Project description:The evolutionarily conserved Origin Recognition Complex (ORC), plays a key role in origin selection in eukaryotes. However, ORC is strikingly divergent in its DNA binding specificity, ranging from base-specific interactions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to base-agnostic interactions in humans. The mechanisms underlying this distinct selectivity is unknown. Atomic model of the yeast ORC showed that base-specific interaction with the invariant thymines of the ARS consensus sequence (ACS) is encoded by a 19-amino acid insertion helix (IH) embedded in the winged helix domain (WHD) of Orc4. This IH is absent in the Orc4 of metazoans including humans, suggesting that removal of the IH might give the yeast ORC “human-like” properties. Indeed, yeast strain engineered with IH deficient Orc4 has completely altered ORC-binding sites enriched in poly-dT tracts located in larger nucleosome-depleted and intergenic open chromatin. In vivo and in vitro assays show that the mutant ORC loads MCM efficiently, in spite of its altered specificity in favor of binding patterns more characteristic of those observed in humans/metazoans. This work provides insights for understanding how ORC evolves to adopt a life cycle that requires plasticity in origin selection during development.
Project description:The Origin Recognition Complex (ORC) seeds replication-fork formation by binding to DNA replication origins, which in budding yeast contain a 17bp DNA motif. High resolution structure of the ORC-DNA complex revealed two base-interacting elements: a disordered basic patch (Orc1-BP4) and an insertion helix (Orc4-IH). To define the ORC elements guiding its DNA binding in vivo, we mapped genomic locations of 38 designed ORC mutants, revealing that different ORC elements guide binding at different sites. At silencing-associated sites lacking the motif, ORC binding and activity were fully explained by a BAH domain. Within replication origins, we reveal two dominating motif variants showing differential binding modes and symmetry: a non-repetitive motif whose binding requires Orc1-BP4 and Orc4-IH, and a repetitive one where another basic patch, Orc1-BP3, can replace Orc4-IH. Disordered basic patches are therefore key for ORC-motif binding in vivo, and we discuss how these conserved, minor-groove interacting elements can guide specific ORC-DNA recognition.
Project description:Sumoylation is emerging as a post-translation modification important for chromosome duplication and stability. The origin recognition complex (ORC), which directs DNA replication initiation by loading the MCM replicative helicases onto origins, is sumoylated in both yeast and human cells. However, the biological consequences of ORC sumoylation are largely unclear. Here we report the effects of hyper- and hypo-sumoylation of yeast ORC using multiple approaches. We show that ORC hyper-sumoylation preferentially reduces the activity of a subset of early origins, while Orc2 hypo-sumoylation has an opposing effect. Mechanistically, ORC hyper-sumoylation leads to reduced MCM loading in vitro and diminished MCM chromatin association in vivo. The importance of an appropriate level of ORC sumoylation is suggested by the data that either hyper- or hypo-sumoylation of ORC results in genome instability and a dependence on other genome maintenance factors for cell fitness. Thus, yeast ORC sumoylation status needs to be fine-tuned to achieve optimal origin activity control and genome stability.
Project description:The origin recognition complex (ORC) marks chromosomal sites as replication origins and is essential for replication initiation. In yeast, ORC also binds to DNA elements called silencers, where its primary function is to recruit silent information regulator (SIR) proteins to establish transcriptional silencing. Indeed, silencers function poorly as chromosomal origins. Several genetic, molecular, and biochemical studies of HMR-E have led to a model proposing that when ORC becomes limiting in the cell, such as in the orc2-1 mutant, only sites that bind ORC tightly, such as HMR-E, remain fully occupied by ORC, while lower affinity sites, including most origins, lose ORC occupancy. Since HMR-E possessed a unique non-replication function, we reasoned that other tight sites might reveal novel functions for ORC on chromosomes. Therefore, we comprehensively determined ORC “affinity” genome-wide by performing an ORC ChIP-on-chip in ORC2 and orc2-1 strains. Here we describe a novel group of orc2-1-resistant ORC-interacting chromosomal sites (ORF-ORC sites) that did not function as replication origins or silencers. Instead, ORF-ORC sites were comprised of protein-coding regions of highly transcribed metabolic genes. In contrast to the ORC-silencer paradigm, transcriptional activation promoted ORC association with these genes. Remarkably, ORF-ORC genes were enriched in proximity to origins of replication, and, in several instances, were transcriptionally regulated by these origins. Taken together, these results suggest a surprising connection between ORC, replication origins and cellular metabolism.
Project description:Eukaryotic DNA replication initiates from multiple sites on each chromosome called replication origins. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, origins are defined at discrete sites. Regular spacing and diverse firing characteristics of origins are thought to be required for efficient completion of replication, especially in the presence of replication stress. However, a S. cerevisiae chromosome III harboring multiple origin deletions has been reported to replicate relatively normally, and yet how an origin-deficient chromosome could accomplish successful replication remains unkown. To address this issue, we deleted seven well-characterized origins from chromosome VI, and found that thsese deletions do not cause gross growth defects even in the presence of replication inhibitors. We demonstrated that the origin deletions do cause a strong decrease in the binding of the origin recognition complex. Unexpectedly, replication profiling of this chromosome showed that DNA replication initiates from non-canonical loci around deleted origins in yeast. These results suggest that replication initiation can be unexpectedly flexible in this organism.
Project description:Chemical cross-linking coupled to mass spectrometry was used to study the architecture and conformational state(s) of the Drosophila melanogaster origin replication complex (ORC). Two versions of the ORC were subjected to cross-linking with the amine-reactive reagents, disuccinimidyl suberate (DSS). One was a complex with truncated subunits (“core complex”), one with full-length sequences of all six subunits (“full-length complex”).
Project description:We characterize the Polycomb system that assembles repressive subtelomeric domains of H3K27 methylation (H3K27me) in the yeast Cryptococcus neoformans. Purification of this PRC2-like protein complex reveals orthologs of animal PRC2 components as well as a chromodomain-containing subunit, Ccc1, which recognizes H3K27me. Whereas removal of either the EZH or EED ortholog eliminates H3K27me, disruption of mark recognition by Ccc1 causes H3K27me to redistribute. Strikingly, the resulting pattern of H3K27me coincides with domains of heterochromatin marked by H3K9me. Indeed, additional removal of the C. neoformans H3K9 methyltransferase Clr4 results in loss of both H3K9me and the redistributed H3K27me marks. These findings indicate that the anchoring of a chromatin-modifying complex to its product suppresses its attraction to a different chromatin type, explaining how enzymes that act on histones, which often harbor product recognition modules, may deposit distinct chromatin domains despite sharing a highly abundant and largely identical substrate—the nucleosome.
Project description:Genome stability requires complete DNA duplication exactly once before division. In eukaryotes, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) plays a dual role in this regulation by inhibiting helicase loading factors and activating origin firing. CDK drives initiation by phosphorylation of two substrates, Sld2 and Sld3, forming the transient and limiting intermediate called the pre-initiation complex (pre-IC). The importance and mechanism of dissociation of the pre-IC from origins is not understood. Here we show in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae that CDK phosphorylations of Sld3 and Sld2 are specifically and rapidly turned-over during interphase by the PP2A and PP4 phosphatases. Inhibition of dephosphorylation of Sld3/Sld2 causes dramatic defects in replication initiation genome-wide, retention of the pre-IC at origins and cell death. These studies not only provide a mechanism to ensure that Sld3/Sld2 are dephosphorylated before helicase loading factors but also establish a novel positive role for phosphatases in eukaryotic origin firing.