Project description:How early- and late-firing origins are selected on eukaryotic chromosomes is largely unknown. Here we show that Mrc1, a conserved factor required for stabilization of stalled replication forks, selectively binds to the early-firing origins in a manner independent of Cdc45 and Hsk1 kinase in fission yeast. In mrc1∆ (and in swi1∆ to some extent), efficiency of firing is stimulated and its timing is advanced selectively at those origins that are normally bound by Mrc1. In contrast, the late or inefficient origins which are not bound by Mrc1 are not activated in mrc1∆. The enhanced firing and precocious Cdc45 loading at Mrc1-bound early-firing origins are not observed in a checkpoint mutant of mrc1, suggesting that non-checkpoint function is involved in maintaining the normal program of early-firing origins. We propose that pre-firing binding of Mrc1 is an important marker of early-firing origins which are precociously activated by the absence this protein. Mrc1 binding profiles at G1/S boundary or early S-phase in wild type vs hsk1-89 mutant.
Project description:DNA replication is initiated at multiple sites or origins enriched with AT-rich sequences at various times during the S-phase. While current studies of genome-wide DNA replication profiles have focused on the timing of replication and the location of origins, the efficiency of replication/firing at various origins remains unclear. In this study, we show different efficiencies of DNA replication at various loci by using ORF-specific DNA microarrays. DNA copy-number increases as a function of time at individual loci are approximated to near-sigmoidal models for estimation of replication initiation and completion timings in HU-challenged cells. Duplicating times (from initiation to completion) vary from loci to loci, partly contributing to various firing efficiencies at origins. DNA replication timing profiles are strikingly similar to the reported patterns of enriched ssDNA, suggesting that majority stalled forks are restored for resumption of DNA replication. Although the DNA replication timing profiles are disrupted in HU-challenged cds1? cells, ~85% of potential origins overlapped with those found in wild type cells, significantly, most of which represents inefficiently fired origins in wild type cells. Together, our result indicates that replication checkpoint plays a role in monitoring efficient origins and thus maintaining global DNA replication patterns in HU-challenged cells. Keywords: WT or Cds1 HU synchronized cells released in HU free media and harvested at different time points vs WT or Cds1 synchronized with HU for 3 hrs. We analyzed 32 arrays for WT and 38 arrays for Cds1 cells which were synchronized with HU and released in HU free media and harvested at different time points. At least two biological repeats were done for each time points.
Project description:Mrc1 is a conserved checkpoint mediator protein that transduces replication-stress signal to downstream effector kinase. Loss of mrc1 checkpoint activity results in aberrant activation of late/dormant origins in the presence of hydroxyurea. Mrc1 was also suggested to regulate orders of early-origin firing in a checkpoint-independent manner, but its mechanism was unknown. Here we identify HBS (Hsk1 Bypass Segment) on Mrc1. ∆HBS does not suppress late/dormant origin firing in the presence of hydroxyurea but causes precocious and enhanced activation of weak early-firing origins during normal S-phase progression, and bypasses the requirement of Hsk1 for growth. This may be caused by disruption of intramolecular binding between HBS and NTHBS (N-terminal-Target-of-HBS). Hsk1 binds to Mrc1 through HBS and phosphorylates a segment adjacent to NTHBS, disrupting intramolecular interaction. We propose that Mrc1 exerts “brake” on initiation (through intra-molecular interaction) and this brake can be released (upon loss of intra-molecular interaction) by either Hsk1-mediated phosphorylation of Mrc1 or deletion of HBS (or phosphomimic mutation) which can bypass the function of Hsk1 for growth. The “brake” mechanism may explain the checkpoint-independent regulation of early origin firing in fission yeast.
Project description:DNA replication is initiated at multiple sites or origins enriched with AT-rich sequences at various times during the S-phase. While current studies of genome-wide DNA replication profiles have focused on the timing of replication and the location of origins, the efficiency of replication/firing at various origins remains unclear. In this study, we show different efficiencies of DNA replication at various loci by using ORF-specific DNA microarrays. DNA copy-number increases as a function of time at individual loci are approximated to near-sigmoidal models for estimation of replication initiation and completion timings in HU-challenged cells. Duplicating times (from initiation to completion) vary from loci to loci, partly contributing to various firing efficiencies at origins. DNA replication timing profiles are strikingly similar to the reported patterns of enriched ssDNA, suggesting that majority stalled forks are restored for resumption of DNA replication. Although the DNA replication timing profiles are disrupted in HU-challenged cds1? cells, ~85% of potential origins overlapped with those found in wild type cells, significantly, most of which represents inefficiently fired origins in wild type cells. Together, our result indicates that replication checkpoint plays a role in monitoring efficient origins and thus maintaining global DNA replication patterns in HU-challenged cells. Keywords: WT or Cds1 HU synchronized cells released in HU free media and harvested at different time points vs WT or Cds1 synchronized with HU for 3 hrs.
Project description:Cdc7/Hsk1 is a conserved kinase required for initiation of DNA replication that potentially regulates timing and locations of replication origin firing. Here, we show that viability of fission yeast hsk1∆ cells can be restored by loss of mrc1, which is required for maintenance of replication fork integrity, by cds1∆, or by a checkpoint-deficient mutant of mrc1. In these mutants, normally inactive origins are activated in the presence of HU and binding of Cdc45 to MCM is stimulated. mrc1∆ bypasses hsk1∆ more efficiently because of its checkpoint-independent inhibitory functions. Unexpectedly, hsk1∆ is viable at 37°C. More DNA is synthesized, and some dormant origins fire in the presence of HU at 37°C. On the other hand, hsk1∆ bypass strains grow poorly at 25°C compared to at higher temperatures. Our results show that Hsk1 functions for DNA replication can be bypassed by different genetic backgrounds as well as under varied physiological conditions, providing additional evidence for plasticity of the replication program in eukaryotes. BrdU incorporation profiles at early S-phase in mrc1∆, cds1∆ and hsk1-89 mutants.
Project description:During S-phase of the eukaryotic cell cycle, controls exist to ensure that replication origins fire only once and become inactivated after traverse of a replication fork. Failure of these controls results in local amplification of the genome which can lead to gene copy increases important for both evolutionary change and for somatic genetic diseases such as cancer. It is not known what characteristics of replication origins might predispose them to escape from these controls. We have investigated this problem in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe by characterizing regions of the genome which become amplified when the DNA synthesis initiation factors cdc18 (cdc6) and cdt1 are co-overexpressed and by defining origins of replication responsible for local amplification. We find that a single origin can be necessary but not sufficient to induce ectopic local amplification and that origins likely to escape the regulation of one firing per cell cycle are among the most AT-rich, efficient and early firing in the genome, and are embedded in long intergenes. Replication origins with these features may be more prone to re-fire within a round of replication potentiating genome instability.
Project description:To achieve faithful replication of the genome once in each cell cycle, re-initiation of S-phase is prevented in G2 and origins are restricted from re-firing within S-phase. We have investigated the block to re-replication during G2 in fission yeast. The DNA synthesis that occurs when G2/M cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) activity is depleted has been assumed to be repeated rounds of S-phase without mitosis but this has not been demonstrated to be the case. In a normal mitotic S-phase, the genome is uniformly replicated with no areas amplified relative to other regions, so there is an equal copy number of each portion of the genome. To determine whether equal rounds of replication or local amplification occurred in the cdc13 s/o strain we assayed genomic DNA from cells which had increased their DNA content to 16C-32C. Using microarrays, we measured the relative DNA content across the genome, using DNA from control G1-arrested cells as a reference. This experiment revealed that replication was essentially equal across the genome, with no region becoming significantly amplified to a higher copy number than any other. Since the genome was found to be essentially evenly replicated as would be expected if each round of replication corresponded to a normal S-phase, we investigated whether this was the result of a normal replication program at the level of origin firing. We asked whether S-phase origins are used to reduplicate the genome, and whether origins are used with the same efficiency as in wild type cells. We identified the origins utilized in the first endoreduplication cycle of cdc13 s/o using microarray analyses of cells treated with 11 mM HU. Samples were taken at 5 hours when most cells of the culture not treated with HU had undergone a doubling in DNA content. A total of 799 origins were identified, a number roughly similar to the 904 identified in a normal S-phase. We show here that on G2/M CDK depletion in G2, repeated S-phases are induced. Mostly normal mitotic S-phase origins were utilized although at different efficiencies, and replication was essentially equal across the genome. We conclude that CDK inhibits re-initiation of S-phase during G2, and if G2/M CDK is depleted replication results from induction of a largely normal S-phase program with only small differences in origin usage and efficiency.
Project description:The S. cerevisiae Forkhead Box (FOX) proteins, Fkh1 and Fkh2, regulate diverse cellular processes including transcription, long-range DNA interactions during homologous recombination, and replication origin timing and long-range origin clustering. As stimulators of early origin activation, we hypothesized that Fkh1 and Fkh2 abundance limits the rate of origin activation genome-wide. Existing methods, however, were not well suited to quantitative, genome-wide measurements of origin firing between strains and conditions. To overcome this limitation, we developed qBrdU-seq, a quantitative method for BrdU incorporation analysis of replication dynamics, and applied it to show that overexpression of Fkh1 and Fkh2 advance the initiation timing of many origins throughout the genome resulting in a higher total level of origin initiations in early S phase. The higher initiation rate is accompanied by slower replication fork progression, thereby maintaining a normal length of S phase without causing detectable Rad53 checkpoint kinase activation. The advancement of origin firing time, including that of origins in heterochromatic domains, was established in late G1 phase, indicating that origin timing can be reset subsequently to origin licensing. These results provide novel insights into the mechanisms of origin timing regulation by identifying Fkh1 and Fkh2 as rate-limiting factors for origin firing that determine the ability of replication origins to accrue limiting factors and have the potential to reprogram replication timing late in G1 phase. 5 total experiments with replicates
Project description:One of the long-standing questions in eukaryotic DNA replication is the mechanisms that determine where and when a particular segment of the genome is replicated. Cdc7/Hsk1 is a conserved kinase required for initiation of DNA replication, and may affect the site selection and timing of origin firing. We identified rif1∆, a null mutant of rif1+, a conserved telomere binding factor, as an efficient bypass mutant of fission yeast hsk1. Extensive deregulation of dormant origins over a wide range of the chromosomes occurs in rif1∆ in the presence or absence of HU. At the same time, many early-firing, efficient origins are suppressed or delayed in firing timing in rif1∆. Rif1 binds not only to telomeres but also to many specific locations on the arm segments that only partially overlap with the pre-Replicative Complex assembly sites, although Rif1 tends to bind in the vicinity of the late/ dormant origins activated in rif1∆. The binding to the arm segments occurs through M to G1 phase in a manner independent of Taz1 and appears to be essential for the replication timing program during normal cell cycle. Our data demonstrate that Rif1 is a critical determinant of origin activation program on the fission yeast chromosomes. BrdU incorporation profiles at early S-phase in Wild vs rif1∆. Cdc45 binding profiles at early S-phase in Wild vs rif1∆. Rif1 binidng sites aroud G1/S boudary and at M-phase. Mcm4 binding sites in wild, hsk1-89 temperature mutant and rif1∆.
Project description:Cohesin participates in loop formation by extruding DNA fibers from its ring-shaped structure. Cohesin dysfunction eliminates chromatin loops but only causes modest transcription perturbation, which cannot fully explain the frequently observed mutations of cohesin in various cancers. Here, we found that DNA replication initiates at more than one thousand extra dormant origins after acute depletion of RAD21, a core subunit of cohesin, resulting in earlier replicating timing at approximately 30% of the human genomic regions. In contrast, CTCF is dispensable for suppressing the early firing of dormant origins that are distributed away from the loop boundaries. Furthermore, greatly elevated levels of gross DNA breaks and genome-wide chromosomal translocations arise in RAD21-depleted cells, accompanied by dysregulated replication timing at dozens of hotspot genes. Thus, we conclude that cohesin coordinates DNA replication initiation to ensure proper replication timing and safeguards genome integrity.