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PriA and phage T4 gp59: factors that promote DNA replication on forked DNA substrates microreview.

The initiation of DNA synthesis on forked DNA templates is a vital process in the replication and maintenance of cellular chromosomes. Two proteins that promote replisome assembly on DNA forks have so far been identified. In phage T4 development the gene 59 protein (gp59) assembles replisomes at D-loops, the sites of homologous strand exchange. Bacterial PriA protein plays an analogous function, most probably restarting replication after replication fork arrest with the aid of homologous recombination proteins, and PriA is also required for phage Mu replication by transposition. Gp59 and PriA exhibit similar DNA fork binding activities, but PriA also has a 3' to 5' helicase activity that can promote duplex opening for replisome assembly. The helicase activity allows PriA's repertoire of templates to be more diverse than that of gp59. It may give PriA the versatility to restart DNA replication without recombination on arrested replication forks that lack appropriate duplex openings.

Bacteriophage T4↗

Replication is required for the RecA localization response to DNA damage in Bacillus subtilis.

In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, proteins involved in DNA repair often organize into multicomponent complexes that can be visualized as foci in living cells. We used a RecA-GFP fusion to examine the subcellular cues that direct RecA-GFP to assemble as foci in response to DNA damage. We used two different methods to inhibit initiation of DNA replication and determined that DNA replication is required for the cell to establish RecA-GFP foci after exposure to DNA-damaging agents. Furthermore, use of endonuclease cleavage to generate a site-specific double-strand break demonstrated that the replication machinery (replisome) and DNA synthesis are required for assembly of RecA-GFP foci during repair of a double-strand break. We monitored the cellular levels of RecA and found that focus formation does not require further induction of protein levels, suggesting that foci result from a redistribution of existing protein to sites of damage encountered by the replisome. Taken together, our results support the model that existing RecA protein is recruited to ssDNA generated by the replisome at sites of DNA damage. These results provide insight into the mechanisms that the cell uses to recruit repair proteins to damaged DNA in living cells.

Bacillus subtilis↗

The application of a minicircle substrate in the study of the coordinated T4 DNA replication.

A reconstituted in vitro bacteriophage T4 DNA replication system was studied on a synthetic 70-mer minicircle substrate. This substrate was designed so that dGMP and dCMP were exclusively incorporated into the leading and the lagging strand, respectively. This design allows the simultaneous and independent measurement of the leading and lagging strand synthesis. In this paper, we report our results on the characterization of the 70-mer minicircle substrate. We show here that the minicircle substrate supports coordinated leading and lagging strand synthesis under the experimental conditions employed. The rate of the leading strand fork movement was at an average of approximately 150 nucleotides/s. This rate decreased to less than 30 nucleotides/s when the helicase was omitted from the reaction. These results suggest that both the holoenzyme and the primosome can be simultaneously assembled onto the minicircle substrate. The lagging strand synthesized on this substrate is of an average of 1.5 kb, and the length of the Okazaki fragments increased with decreasing [rNTPs]. The proper response of the Okazaki fragment size toward the change of the priming signal further indicates a functional replisome assembled on the minicircle template. The effects of various protein components on the leading and lagging strand synthesis were also studied. The collective results indicate that coordinated strand synthesis only takes place within certain protein concentration ranges. The optimal protein levels of the proteins that constitute the T4 replisome generally bracket the concentrations of the same proteins in vivo. Omission of the primase has little effect on the rate of dNMP incorporation or the rate of the fork movement on the leading strand within the first 30 s of the reaction. This inhibition only becomes significant at later times of the reaction and may be associated with the accumulation of single-stranded DNA leading to the collapse of active replisomes.

Bacteriophage T4↗

Role of protein-protein interactions during herpes simplex virus type 1 recombination-dependent replication.

Recombination-dependent replication is an integral part of the process by which double-strand DNA breaks are repaired to maintain genome integrity. It also serves as a means to replicate genomic termini. We reported previously on the reconstitution of a recombination-dependent replication system using purified herpes simplex virus type 1 proteins (Nimonkar A. V., and Boehmer, P. E. (2003) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 100, 10201-10206). In this system, homologous pairing by the viral single-strand DNA-binding protein (ICP8) is coupled to DNA synthesis by the viral DNA polymerase and helicase-primase in the presence of a DNA-relaxing enzyme. Here we show that DNA synthesis in this system is dependent on the viral polymerase processivity factor (UL42). Moreover, although DNA synthesis is strictly dependent on topoisomerase I, it is only stimulated by the viral helicase in a manner that requires the helicase-loading protein (UL8). Furthermore, we have examined the dependence of DNA synthesis in the viral system on species-specific protein-protein interactions. Optimal DNA synthesis was observed with the herpes simplex virus type 1 replication proteins, ICP8, DNA polymerase (UL30/UL42), and helicase-primase (UL5/UL52/UL8). Interestingly, substitution of each component with functional homologues from other systems for the most part did not drastically impede DNA synthesis. In contrast, recombination-dependent replication promoted by the bacteriophage T7 replisome was disrupted by substitution with the replication proteins from herpes simplex virus type 1. These results show that although DNA synthesis performed by the T7 replisome is dependent on cognate protein-protein interactions, such interactions are less important in the herpes simplex virus replisome.

Bacteriophage T7↗

A moving DNA replication factory in Caulobacter crescentus.

The in vivo intracellular location of components of the Caulobacter replication apparatus was visualized during the cell cycle. Replisome assembly occurs at the chromosomal origin located at the stalked cell pole, coincident with the initiation of DNA replication. The replisome gradually moves to midcell as DNA replication proceeds and disassembles upon completion of DNA replication. Although the newly replicated origin regions of the chromosome are rapidly moved to opposite cell poles by an active process, the replisome appears to be an untethered replication factory that is passively displaced towards the center of the cell by the newly replicated DNA. These results are consistent with a model in which unreplicated DNA is pulled into the replication factory and newly replicated DNA is bidirectionally extruded from the complex, perhaps contributing to chromosome segregation.

Bacterial Proteins↗

The appearance of the UmuD'C protein complex in Escherichia coli switches repair from homologous recombination to SOS mutagenesis.

The process of SOS mutagenesis in Escherichia coli requires (i) the replisome enzymes, (ii) RecA protein, and (iii) the formation of the UmuD'C protein complex which appears to help the replisome to resume DNA synthesis across a lesion. We found that the UmuD'C complex is an antagonist of RecA-mediated recombination. Homologous recombination in an Hfr x F- cross decreased as a function of the UmuD'C cell concentration; this effect was challenged by increasing RecA concentration. Recombination of a u.v.-damaged F-lac with the lac gene of an F- recipient was reduced by increasing the UmuD'C concentration while lac mutagenesis increased, showing an inverse relationship between recombination and SOS mutagenesis. We explain our data with the following model. The kinetics of appearance of the UmuD'C complex after DNA damage is slow, reaching a maximum after an hour. Within that period, excision and recombinational repair have had time to occur. When the UmuD'C concentration relative to the number of residual RecA filaments, not resolved by recombinational repair, becomes high enough, UmuD'C proteins provide a processive factor for the replisome to help replication bypass and repel the standing RecA filament. Thus, at a high enough concentration, the UmuD'C complex will switch repair from recombination to SOS mutagenesis.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Host factors that promote transpososome disassembly and the PriA-PriC pathway for restart primosome assembly.

Initiation of bacteriophage Mu DNA replication by transposition requires the disassembly of the transpososome that catalyses strand exchange and the assembly of a replisome promoted by PriA, PriB, PriC and DnaT proteins, which function in the host to restart stalled replication forks. Once the molecular chaperone ClpX weakens the very tight binding of the transpososome to the Mu ends, host disassembly factors (MRFalpha-DF) promote the dissociation of the transpososome from the DNA template and the assembly of a new nucleoprotein complex. Prereplisome factors (MRFalpha-PR) further alter the complex, allowing PriA binding and loading of major replicative helicase DnaB onto the template promoted by the restart proteins. MRFalpha-PR is essential for DnaB loading by restart proteins even on the deproteinized Mu fork whereas MRFalpha-DF is not required on the deproteinized template. When the transition from transpososome to replisome was reconstituted using MRFalpha-DF and MRFalpha-PR, initiation of Mu DNA replication was strictly dependent upon added PriC and PriA helicase. In contrast, initiation on the deproteinized template was predominantly dependent upon PriB and did not require PriA's helicase activity. The results indicate that transition mechanisms beginning with the transpososome disassembly can determine the pathway of replisome assembly by restart proteins.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

DNA polymerases and SOS mutagenesis: can one reconcile the biochemical and genetic data?

Until recently, it had been concluded from genetic evidence that DNA polymerase III (Pol III, the main replicative polymerase in E. coli) was also responsible for mutagenic translesion synthesis on damaged templates, albeit under the influence of inducible proteins UmuD' and UmuC. Now it appears that these proteins themselves have polymerase activity (and are now known as Pol V) and can carry out translesion synthesis in vitro in the absence of Pol III. Here I discuss the apparent contradictions between genetics and biochemistry with regard to the role of Pol III in translesion synthesis. Does Pol V interact with Pol III and constitute an alternative component of the replication factory (replisome)? Where do the other three known polymerases fit in? What devices does the cell have to ensure that the "right" polymerase is used in a given situation? The debate about the role of Pol III in translesion synthesis reveals a deeper divide between models that interpret everything in terms of mass action effects and those that embrace a replisome held together by protein-protein interactions and located as a structural entity within the cell.

Animals↗

pH-controlled quaternary states of hexameric DnaB helicase.

DnaB is the major helicase in the Escherichia coli replisome. It is a homohexameric enzyme that interacts with many other replisomal proteins and cofactors. It is usually loaded onto a single strand of DNA at origins of replication from its complex with its loading partner DnaC, then translocates in the 5' to 3' direction, unwinding duplex DNA in an NTP-driven process. Quaternary polymorphism has been described for the DnaB oligomer, a feature it has in common with some other hexameric helicases. In the present work, electron microscopy and in- depth rotational analysis studies of negatively stained specimens has allowed the establishment of conditions that govern the transition between the two different rotational symmetry states (C(3) and C(6)) of DnaB. It is shown: (a) that the pH value of the sample buffer, within the physiological range, dictates the quaternary organisation of the DnaB oligomer; (b) that the pH-induced transition is fully reversible; (c) that the type of adenine nucleotide complexed to DnaB, whether hydrolysable or not, does not affect its quaternary architecture; (d) that the DnaB.DnaC complex exists only as particles with C(3) symmetry; and (e) that DnaC interacts only with DnaB particles that have C(3) symmetry. Structural consequences of this quaternary polymorphism, as well as its functional implications for helicase activity, are discussed.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗

Comparative genomics reveals close genetic relationships between phages from dairy bacteria and pathogenic Streptococci: evolutionary implications for prophage-host interactions.

The genome of the highly pathogenic M1 serotype Streptococcus pyogenes isolate SF370 contains eight prophage elements. Only prophage SF370.1 could be induced by mitomycin C treatment. Prophage SF370.3 showed a 33.5-kb-long genome that closely resembled the genome organization of the cos-site temperate Siphovirus r1t infecting the dairy bacterium Lactococcus lactis. The two-phage genomes shared between 60 and 70% nucleotide sequence identity over the DNA packaging, head and tail genes. Analysis of the SF370.3 genome revealed mutations in the replisome organizer gene that may prevent the induction of the prophage. The mutated phage replication gene was closely related to a virulence marker identified in recently emerged M3 serotype S. pyogenes strains in Japan. This observation suggests that prophage genes confer selective advantage to the lysogenic host. SF370.3 encodes a hyaluronidase and a DNase that may facilitate the spreading of S. pyogenes through tissue planes of its human host. Prophage SF370.2 showed a 43-kb-long genome that closely resembled the genome organization of pac-site temperate Siphoviridae infecting the dairy bacteria S. thermophilus and L. lactis. Over part of the structural genes, the similarity between SF370.2 and S. thermophilus phage O1205 extended to the nucleotide sequence level. SF370.2 showed two probable inactivating mutations: one in the replisome organizer gene and another in the gene encoding the portal protein. Prophage SF370.2 also encodes a hyaluronidase and in addition two very likely virulence factors: prophage-encoded toxins acting as superantigens that may contribute to the immune deregulation observed during invasive streptococcal infections. The superantigens are encoded between the phage lysin and the right attachment site of the prophage genome. The genes were nearly sequence identical with a DNA segment in S. equi, suggesting horizontal gene transfer. The trend for prophage genome inactivation was even more evident for the remaining five prophage sequences that showed massive losses of prophage DNA. In these prophage remnants only 13-0.3 kb of putative prophage DNA was detected. We discuss the genomics data from S. pyogenes strain SF370 within the framework of Darwinian coevolution of prophages and lysogenic bacteria and suggest elements of genetic cooperation and elements of an arms race in this host-parasite relationship.

Bacteriophages↗

A possible interaction of single-strand binding protein and RecA protein during post-ultraviolet DNA synthesis.

The mechanism of DNA replication in ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated Escherichia coli is proposed. Immediately after UV exposure, the replisome aided by single-strand DNA-binding protein (SSB) can proceed past UV-induced pyrimidine dimers without insertion of nucleotides. Polymerisation eventually resumes somewhere downstream of the dimer sites. Due to the limited supply of SSB, only a few dimers can be bypassed in this way. Nevertheless, this early DNA synthesis is of great biological importance because it generates single-stranded DNA regions. Single-stranded DNA can bind and activate RecA protein, thus leading to induction of the SOS response. During the SOS response, the cellular level of RecA protein increases dramatically. Due to the simultaneous increase in the concentration of ATP, RecA protein achieves the high-affinity state for single-stranded DNA. Therefore it is able to displace DNA-bound SSB. The cycling of SSB on and off DNA enables the replisome to bypass a large number of dimers at late post-UV times. During this late replication, the stoichiometric amounts of RecA protein needed for recombination are involved in the process of postreplication repair.

DNA Replication↗

In vitro inhibition of RecA-mediated homologous pairing by UmuD'C proteins.

The process of SOS mutagenesis in Escherichia coli requires: i) the replisome enzymes; ii) RecA protein; and iii) the formation of the UmuD'C protein complex which appears to help the replisome to resume DNA synthesis across a lesion. It has recently been shown that the UmuD'C complex, if overproduced, inhibits recombinational repair of a UV-damaged plasmid DNA as well as homologous recombination in an Hfr x F- cross. Since UmuD'C proteins might inhibit an early recombination step by interacting with a RecA nucleo-protein filament, we checked whether UmuD'C proteins will inhibit RecA promoted homologous pairing in vitro. We tested the inhibitory action of UmuD'C proteins in a crude bacterial extract containing possible cofactors such as chaperone proteins that ensure the proper folding of UmuC and the assembly of the UmuD'C complex in vivo. We used a novel recombination assay in which RecA protein promotes the formation of a stable plectonemic joint between a circular single-stranded DNA immobilized onto a membrane and an incoming homologous linear duplex DNA. Under these conditions we show that UmuD'C proteins inhibit the formation of joint molecules.

Bacterial Proteins↗

The clamp-loader-helicase interaction in Bacillus. Atomic force microscopy reveals the structural organisation of the DnaB-tau complex in Bacillus.

The clamp-loader-helicase interaction is an important feature of the replisome. Although significant biochemical and structural work has been carried out on the clamp-loader-clamp-DNA polymerase alpha interactions in Escherichia coli, the clamp-loader-helicase interaction is poorly understood by comparison. The tau subunit of the clamp-loader mediates the interaction with DnaB. We have recently characterised this interaction in the Bacillus system and established a tau(5)-DnaB(6) stoichiometry. Here, we have obtained atomic force microscopy images of the tau-DnaB complex that reveal the first structural insight into its architecture. We show that despite the reported absence of the shorter gamma version in Bacillus, tau has a domain organisation similar to its E.coli counterpart and possesses an equivalent C-terminal domain that interacts with DnaB. The interaction interface of DnaB is also localised in its C-terminal domain. The combined data contribute towards our understanding of the bacterial replisome.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Mammalian TIMELESS and Tipin are evolutionarily conserved replication fork-associated factors.

The function of the mammalian TIMELESS protein (TIM) has been enigmatic. TIM is essential for early embryonic development, but little is known regarding its biochemical and cellular function. Although identified based on similarity to a Drosophila circadian clock factor, it also shares similarity with a second family of proteins that is more widely conserved throughout eukaryotes. Members of this second protein family in yeast (S.c. Tof1p, S.p. Swi1p) have been implicated in DNA synthesis, S-phase-dependent checkpoint activation and chromosome cohesion, three processes coordinated at the level of the replication fork complex. The present work demonstrates that mammalian TIM and its constitutive binding partner, Tipin (ortholog of S.c. Csm3p, S.p. Swi3p), are replisome-associated proteins. Both proteins associate with components of the endogenous replication fork complex, and are present at BrdU-positive DNA replication sites. Knock-down of TIM also compromises DNA replication efficiency. Further, the direct binding of the TIM-Tipin complex to the 34 kDa subunit of replication protein A provides a biochemical explanation for the potential coupling role of these proteins. Like TIM, Tipin is also involved in the molecular mechanism of UV-dependent checkpoint activation and cell growth arrest. Tipin additionally associates with peroxiredoxin2 and appears to be involved in checkpoint responses to H(2)O(2), a role recently described for yeast versions of TIM and Tipin. Together, this work establishes TIM and Tipin as functional orthologs of their replisome-associated yeast counterparts capable of coordinating replication with genotoxic stress responses, and distinguishes mammalian TIM from the circadian-specific paralogs from which it was originally identified.

Animals↗

Mrc1 is required for normal progression of replication forks throughout chromatin in S. cerevisiae.

Mrc1 associates with replication forks, where it transmits replication stress signals and is required for normal replisome pausing in response to nucleotide depletion. Mrc1 also plays a poorly understood role in DNA replication, which appears distinct from its role in checkpoint signaling. Here, we demonstrate that Mrc1 functions constitutively to promote normal replication fork progression. In mrc1Delta cells, replication forks proceed slowly throughout chromatin, rather than being specifically defective in pausing and progression through loci that impede fork progression. Analysis of genetic interactions with Rrm3, a DNA helicase required to resolve paused forks, indicates that Mrc1 checkpoint signaling is dispensable for the resolution of stalled replication forks and suggests that replication forks lacking Mrc1 create DNA damage that must be repaired by Rrm3. These findings elucidate a central role for Mrc1 in normal replisome function, which is distinct from its role as a checkpoint mediator, but nevertheless critical to genome stability.

Cell Cycle Proteins↗

Crosstalk between primase subunits can act to regulate primer synthesis in trans.

The coordination of primase function within the replisome is an essential but poorly understood feature of lagging strand synthesis. By using crystallography and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we show that functional elements of bacterial primase transition between two dominant conformations: an extended form that uncouples a regulatory domain from its associated RNA polymerase core and a compact state that sequesters the regulatory region from the site of primer synthesis. FRET studies and priming assays reveal that the regulatory domain of one primase subunit productively associates with nucleic acid that is bound to the polymerase domain of a second protomer in trans. This intersubunit interaction allows primase to select initiation sites on template DNA and implicates the regulatory domain as a "molecular brake" that restricts primer length. Our data suggest that the replisome may cooperatively use multiple primases and this conformational switch to control initiation frequency, processivity, and ultimately, Okazaki fragment synthesis.

Bacteriophage T7↗

Localization of MCM2-7, Cdc45, and GINS to the site of DNA unwinding during eukaryotic DNA replication.

Little is known about the architecture and biochemical composition of the eukaryotic DNA replication fork. To study this problem, we used biotin-streptavidin-modified plasmids to induce sequence-specific replication fork pausing in Xenopus egg extracts. Chromatin immunoprecipitation was employed to identify factors associated with the paused fork. This approach identifies DNA pol alpha, DNA pol delta, DNA pol epsilon, MCM2-7, Cdc45, GINS, and Mcm10 as components of the vertebrate replisome. In the presence of the DNA polymerase inhibitor aphidicolin, which causes uncoupling of a highly processive DNA helicase from the stalled replisome, only Cdc45, GINS, and MCM2-7 are enriched at the pause site. The data suggest the existence of a large molecular machine, the "unwindosome," which separates DNA strands at the replication fork and contains Cdc45, GINS, and the MCM2-7 holocomplex.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Crystal structure of PriB, a component of the Escherichia coli replication restart primosome.

Maintenance of genome stability following DNA damage requires origin-independent reinitiation of DNA replication at repaired replication forks. In E. coli, PriA, PriB, PriC, and DnaT play critical roles in recognizing repaired replication forks and reloading the replisome onto the template to reinitiate DNA replication. Here, we report the 2.0 A resolution crystal structure of E. coli PriB, revealing a dimer that consists of a single structural domain formed by two oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide binding (OB) folds. Structural similarity of PriB to single-stranded DNA binding proteins reveals insights into its mechanisms of DNA binding. The structure further establishes a putative protein interaction surface that may contribute to the role of PriB in primosome assembly by facilitating interactions with PriA and DnaT. This is the first high-resolution structure of a protein involved in oriC-independent replisome loading and provides unique insight into mechanisms of replication restart in E. coli.

Amino Acid Sequence↗