Project description:Initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication requires temporal separation of helicase loading from helicase activation and replisome assembly. Using an in vitro assay for eukaryotic origin-dependent replication initiation, we investigated the control of these events. After helicase loading, we found that the Dbf4-dependent Cdc7 kinase (DDK) initially drives origin recruitment of Sld3 and the Cdc45 helicase-activating protein. Corresponding in vivo studies found that DDK was required for Cdc45 binding at early origins during G1. Upon activation of S-phase cyclin-dependent kinases (S-CDK), a second helicase-activating protein (GINS) and the remainder of the replisome are recruited to the origin. Investigation of DNA polymerase recruitment showed that Mcm10 and DNA unwinding both were critical for recruitment of the lagging but not leading strand DNA polymerases. Our studies identify distinct roles for DDK and S-CDK during helicase activation and support a model in which the leading strand DNA polymerase is recruited prior to DNA unwinding and initial RNA primer synthesis. We performed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) against Cdc45 in CDC7 and cdc7-4 cells arrested in G1 phase to assess the requirement of the Dbf4-dependent kinase on the recruitment of Cdc45 to origin DNA during G1.
Project description:Initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication requires temporal separation of helicase loading from helicase activation and replisome assembly. Using an in vitro assay for eukaryotic origin-dependent replication initiation, we investigated the control of these events. After helicase loading, we found that the Dbf4-dependent Cdc7 kinase (DDK) initially drives origin recruitment of Sld3 and the Cdc45 helicase-activating protein. Corresponding in vivo studies found that DDK was required for Cdc45 binding at early origins during G1. Upon activation of S-phase cyclin-dependent kinases (S-CDK), a second helicase-activating protein (GINS) and the remainder of the replisome are recruited to the origin. Investigation of DNA polymerase recruitment showed that Mcm10 and DNA unwinding both were critical for recruitment of the lagging but not leading strand DNA polymerases. Our studies identify distinct roles for DDK and S-CDK during helicase activation and support a model in which the leading strand DNA polymerase is recruited prior to DNA unwinding and initial RNA primer synthesis.
Project description:Eukaryotic genomes are replicated in spatiotemporal patterns that are stereotypical for individual genomes and developmental profiles. In the model system S. cerevisiae, two primary mechanisms determine the preferential activation of replication origins during early S phase, thereby largely defining the consequent replication profiles of these cells. Both mechanisms are thought to act through specific recruitment of a rate-limiting initiation factor, Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK), to a subset of licensed replication origins. Fkh1/2 is responsible for stimulation of most early-firing origins, except for centromere (CEN)-proximal origins that recruit DDK via the kinetochore protein Ctf19, which is required for their early-firing. The C-terminus of Dbf4 has been implicated in its recruitment to origins via both the Fkh1/2 and Ctf19 mechanisms. Here, we show that the Zn-finger motif within the C-terminus is specifically required for Dbf4 recruitment to CENs to stimulate CEN-proximal/Ctf19-dependent origins, whereas stimulation of origins via the Fkh1/2 pathway remains largely intact. These findings re-open the question of exactly how Fkh1/2 and DDK act together to stimulate replication origin initiation.
Project description:Progress through the division cycle of present day eukaryotic cells is controlled by a complex network consisting of (i) cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) and their associated cyclins, (ii) kinases and phosphatases that regulate CDK activity, and (iii) stoichiometric inhibitors that sequester cyclin-CDK dimers. Presumably regulation of cell division in the earliest ancestors of eukaryotes was a considerably simpler affair. Nasmyth (1995) recently proposed a mechanism for control of a putative, primordial, eukaryotic cell cycle, based on antagonistic interactions between a cyclin-CDK and the anaphase promoting complex (APC) that labels the cyclin subunit for proteolysis. We recast this idea in mathematical form and show that the model exhibits hysteretic behaviour between alternative steady states: a Gl-like state (APC on, CDK activity low, DNA unreplicated and replication complexes assembled) and an S/M-like state (APC off, CDK activity high, DNA replicated and replication complexes disassembled). In our model, the transition from G1 to S/M ('Start') is driven by cell growth, and the reverse transition ('Finish') is driven by completion of DNA synthesis and proper alignment of chromosomes on the metaphase plate. This simple and effective mechanism for coupling growth and division and for accurately copying and partitioning a genome consisting of numerous chromosomes, each with multiple origins of replication, could represent the core of the eukaryotic cell cycle. Furthermore, we show how other controls could be added to this core and speculate on the reasons why stoichiometric inhibitors and CDK inhibitory phosphorylation might have been appended to the primitive alternation between cyclin accumulation and degradation.
Project description:The transmission and maintenance of genetic information in eukaryotic cells rely on the faithful duplication of the entire genome. In each round of division, excessive replication origiNS are licensed, while only a fraction is activated to give rise to bi-directional replication forks travelling in the context of chromatin. However, it remaiNS elusive how eukaryotic replication origiNS are selectively activated. Here we demoNStrate that O-GlcNAc traNSferase (OGT) enhances replication initiation by catalysing H4S47 O-GlcNAcylation. Mutation of H4S47 impairs DBF4-dependent protein kinase (DDK) recruitment on chromatin, causing compromised phosphorylation of replicative helicase mini-chromosome maintenance (MCM) complex. Meanwhile, our short nascent-strand sequencing (SNS-seq) confirms the important role of H4S47 O-GlcNAcylation in origin activation. Together, H4S47 O-GlcNAcylation directs origin activation through facilitating MCM phosphorylation, and this may shed light on the spatial and temporal control of DNA replication by the dynamically changing chromatin environment.
Project description:DNA repair by homologous recombination is under stringent cell cycle control. This includes the last step of the reaction, disentanglement of DNA joint molecules (JMs). Previous work has established that JMs resolving nucleases are activated specifically at the onset of mitosis. In case of budding yeast Mus81-Mms4, this cell cycle stage-specific activation is known to depend on phosphorylation by CDK and Cdc5 kinases. Here, we show that a third cell cycle kinase, Cdc7-Dbf4 (DDK), targets Mus81-Mms4 in conjunction with Cdc5 - both kinases bind to as well as phosphorylate Mus81-Mms4 in an interdependent manner. Moreover, DDK-mediated phosphorylation of Mms4 is strictly required for Mus81 activation in mitosis, establishing DDK as a novel regulator of homologous recombination. The scaffold protein Rtt107, which is part of the Mus81-Mms4 complex, interacts with Cdc7 and thereby targets DDK and Cdc5 to the complex enabling full Mus81 activation. Therefore, Mus81 activation in mitosis involves at least three cell cycle kinases, Cdk1, Cdc5 and DDK. Furthermore, tethering of the kinases in a stable complex with Mus81 is critical for efficient JM resolution
Project description:The highly conserved Dbf4-Dependent Kinase (DDK) plays a pivotal role in the nucleus during S phase, where it directly phosphorylates the replicative helicase, the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex. This leads to the initiation of chromosome replication. However, aside from the MCM complex, few other targets have been identified to date, leaving DDK an understudied kinase. Here, we describe a two-pronged mass spectrometry-based approach and define the nuclear DDK-dependent phosphoproteome, which consists of approximately 400 phosphorylation events. Within this network, we found that DDK directly phosphorylates the Arp8 subunit of the multi-subunit chromatin remodeler complex INO80. Arp8 phosphorylation stabilises INO80's intramolecular complex integrity, which finetunes its nucleosome spacing activity at replication origins. This adjustment of origin chromatin architecture stimulates replication and is important for the response to replication stress. Our results represent a significant advance in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of replication origins.
Project description:The highly conserved Dbf4-Dependent Kinase (DDK) plays a pivotal role in the nucleus during S phase, where it directly phosphorylates the replicative helicase, the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex. This leads to the initiation of chromosome replication. However, aside from the MCM complex, few other targets have been identified to date, leaving DDK an understudied kinase. Here, we describe a two-pronged mass spectrometry-based approach and define the nuclear DDK-dependent phosphoproteome, which consists of approximately 400 phosphorylation events. Within this network, we found that DDK directly phosphorylates the Arp8 subunit of the multi-subunit chromatin remodeler complex INO80. Arp8 phosphorylation stabilises INO80's intramolecular complex integrity, which finetunes its nucleosome spacing activity at replication origins. This adjustment of origin chromatin architecture stimulates replication and is important for the response to replication stress. Our results represent a significant advance in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of replication origins.
Project description:Cell-cycle transitions are generally triggered by variations in the activity of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) bound to cyclins. Malaria-causing parasites have evolved unique cell-cycles with a repertoire of ancestral CDKs and cyclins whose functions and interdependency remain elusive. Here, we show that the divergent Plasmodium berghei CDK-related kinase 5 (CRK5), is a critical cell-cycle regulator of gametogony required for transmission to the mosquito. It phosphorylates canonical CDK motifs on components of the pre-replicative complex and is essential for DNA replication. We also provide evidence for indirect regulation of the concomitant progression through M-phase. Over a replicative cycle, CRK5 stably interacts with a single Plasmodium-specific cyclin (SOC2) with no evidence of SOC2 cycling through transcription, translation nor degradation. Our results present evidence that during Plasmodium gametogony, a unique and divergent cyclin/CDK pair evolved to fulfil the functional space of multiple eukaryotic cell-cycle kinases controlling S-phase entry and progression through M-phase.
Project description:The highly conserved Dbf4-Dependent Kinase (DDK) plays a pivotal role in the nucleus during S phase, where it directly phosphorylates the replicative helicase, the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex. This leads to the initiation of chromosome replication. However, aside from the MCM complex, few other targets have been identified to date, leaving DDK an understudied kinase. Here, we describe a two-pronged mass spectrometry-based approach and define the nuclear DDK-dependent phosphoproteome, which consists of approximately 400 phosphorylation events. Within this network, we found that DDK directly phosphorylates the Arp8 subunit of the multi-subunit chromatin remodeler complex INO80. Arp8 phosphorylation stabilises INO80’s intramolecular complex integrity, which finetunes its nucleosome spacing activity at replication origins. This adjustment of origin chromatin architecture stimulates replication and is important for the response to replication stress. Our results represent a significant advance in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of replication origins.