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Xenopus CDC7/DRF1 complex is required for the initiation of DNA replication.

The Cdc7 kinase is essential for the initiation of DNA replication in eukaryotes. Two regulatory subunits of the Xenopus Cdc7 kinase have been identified: XDbf4 and XDrf1. In this study we determined the expression pattern of XDbf4 and XDrf1 and examined their involvement in DNA replication. We show that XDrf1 expression is restricted to oogenesis and early embryos, whereas XDbf4 is expressed throughout development. Immunodepletion from Xenopus egg extracts indicated that both proteins are only found in complexes with XCdc7 and there is a 5-fold molar excess of the XCdc7/Drf1 over SCdc7/Dbf4 complexes. Both complexes exhibit kinase activity and are differentially phosphorylated during the cell cycle. Depletion of the XCdc7/Drf1 from egg extracts inhibited DNA replication, whereas depletion of XCdc7/Dbf4 had little effect. Chromatin binding studies indicated that XCdc7/Drf1 is required for pre-replication complex activation but not their assembly. XCdc7/Dbf4 complexes bound to the chromatin in two steps: the first step was independent of pre-replication complex assembly and the second step was dependent on pre-replication complex activation. By contrast, binding of XCdc7/Drf1 complexes was entirely dependent on pre-replication complex assembly. Finally, we present evidence that the association of the two complexes on the chromatin is not regulated by ATR checkpoint pathways that result from DNA replication blocks. These data suggest that Cdc7/Drf1 but not Cdc7/Dbf4 complexes support the initiation of DNA replication in Xenopus egg extracts and during early embryonic development.

Animals↗

On the fidelity of DNA replication. Isolation of high fidelity DNA polymerase-primase complexes by immunoaffinity chromatography.

Error rates for conventionally purified DNA polymerase-alpha from calf thymus, chicken, and human sources have been reported to be one in 10,000 to one in 40,000 nucleotides incorporated. Isolation of polymerase-alpha by immunoaffinity chromatography yields a multiprotein high molecular weight replication complex that contains an associated DNA primase (Wong, S. W., Paborsky, L. R., Fisher, P. A., Wang, T. S-F., and Korn, D. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 7958-7968). We have isolated DNA polymerase-primase complexes from calf thymus, from a human lymphoblast cell line (TK-6), and from Chinese hamster lung cells (V-79) using two different methods of immunoaffinity chromatography. These enzyme complexes are 12- to 20-fold more accurate than conventionally purified calf thymus DNA polymerase-alpha when assayed using the phi X174am3 fidelity assay; estimated error rates are one in 460,000 to one in 830,000 nucleotides incorporated when the enzyme complex is freshly isolated. The polymerase-primase complex from calf thymus exhibited no detectable 3'----5' exonuclease activity using a heteroduplex substrate containing a single 3'-terminal mismatched nucleotide. Upon prolonged storage at -70 degrees C, the error rate of the immunoaffinity-purified calf thymus DNA polymerase-primase complex increases to about one in 50,000 nucleotides incorporated, an error rate similar to that exhibited by conventional isolates of DNA polymerase-alpha.

Animals↗

Abnormal fibroblast aging and DNA replication in the Werner syndrome.

Cell and DNA replicative potentials were studied in 10 strains of skin fibroblasts from unrelated patients with the Werner syndrome (WS) and in a progeric CRL 1277 strain. The lifespans of all WS strains and of CRL 1277 cells are greatly abbreviated in vitro, due to large fractions of non-cycling cells and the basic process of progressive clonal attenuation during Phase II. In some WS strains, the population-doubling rate per day and the cloning efficiency fluctuated concurrently in random fashion during the cellular aging process, indicating alternating successions of adaptively well and poorly growing clones, probably resulting from various chromosome translocations. No detectable defect in excision repair was found in WS or CRL 1277 cells. However, the rate of increase in the molecular weight of pulse-chased DNA involving overall rates of chain elongation and replicon fusion was retarded in WS and CRL 1277 cells. Also, pulse-labelled DNA in WS fibroblasts was less enriched in the nuclear matrix and was more slowly chased out than in normal cells. These results led us to postulate a misfiring or delayed initiation due to the sticky attachment of replicating DNA to the nuclear matrix in the replisomes of WS fibroblasts. A suggested model for abnormal DNA replication is presented and discussed to explain the loss of DNA and the chromosome abnormalities in WS cells. The abnormal DNA-synthetic profiles so derived appeared to be normalized in SV40-transformed PSV811 (WS) cells as were in gamma ray-transformed wild-type WI38CT-1 cells.

Adolescent↗

Xeroderma pigmentosum variant heterozygotes show reduced levels of recovery of replicative DNA synthesis in the presence of caffeine after ultraviolet irradiation.

Patients with xeroderma pigmentosum variant show clinical photosensitivity, skin neoplasias induced by ultraviolet light, and defective postreplication repair, but normal nucleotide excision repair. We recently reported an alternative, simple method for the diagnosis of xeroderma pigmentosum variant that measures by autoradiography three cellular markers for DNA repair after ultraviolet irradiation: unscheduled DNA synthesis, recovery of RNA synthesis, and recovery of replicative DNA synthesis. Among hereditary photosensitive disorders, including other xeroderma pigmentosum groups, Cockayne syndrome, and a newly established ultraviolet-sensitive syndrome, only xeroderma pigmentosum variant cells exhibited normal unscheduled DNA synthesis, normal recovery of RNA synthesis, but reduced recovery of replicative DNA synthesis (51 +/- 6% the rate relative to normal controls). This reduction of recovery of replicative DNA synthesis was enhanced in the presence of a nontoxic level of caffeine to 36 +/- 5%. In this study we assess the cellular markers in two independent families that included two photosensitive patients that were identified as xeroderma pigmentosum variant. Cells from heterozygotic parents showed normal levels of unscheduled DNA synthesis, recovery of RNA synthesis, and recovery of replicative DNA synthesis, but reduced rates of recovery of replicative DNA synthesis in the presence of 1 mM caffeine (53 +/- 8% relative to the normal control). Furthermore, with a colony-forming assay, the cells showed normal survival by ultraviolet without caffeine, but slightly reduced survival by ultraviolet with 1 mM caffeine present. In one family, we confirmed inheritance of two heterozygous mis-sense mutations. One mutation is an A-->G transition at nucleotide 1840 that generates a K535E mis-sense mutation. Another mutation is an A-->C transversion at nucleotide 2003 that generates a K589 mis-sense mutation. Each of these mutations were absent in 52 unrelated Japanese individuals. These results suggest that xeroderma pigmentosum variant heterozygotes can be identified by their sensitivity to ultraviolet irradiation in the presence of nontoxic levels of caffeine.

Adult↗

Activation of polyomavirus DNA replication by yeast GAL4 is dependent on its transcriptional activation domains.

The polyomavirus replication origin contains transcriptional regulatory sequences. To determine how these elements function in DNA replication, and to learn whether a common mechanism underlies the activation of transcription and DNA replication, we tested whether a well-characterized transcriptional activator, yeast GAL4, was capable of stimulating DNA replication and transcription in the same mammalian cell line. We observed that GAL4 activated polyomavirus DNA replication in mouse cells when its binding site was juxtaposed to the late border of the polyomavirus origin core. Synergistic activation of DNA replication was achieved by multimerization of the GAL4 binding site. Analysis of GAL4 mutant proteins, GAL4 hybrid proteins and mutants of the latter revealed that the activation domains of these transcriptional activators were required to stimulate DNA replication. In agreement with previously published data, the activation domains of GAL4 were also required to enhance transcription in the same mouse cell line. These observations implicate transcriptional activators in Py DNA replication and suggest that similar mechanisms govern the activation of transcription and DNA replication.

Animals↗

Human replication proteins hCdc21, hCdc46 and P1Mcm3 bind chromatin uniformly before S-phase and are displaced locally during DNA replication.

Members of the Mcm-protein family have recently been shown to be involved in restricting DNA replication to a single cycle in Xenopus laevis egg extracts. In this study, we extended these observations to human somatic cells and analysed the localisation of the human Mcm-proteins Cdc21, Cdc46 and P1Mcm3 in replicating HeLa cell nuclei. These Mcm-proteins are entirely nuclear in interphase cells and apparently exist in two populations: a nucleosolic population, and a population bound to a nuclear structure, most likely chromatin. The bound population is detected throughout the nucleus in late G1 and early S, and at discrete subnuclear sites following further progression of S-phase. We use high resolution confocal microscopy to determine the subnuclear sites of chromatin-bound Mcm proteins in comparison to the sites of replicating DNA. Importantly, hCdc21, hCdc46 and P1Mcm3 do not colocalise with replication foci, instead these proteins appear to coincide with subnuclear sites of unreplicated chromatin. During progression of S-phase hCdc21, hCdc46 and P1Mcm3 are displaced from their site on chromatin at the time when this site is replicated. Consequently, early replicating sites do not contain bound hCdc21, hCdc46 or P1Mcm3 during later stages of S-phase. Furthermore, G2 nuclei and condensed chromatin in mitotic cells do not contain bound hCdc21, hCdc46 or P1Mcm3. Thus, the human Mcm-proteins Cdc21, Cdc46 and P1Mcm3 are not concentrated at sites of DNA replication. Instead, they appear to be present only on unreplicated chromatin and are displaced from replicating chromatin, consistent with a role in monitoring unreplicated chromatin and ensuring only a single round of DNA replication per cell cycle.

Animals↗

Organization of DNA replication in Physarum polycephalum. Attachment of origins of replicons and replication forks to the nuclear matrix.

We have investigated the attachment of the DNA to the nuclear matrix during the division cycle of the plasmodial slime mold Physarum polycephalum. The DNA of plasmodia was pulse labelled at different times during the S phase and the label distribution was studied by graded DNase digestion of the matrix-DNA complexes prepared from nuclei isolated by extraction with 2 M NaCl. Pulse labelled DNA was preferentially recovered from the matrix bound residual DNA at any time of the S phase. Label incorporated at the onset of the S phase remained preferentially associated with the matrix during the G2 phase and the subsequent S phase. The occurrence of the pulse label in the matrix associated DNA regions was transiently elevated at the onset of the subsequent S phase. Label incorporated at the end of the S phase was located at DNA regions which, in the G2 phase, were preferentially released from the matrix by DNase treatment. From the results and previously reported data on the distribution of attachment sites it can be concluded that origins of replicons or DNA sites very close to them are attached to the matrix during the entire nuclear cycle. The data further indicate that initiations of DNA replication occur at the same origins in successive S phases. Replicating DNA is bound to the matrix, in addition, by the replication fork or a region close to it. This binding is loosened after completion of the replication.

Cell Cycle↗

Mutants of Escherichia coli with increased fidelity of DNA replication.

To improve our understanding of the role of DNA replication fidelity in mutagenesis, we undertook a search for Escherichia coli antimutator strains with increased fidelity of DNA replication. The region between 4 and 5 min of the E. coli chromosome was mutagenized using localized mutagenesis mediated by bacteriophage P1. This region contains the dnaE and dnaQ genes, which encode, respectively, the DNA polymerase (alpha subunit) and 3' exonucleolytic proofreading activity (epsilon subunit) of DNA polymerase III holoenzyme, the enzyme primarily responsible for replicating the bacterial chromosome. The mutated bacteria were screened for antimutator phenotype in a strain defective in DNA mismatch repair (mutL), using a papillation assay based on the reversion of the galK2 mutation. In a mutL strain, mutations result primarily from DNA replication errors. Among 10,000 colonies, seven mutants were obtained whose level of papillation was reduced 5-30-fold. These mutants also displayed decreased mutation frequencies for rifampicin or nalidixic acid resistance as well as for other markers. Mapping by P1 transduction and complementation showed each to reside in dnaE. These observations support the idea that the mutants represent antimutators which replicate their DNA with increased fidelity. Mutation rates were reduced in both mutL and mutT backgrounds, but mutagenesis by ultraviolet light was not significantly affected, suggesting that the antimutator effect may be largely restricted to normal DNA replication.

Bacterial Proteins↗

CtrA mediates a DNA replication checkpoint that prevents cell division in Caulobacter crescentus.

Coordination of DNA replication and cell division is essential in order to ensure that progeny cells inherit a full copy of the genome. Caulobacter crescentus divides asymmetrically to produce a non-replicating swarmer cell and a replicating stalked cell. The global response regulator CtrA coordinates DNA replication and cell division by repressing replication initiation and transcription of the early cell division gene ftsZ in swarmer cells. We show that CtrA also mediates a DNA replication checkpoint of cell division by regulating the late cell division genes ftsQ and ftsA. CtrA activates transcription of the P(QA) promoter that co-transcribes ftsQA, thus regulating the ordered expression of early and late cell division proteins. Cells inhibited for DNA replication are unable to complete cell division. We show that CtrA is not synthesized in pre-divisional cells in which replication has been inhibited, preventing the transcription of P(QA) and cell division. Replication inhibition prevents the activation of the ctrA P2 promoter, which normally depends on CtrA phosphorylation. This suggests the possibility that CtrA phosphorylation may be affected by replication inhibition.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Regulation of herpes simplex virus type 1 replication in Vero cells by Psychotria serpens: relationship to gene expression, DNA replication, and protein synthesis.

Inhibitory effects of ethanolic extracts from seven Chinese herbs on herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) replication were investigated. From a bioassay-guided fractionation procedure, PS-A-6 was isolated from Psychotria serpens (P. serpens), which suppressed HSV-1 multiplication in Vero cells without apparent cytotoxicity. Time-of-addition experiments suggested that the inhibitory action of PS-A-6 on HSV-1 replication was not through blocking of virus adsorption. In an attempt to further localize the point in the HSV-1 replication cycle where arrest occurred, a set of key regulatory events leading to viral multiplication was examined, including viral gene expression, DNA replication, and structural protein synthesis. The results indicated that gB mRNA and protein expression in Vero cells were impeded by PS-A-6. Southern blot analysis showed that HSV-1 DNA replication in Vero cells was arrested by PS-A-6. In addition, PS-A-6 decreased thymidine kinase (tk) and ICP27 mRNA expression in the cells. The mechanisms of antiviral action of PS-A-6 seem to be mediated, at least in part, through inhibition of early transcripts of HSV-1, such as tk and ICP27 mRNAs, arresting HSV-1 DNA synthesis and gB gene expression in Vero cells. Plans are underway for the isolation of pure compounds from PS-A-6 and elucidation of their mechanism of action.

Animals↗

Protein-protein interactions between adenovirus DNA polymerase and nuclear factor I mediate formation of the DNA replication preinitiation complex.

The in vitro adenovirus (Ad) DNA replication system provides an assay to study the interaction of viral and host replication proteins with the DNA template in the formation of the preinitiation complex. This initiation system requires in addition to the origin DNA sequences 1) Ad DNA polymerase (Pol), 2) Ad preterminal protein (pTP), the covalent acceptor for protein-primed DNA replication, and 3) nuclear factor I (NFI), a host cell protein identical to the CCAAT box-binding transcription factor. The interactions of these proteins were studied by coimmunoprecipitation and Ad origin DNA binding assays. The Ad Pol can bind to origin sequences only in the presence of another protein which can be either pTP or NFI. While NFI alone can bind to its origin recognition sequence, pTP does not specifically recognize DNA unless Ad Pol is present. Thus, protein-protein interactions are necessary for the targetting of either Ad Pol or pTP to the preinitiation complex. DNA footprinting demonstrated that the Ad DNA site recognized by the pTP.Pol complex was within the first 18 bases at the end of the template which constitutes the minimal origin of replication. Mutagenesis studies have defined the Ad Pol interaction site on NFI between amino acids 68-150, which overlaps the DNA binding and replication activation domain of this factor. A putative zinc finger on the Ad Pol has been mutated to a product that fails to bind the Ad origin sequences but still interacts with pTP. These results indicate that both protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions mediate specific recognition of the replication origin by Ad DNA polymerase.

Adenoviruses, Human↗

Tus-mediated arrest of DNA replication in Escherichia coli is modulated by DNA supercoiling.

In the absence of RecA, expression of the Tus protein of Escherichia coli is lethal when ectopic Ter sites are inserted into the chromosome in an orientation that blocks completion of chromosome replication. Using this observation as a basis for genetic selection, an extragenic suppressor of Tus-mediated arrest of DNA replication was isolated with diminished ability of Tus to halt DNA replication. Resistance to tus expression mapped to a mutation in the stop codon of the topA gene (topA869), generating an elongated topoisomerase I protein with a marked reduction in activity. Other alleles of topA with mutations in the carboxyl-terminal domain of topoisomerase I, topA10 and topA66, also rendered recA strains with blocking Ter sites insensitive to tus expression. Thus, increased negative supercoiling in the DNA of these mutants reduced the ability of Tus-Ter complexes to arrest DNA replication. The increase in superhelical density did not diminish replication arrest by disrupting Tus-Ter interactions, as Tus binding to Ter sites was essentially unaffected by the topA mutations. The topA869 mutation also relieved the requirement for recombination functions other than recA to restart replication, such as recC, ruvA and ruvC, indicating that the primary effect of the increased negative supercoiling was to interfere with Tus blockage of DNA replication. Introduction of gyrB mutations in combination with the topA869 mutation restored supercoiling density to normal values and also restored replication arrest at Ter sites, suggesting that supercoiling alone modulated Tus activity. We propose that increased negative supercoiling enhances DnaB unwinding activity, thereby reducing the duration of the Tus-DnaB interaction and leading to decreased Tus activity.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗

Yeast DNA replication in vitro: initiation and elongation events mimic in vivo processes.

An enzyme system prepared from Saccharomyces cerevisiae carries out the replication of exogenous yeast plasmid DNA. Replication in vitro mimics that in vivo in that DNA synthesis in extracts of strain cdc8, a temperature-sensitive DNA replication mutant, is thermolabile relative to the wild-type, and in that aphidicolin inhibits replication in vitro. Furthermore, only plasmids containing a functional yeast replicator, ARS, initiate replication at a specific site in vitro. Analysis of replicative intermediates shows that plasmid YRp7, which contains the chromosomal replicator ARS1, initiates bidirectional replication in a 100 bp region within the sequence required for autonomous replication in vivo. Plasmids containing ARS2, another chromosomal replicator, and the ARS region of the endogenous yeast plasmid 2 microns circle give similar results, suggesting that ARS sequences are specific origins of chromosomal replication. Used in conjunction with deletion mapping, the in vitro system allows definition of the minimal sequences required for the initiation of replication.

Aphidicolin↗

Cdc45-MCM-GINS, a new power player for DNA replication.

The identity of the DNA helicase(s) involved in eukaryotic DNA replication is still a matter of debate, but the mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins are the chief candidate. Six conserved MCM proteins, Mcm2-7, are essential for the initiation and elongation stages of DNA replication, contain ATP binding pockets and can form a hexameric structure resembling that of known prokaryotic and viral helicases. However, biochemical proof of their presumed function has remained elusive. Several recent reports confirm that the MCM complex is part of the cellular machine responsible for the unwinding of DNA during S phase. In one of these reports, the helicase activity of Mcm2-7 is finally revealed, when they are purified in association with two partners: initiation factor Cdc45 and a four-subunit complex called GINS. The Cdc45-MCM-GINS complex could constitute the core of a larger macromolecular structure that has been termed the "replisome progression complex".

Journal Article↗

Role of DNA polymerase alpha and DNA primase in simian virus 40 DNA replication in vitro.

The role of DNA polymerase alpha (pol alpha) and DNA primase has been investigated in the simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA replication system in vitro. Removal of pol alpha and primase activities from crude extracts of HeLa cells or monkey cells by use of an anti-pol alpha immunoaffinity column resulted in the loss of replication activity. The addition of purified pol alpha-primase complex isolated from HeLa cells or monkey cells restored the replication activity of depleted extracts. In contrast, the pol alpha-primase complex isolated from either mouse cells or calf thumus did not. Extracts prepared from mouse cells (a source that does not support replication of SV40) did not replicate SV40 DNA. However, the addition of purified pol alpha-primase complex isolated from HeLa cells activated mouse cell extracts. pol alpha and primase from HeLa cells were extensively purified and separated by a one-step immunoaffinity adsorption and elution procedure. Both activities were required to restore DNA synthesis; the addition of pol alpha or primase alone supported replication poorly. Crude extracts of HeLa cells that were active in SV40 replication catalyzed the synthesis of full-length linear double-stranded (RFIII) DNA in reaction mixtures containing poly(dT)-tailed pBR322 RFIII. Maximal activity was dependent on the addition of oligo(dA), ATP, and creatine phosphate and was totally inhibited by aphidicolin. Since pol alpha alone could not replicate this substrate and since there was no degradation of input DNA, we propose that other enzymatic activities associate with pol alpha, displace the non-template strand, and allow the enzyme to replicate through duplex regions.

Animals↗

The control of SV40 transcription during a lytic infection: late RNA synthesis in the presence of inhibitors of DNA replication.

The transition from early to late transcription of SV40 DNA in productively infected BSC-1 cells was analyzed using both inhibitors of DNA replication, and early (Group A) temperature sensitive (ts) mutants of SV40. Late virus specific cytoplasmic RNA sedimenting at 16S in neutral sucrose gradients and complementary to the plus (L) DNA strand of SV40 was detected in cultures infected in the presence of three inhibitors of DNA replication (Ara-C, FdU, and chloroquine), even though the inhibition of viral DNA replication appeared to be essentially complete. After infection with the early SV40 mutant tsA58, no DNA replication was detected at the restrictive temperature (41 degrees C) and no significant late RNA complementary to the plus (L) strand was found, in either the cytoplasm or nuclei of infected cells. These data support the concept that expression of late viral functions requires the initiation of viral DNA synthesis or a functional gene A protein, or both.

Cell Line↗

DNA replication in Physarum polycephalum: UV photolysis of maturing 5-bromo-deoxyuridine substituted DNA.

Combinations of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd) and 3H-deoxyadenosine (3H-DAdo) short pulses were given in the synchronous DNA-replication period of Physarum polycephalum. After a chase period, UV-photolysis products were analyzed on alkaline sucrose gradients. This strategy has allowed the following conclusions. a) at the time of master-initiation of DNA replication, points separated by 1.1-2.2x10(7) daltons of single strand DNA may initiate DNA synthesis. b) among these, only selected groups of replicons actually proceed in DNA replication at this time, while others appear to hold (later temporal sets of replicons). The origins of the ones that proceed in replication are separated from each other by a distance corresponding to 1.1-2.x10(7) daltons. c) regions in actual replication are separated from each other by increasing distances (up to 1.5x10(8) daltons single strand DNA) at later times in S.

Bromodeoxyuridine↗