Project description:To investigate nuclear DNA replication enzymology in vivo, we have studied Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains containing a pol2-16 mutation that inactivates the catalytic activities of DNA polymerase δ (Pol δ). Although pol2-16 mutants survive, their spore colonies are very tiny, with increased doubling time, larger than normal cells, aberrant nuclei, and rapid suppressor mutation accumulation. These phenotypes reveal a severe growth defect that is distinct from that of strains that lack Pol δ proofreading (pol2-4), consistent with the idea that Pol δ is the major leading strand replicase. Ribonucleotides are also incorporated into the pol2-16 genome in patterns consistent with leading strand replication by Pol δ when Pol δ is absent. More importantly, ribonucleotide distributions at replication origins suggest that in strains encoding all three replicases, Pol δ contributes to initiation of leading-strand replication. We describe two possible models.
Project description:We have established a novel sequencing approach to characterise usage of replicative DNA polymerases in S. pombe. This approach allows us to determine the roles of DNA polymerase delta and epsilon in lagging strand and leading strand DNA synthesis, respectively in genome-wide scale. Utilising the dataset of usage of these polymerases, we also successfully identified DNA replication initiation sites at high resolution. Furthermore, our informatics analysis establishes genome-wide datasets of fork direction rates, replication timing and the probability of replication termination. We mapped ribonucleotide-incorporation by the mutated DNA polymerase delta and epsilon at single-nucleotide resolution and subsequent informatics analysis was performed to generate datasets listed here.
Project description:We have established a novel sequencing approach to characterise usage of replicative DNA polymerases in S. pombe. This approach allows us to determine the roles of DNA polymerase delta and epsilon in lagging strand and leading strand DNA synthesis, respectively in genome-wide scale. Utilising the dataset of usage of these polymerases, we also successfully identified DNA replication initiation sites at high resolution. Furthermore, our informatics analysis establishes genome-wide datasets of fork direction rates, replication timing and the probability of replication termination.
Project description:DNA polymerase delta (Pol ∂) plays several essential roles in eukaryotic DNA replication and repair. At the replication fork, Pol ∂ is responsible for the synthesis and processing of the lagging strand; this role requires Pol ∂ to extend Okazaki fragment primers synthesized by Pol ⍺-primase, and to carry out strand-displacement synthesis coupled to nuclease cleavage during Okazaki fragment termination. Destabilizing mutations in human Pol ∂ subunits cause replication stress and syndromic immunodeficiency. Analogously, reduced levels of Pol ∂ in Saccharomyces cerevisiae lead to pervasive genome instability. Here, we analyze the how the depletion of Pol ∂ impacts replication initiation and elongation in vivo in S. cerevisiae. We determine that Pol ∂ depletion leads to a dependence on checkpoint signaling and recombination-mediated repair for cellular viability. By analyzing nascent lagging-strand products, we observe both a genome-wide change in the establishment and progression of replication forks and a global defect in Pol ∂-mediated Okazaki fragment processing. Additionally, we detect significant lagging-strand synthesis by the leading-strand polymerase (Pol ɛ) in late regions of the genome when Pol ∂ is depleted.
Project description:Chromatin replication is intricately intertwined with DNA replication, and the recycling of parental histones is essential for epigenetic inheritance. The transfer of parental histones to both the DNA replication leading and lagging strands involves two distinct pathways: the leading strand utilizes DNA polymerase ε subunits Dpb3/Dpb4, while the lagging strand is facilitated by the MCM helicase subunit Mcm2. However, the process by which Mcm2, moving along the leading strand, facilitates the transfer of parental histones to the lagging strand remains unclear. Our study reveals that the deletion of Pol32, a non-essential subunit of major lagging-strand DNA polymerase δ, results in a predominant transfer of parental histone H3-H4 to the replication leading strand. Biochemical analyses further demonstrate that Pol32 can bind histone H3-H4 both in vivo and in vitro. The interaction of Pol32 with parental histone H3-H4 is disrupted by the mutation of Mcm2's histone H3-H4 binding domain. In conclusion, our findings identify the DNA polymerase delta subunit Pol32 as a novel key histone chaperone downstream of Mcm2, mediating the transfer of parental histones to the lagging strand during DNA replication.
Project description:The division of labour between DNA polymerase underlies the accuracy and efficiency of replication. However, the roles of replicative polymerases have not been directly established in human cells. We developed polymerase usage sequence (Pu-seq) in HCT116 cells and mapped Polε and Polα usage genome wide. The polymerase usage profiles show Polε synthesises the leading strand and Polα contributes mainly to lagging strand synthesis. Combining the Polε and Polα profiles, we accurately predict the genome-wide pattern of fork directionality, plus zones of replication initiation and termination. We confirm that transcriptional activity contributes toshapes the patterns of initiation and termination and, by separately analysing the effect of transcription ofon both both co-directional and converging forks, demonstrate that coupled DNA synthesis of leading and lagging strands in both co-directional and convergent forks is compromised by transcription. Polymerase uncoupling is particularly evident in the vicinity of large genes, including the two most unstable common fragile sites, FRA3B and FRA3D, thus linking transcription-induced polymerase uncoupling to chromosomal instability.
Project description:During every cell cycle, both the genome and the associated chromatin must be accurately replicated. Chromatin Assembly Factor-1 (CAF-1) is a key regulator of chromatin replication, but how CAF-1 functions in relation to the DNA replication machinery is unknown. Here, we reveal that this crosstalk differs between the leading and lagging strand at replication forks. Using biochemical reconstitution, we show that DNA and histones promote CAF-1 recruitment to its binding partner PCNA and reveal that two CAF-1 complexes are required for efficient nucleosome assembly under these conditions. Remarkably, in the context of the replisome, CAF-1 competes with the leading strand DNA polymerase epsilon (Pole) for PCNA binding. However, CAF-1 does not affect the activity of the lagging strand DNA polymerase Delta (Pold). Yet, in cells, CAF-1 deposits newly synthesized histones equally on both daughter strands. Thus, on the leading strand, chromatin assembly by CAF-1 cannot occur simultaneously to DNA synthesis, while on the lagging strand these processes may be coupled. We propose that these differences may facilitate distinct parental histone recycling mechanisms and accommodate the inherent asymmetry of DNA replication.
Project description:In many mammalian tissues and cells, two classes of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication intermediates have been observed. One involves leading-strand synthesis in the absence of synchronous lagging-strand synthesis (strand-asynchronous replication), and the other has properties of coupled leading- and lagging-strand synthesis (strand-coupled replication). While strand-asynchronous replication is primed by long RNA synthesized from a defined transcription initiation site, little is known about the commencement of strand-coupled replication. To investigate it, we attempted to abolish strand-asynchronous replication in cultured human cybrid cells by knocking out the components of the transcription initiation complexes, mitochondrial transcription factor B2 (TFB2M/mtTFB2) and mitochondrial RNA polymerase (POLRMT/mtRNAP). Surprisingly, removal of either protein resulted in the complete mtDNA loss, demonstrating for the first time that TFB2M and POLRMT are indispensable for human mtDNA maintenance. Moreover, the lack of TFB2M could not be compensated for by mitochondrial transcription factor B1 (TFB1M/mtTFB1). These findings indicate that TFB2M and POLRMT are crucial for the priming of not only strand-asynchronous but also strand-coupled replication, providing deeper insights into the molecular basis of strand-coupled replication initiation.
Project description:In response to DNA replication stress, DNA replication checkpoint is activated to maintain fork stability, a process critical for maintenance of genome stability. However, how DNA replication checkpoint regulates replication forks remain elusive. Here we show that Rad53, a highly conserved replication checkpoint kinase, functions to couple leading and lagging strand DNA synthesis. In wild type cells under HU induced replication stress, synthesis of lagging strand, which contains ssDNA gaps, is comparable to leading strand DNA. In contrast, synthesis of lagging strand is much more than leading strand, and consequently, leading template ssDNA coated with ssDNA binding protein RPA was detected in rad53-1 mutant cells, suggesting that synthesis of leading strand and lagging strand DNA is uncoupled. Mechanistically, we show that replicative helicase MCM and leading strand DNA polymerase Pole move beyond actual DNA synthesis and that an increase in dNTP pools largely suppresses the uncoupled leading and lagging strand DNA synthesis. Our studies reveal an unexpected mechanism whereby Rad53 regulates replication fork stability.