molecular Biology of DNA replication', Weggis, Switzerland, 8-13 September 1996.
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When DNA replication is stalled, a signal transduction pathway is activated that promotes the stability of stalled forks and resumption of DNA synthesis. In budding yeast, this pathway includes the kinases Mec1 and Rad53. Here we report that the Mediator protein Mrc1, which is required for normal DNA replication and for activation of Rad53, is present at replication forks. Mrc1 initially binds early-replicating sequences and moves along chromatin with the replication fork. Blocking initiation of DNA replication blocks Mrc1 loading onto origins, providing an explanation for why so many mutants in DNA replication show checkpoint defects. In the presence of replication blocks, we find that Mec1 is recruited to regions of stalled replication, where it encounters and presumably phosphorylates Mrc1. Mutation of the canonical Mec1 phosphorylation sites on Mrc1 prevents Mrc1 phosphorylation and blocks Rad53 activation, but does not alter Mrc1's role in DNA replication. Our results suggest a model whereby in response to DNA replication interference, the Mec1 kinase is recruited to sites of replication blocks and phosphorylates a component of the DNA replication complex, Mrc1, thereby setting up a solid-state Rad53 activation platform to initiate the checkpoint response.
The fidelity of DNA replication is achieved in a multiplicative process encompassing nucleobase selection and insertion, removal of misinserted nucleotides by exonuclease activity, and enzyme dissociation from primer/templates that are misaligned due to mispairing. In this study, we have evaluated the effect of altering these kinetic processes on the dynamics of translesion DNA replication using the bacteriophage T4 replication apparatus as a model system. The effect of enhancing the processivity of the T4 DNA polymerase, gp43, on translesion DNA replication was evaluated using a defined in vitro assay system. While the T4 replicase (gp43 in complex with gp45) can perform efficient, processive replication using unmodified DNA, the T4 replicase cannot extend beyond an abasic site. This indicates that enhancing the processivity of gp43 does not increase unambiguously its ability to perform translesion DNA replication. Surprisingly, the replicase composed of an exonuclease-deficient mutant of gp43 was unable to extend beyond the abasic DNA lesion, thus indicating that molecular processes involved in DNA polymerization activity play the predominant role in preventing extension beyond the non-coding DNA lesion. Although neither T4 replicase complex could extend beyond the lesion, there were measurable differences in the stability of each complex at the DNA lesion. Specifically, the exonuclease-deficient replicase dissociates at a rate constant, k(off), of 1.1s(-1) while the wild-type replicase remains more stably associated at the site of DNA damage by virtue of a slower measured rate constant (k(off) 0.009s(-1)). The increased lifetime of the wild-type replicase suggests that idle turnover, the partitioning of the replicase from its polymerase to its exonuclease active site, may play an important role in maintaining fidelity. Further attempts to perturb the fidelity of the T4 replicase by substituting Mn(2+) for Mg(2+) did not significantly enhance DNA synthesis beyond the abasic DNA lesion. The results of these studies are interpreted with respect to current structural information of gp43 alone and complexed with gp45.
Mammalian mitochondrial DNA replication is initiated by the processing of RNA transcripts derived from an upstream promoter to create RNA primers for DNA replication. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mitochondrial ori/rep sequences contain a transcription promoter upstream of the site of transition from RNA to DNA synthesis, suggesting a common mode of replication initiation. Recent research has identified features in the mode and machinery of DNA replication conserved from yeast to mammals.
Glutamine-rich Sp1 and proline-rich CTF1, two extensively studied mammalian transcription factors, bind to origins of replication in DNA tumor viruses and stimulate viral DNA replication in mammalian cells. Here it is shown that, when tethered to a plasmid-borne cellular origin of replication, the activation domains of both proteins can enhance origin function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Hydrophobic patches in Sp1 and CTF1 that mediate transcriptional activation in higher eukaryotes are also important for activation of replication in yeast. However, only the activation domain of CTF1 can enhance initiation of replication from a chromosomally embedded origin. This correlates with the ability of CTF1 to alter the local chromatin structure around the chromosomal origin of replication. The CTF1-induced chromatin remodeling occurs at multiple stages of the cell cycle. These findings strongly suggest a high degree of conservation in the mechanisms used by various types of transcription factors to stimulate viral and cellular DNA replication in eukaryotes.
DNA is replicated according to a precise and reproducible temporal pattern. The S-phase programme has previously been analyzed in metazoan and yeast cells using different methods: cytological chromosome banding in human cells and DNA isotopic-labeling techniques in yeast. Microarray-based approaches for the analysis of the replication programme and chromatin structure are bringing us closer to a molecular understanding of the factors that determine replication time. In this article, I assess the impact of recent investigations and compare our knowledge of DNA replication-timing controls in yeast with those of metazoans.
In this report, we describe the replication of minigenomes of minute virus of mice (MVM). We show that the cis-acting sequences required for MVM DNA replication reside in the terminal 140 and 660 nucleotides of the left and right termini, respectively. Minigenomes containing either two right (RR) or two left (LL) termini are replication competent genomes, demonstrating that both termini contain the genetic information necessary for the excision and initiation of DNA replication. Since the efficiency of replication of the RR genome is greater than that of the LL genome, it suggests that the individual terminal sequences are not equivalent in function. In addition to the terminal palindromic sequences required for replication, we show that specific elements found inboard of the right hairpin between nucleotides 4489-4636 (element A) and 4636-4695 (element B) are necessary for the efficient replication of MVM minigenomes. These elements have heretofore not been identified as replication sequences.
DNA damage activates RecA protein of E. coli to a form (RecA*) that promotes proteolytic cleavage of LexA protein, the repressor of at least 17 DNA damage-inducible genes, resulting in expression of the SOS response. In addition to this known role, RecA* performs another function necessary for expression of SOS mutagenesis [Blanco, M., Herrera, G., Collado, P., Rebollo, J. & Botella, L. M. (1982) Biochimie 64, 633-636]. The additional role of RecA* could be (i) cleavage of another repressor, (ii) proteolytic processing of one or more proteins, or (iii) mechanistic interaction with DNA or with one or more other proteins. We describe experiments designed to test the first possibility. Our results suggest that neither SOS mutator activity nor ultraviolet mutagenesis requires induction by RecA* of any gene(s) outside the LexA regulon and that the additional role of RecA* is not cleavage of another repressor. We show that stable DNA replication, another DNA damage-inducible function [Kogoma, T., Torrey, T. A. & Connaughton, M. J. (1979) Mol. Gen. Genet. 176, 1-9], shares with SOS mutagenesis the requirement for RecA* activity, even in a strain constitutively expressing all LexA-controlled genes. In this strain, conditions that activate RecA initiate expression of stable DNA replication in the presence of chloramphenicol, without an intervening period of protein synthesis. We conclude that the additional function of RecA* in stable DNA replication is not another antirepressor activity.
Nascent DNA chains containing the putative replication origins were isolated from cells of human embryonic lung fibroblasts, Hela, Ehrlich ascites tumour and Guerin ascites tumour as described earlier [ Russev , G., and Vassilev , L. (1982) J. Mol. Biol. 161, 77-87]. It was demonstrated that the synthesis of these nascent chains correlated with the ability of cells to initiate semiconservative DNA replication. Reassociation and electrophoretic analysis showed that the nascent chains from all four cell lines contained middle repetitive DNA in the form of short interspersed sequences. Mouse repetitive sequences were isolated and hybridized to Escherichia coli, chicken, calf and rat DNA and to homologous hnRNA. The kinetics of hybridization indicated that the repetitive sequences found in the vicinity of the replication origins were order-specific and were not heavily transcribed. Reassociation experiments, in which homologous DNA isolated from nuclei digested with micrococcal nuclease to different extents was used as a driver, showed that these repetitive sequences were organized into nucleosomes like the bulk of the chromatin.
Human aging is associated with accumulation of cells that have undergone replicative senescence. The rare premature aging Werner's syndrome (WS) provides a phenocopy of normal human aging and WS patient cells recapitulate the aging phenotype in culture as they rapidly lose the ability to proliferate or replicate their DNA. WS is associated with loss of functional WRN protein. Although the biochemical properties of WRN protein, which possesses both helicase and exonuclease activities, suggest an involvement in DNA metabolism, its action in cells is not clear. Here, we provide experimental evidence for a role of the WRN protein in DNA replication in normally proliferating cells. Most importantly, we demonstrate that in the absence of functional WRN protein, replication forks from origins of bidirectional replication fail to progress normally, resulting in marked asymmetry of bidirectional forks. We propose that WRN acts in normal DNA replication to prevent collapse of replication forks or to resolve DNA junctions at stalled replication forks, and that loss of this capacity may be a contributory factor in premature aging.
The DNA replication licensing system ensures that chromosomal DNA is replicated precisely once before cell division occurs. A DNA helicase must be loaded on origin DNA for replication to initiate. Considerable evidence suggests that the MCM complex acts as a replicative helicase in eukaryotes. When the MCM complex is loaded on the chromatin, the replication origin is formally defined as being licensed for replication. Licensing takes place several hours before origins are activated to undergo replication in S-phase. Genetic and biochemical studies show that the licensing process is well conserved in eukaryotes. Cyclin Dependent Kinases (CDKs), the master regulators of the cell cycle, coordinate the initiation of the two key cell cycle events, replication of DNA and its segregation at mitosis. Eukaryotes have developed complex regulatory mechanisms to ensure that origin licensing is coordinated with these events so that genome integrity is preserved during successive cell divisions.
Unscheduled DNA synthesis was induced by bleomycin in isolated rat liver nuclei and in permeable mouse ascites sarcoma cells. ATP significantly enhanced the bleomycin effect of inducing unscheduled DNA synthesis. Replicative DNA synthesis in permeable mouse ascites sarcoma cells was inhibited by bleomycin. The apparent inhibition or stimulation by bleomycin of in vitro DNA synthesis was thought to be determined by a balance between inhibited DNA replicase activity and induced unscheduled DNA synthesis.
A genetic screen for cell division cycle mutants of Caulobacter crescentus identified a temperature-sensitive DNA replication mutant. Genetic complementation experiments revealed a mutation within the dnaE gene, encoding the alpha-catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase III holoenzyme. Sequencing of the temperature-sensitive dnaE allele indicated a single base pair substitution resulting in a change from valine to glutamic acid within the C-terminal portion of the protein. This mutation lies in a region of the DnaE protein shown in Escherichia coli, to be important in interactions with other essential DNA replication proteins. Using DNA replication assays and fluorescence flow cytometry, we show that the observed block in DNA synthesis in the Caulobacter dnaE mutant strain occurs at the initiation stage of replication and that there is also a partial block of DNA elongation.
Lambda plasmid DNA replication is inhibited in amino acid-starved wild type Escherichia coli strains (stringent response) but not in amino acid-starved relA mutants (relaxed response). This replication is perpetuated by the replication complex containing the lambda O protein (which is protected from proteases by other elements of the complex) and inherited by one of two daughter copies after a replication round. Since a fraction of stable lambda O protein was observed in relA- and relA+ strains, and negative regulation by the lambda Cro repressor does not seem to be important in the stringent or relaxed response of lambda plasmid replication to amino acid starvation, the inhibition of lambda plasmid replication in amino acid-starved wild type strains was investigated. lambda plasmids were unable to replicate in amino acid-starved relA- bacteria treated with rifampicin. Moreover, transcription from pR, which produces mRNA for replication protein synthesis and serves as transcriptional activation of ori lambda, was significantly decreased during the stringent response as well as in non-starved cells containing increased levels of ppGpp. However, it was little or totally not affected by the relaxed response. The replacement of pR with plac (which is known to be uninhibited by ppGpp) in a lambda plasmid resulted in its DNA replication during relaxed and stringent responses as well as during overproduction of ppGpp in unstarved bacteria. We conclude that ppGpp-mediated inhibition of transcriptional activation of ori lambda is responsible for inhibition of lambda plasmid DNA replication in amino acid-starved wild type strains.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Kinetoplast DNA is a network of interlocked minicircles and maxicircles. In situ hybridization, using probes detected by digital fluorescence microscopy, has clarified the in vivo structure and replication mechanism of the network. The probe recognizes only nicked minicircles. Hybridization reveals prereplication kinetoplasts (with closed minicircles), donut-shaped replicating kinetoplasts (with nicked minicircles on the periphery and closed minicircles in the center), and postreplication kinetoplasts (with nicked minicircles). Replicating kinetoplasts are associated with two peripheral structures containing free minicircle replication intermediates and DNA polymerase. Replication may involve release of closed minicircles from the center of the kinetoplast and their migration to the peripheral structures, replication of the free minicircles therein, and then peripheral reattachment of the progeny minicircles to the kinetoplast.
DNA replication in eukaryotic cells is initiated at sites in the DNA known as origins. Studies in yeast have identified a number of the genes and proteins that may be involved in this process. In this review, we concentrate largely on those genes on proteins that are required for initiation of DNA replication and for which there is some evidence for a role at origins.
The interaction of DNA replication forks with both stationary and transcribing RNA polymerase molecules has been examined in vitro, using the multienzyme T4 bacteriophage DNA replication system and purified E. coli RNA polymerase. We have found that a single stationary RNA polymerase molecule can block the movement of the T4 replication fork when bound to a promoter on a double-stranded fd DNA template. When transcription is allowed (in the same direction as replication), the replication fork appears to follow the moving RNA polymerase molecule at the relatively slow rate of transcription. The barriers to fork movement formed by E. coli RNA polymerase are eliminated by the addition of small amounts of a purified T4-encoded DNA helicase, the product of the dda gene. We find that replication complexes containing the dda protein cause stationary RNA polymerase molecules to dissociate from the DNA.