scholarly journals Involvement of a replicative DNA helicase of bacteriophage T4 in DNA recombination.

Genetics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Yonesaki

Abstract Bacteriophage T4 gene 41 encodes a replicative DNA helicase that is a subunit of the primosome which is essential for lagging-strand DNA synthesis. A mutation, rrh, was generated and selected in the helicase gene on the basis of limited DNA replication that ceases early. The survival of ultraviolet-irradiated phage and the frequency of genetic recombination are reduced by rrh. In addition, rrh diminishes the production of concatemeric DNA. These results strongly suggest that the gene 41 replicative helicase participates in DNA recombination.

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Barry ◽  
Mei Lie Wong, ◽  
Bruce Alberts

Using a mixture of 10 purified DNA replication and DNA recombination proteins encoded by the bacteriophage T4 genome, plus two homologous DNA molecules, we have reconstituted the genetic recombination–initiated pathway that initiates DNA replication forks at late times of T4 bacteriophage infection. Inside the cell, this recombination-dependent replication (RDR) is needed to produce the long concatemeric T4 DNA molecules that serve as substrates for packaging the shorter, genome-sized viral DNA into phage heads. The five T4 proteins that catalyze DNA synthesis on the leading strand, plus the proteins required for lagging-strand DNA synthesis, are essential for the reaction, as are a special mediator protein (gp59) and a Rad51/RecA analogue (the T4 UvsX strand-exchange protein). Related forms of RDR are widespread in living organisms—for example, they play critical roles in the homologous recombination events that can restore broken ends of the DNA double helix, restart broken DNA replication forks, and cross over chromatids during meiosis in eukaryotes. Those processes are considerably more complex, and the results presented here should be informative for dissecting their detailed mechanisms.


2004 ◽  
Vol 279 (44) ◽  
pp. 45586-45593 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Shechter ◽  
Carol Y. Ying ◽  
Jean Gautier

Minichromosome maintenance proteins (Mcm) are essential in all eukaryotes and are absolutely required for initiation of DNA replication. The eukaryotic and archaeal Mcm proteins have conserved helicase motifs and exhibit DNA helicase and ATP hydrolysis activitiesin vitro. Although the Mcm proteins have been proposed to be the replicative helicase, the enzyme that melts the DNA helix at the replication fork, their function during cellular DNA replication elongation is still unclear. Using nucleoplasmic extract (NPE) fromXenopus laeviseggs and six purified polyclonal antibodies generated against each of theXenopusMcm proteins, we have demonstrated that Mcm proteins are required during DNA replication and DNA unwinding after initiation of replication. Quantitative depletion of Mcms from the NPE results in normal replication and unwinding, confirming that Mcms are required before pre-replicative complex assembly and dispensable thereafter. Replication and unwinding are inhibited when pooled neutralizing antibodies against the six different Mcm2–7 proteins are added during NPE incubation. Furthermore, replication is blocked by the addition of the Mcm antibodies after an initial period of replication in the NPE, visualized by a pulse of radiolabeled nucleotide at the same time as antibody addition. Addition of the cyclin-dependent kinase 2 inhibitor p21cip1specifically blocks origin firing but does not prevent helicase action. When p21cip1is added, followed by the non-hydrolyzable analog ATPγS to block helicase function, unwinding is inhibited, demonstrating that plasmid unwinding is specifically attributable to an ATP hydrolysis-dependent function. These data support the hypothesis that the Mcm protein complex functions as the replicative helicase.


Biochemistry ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (24) ◽  
pp. 7913-7922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Matsumoto ◽  
Masayuki Seki ◽  
Chikahide Masutani ◽  
Shusuke Tada ◽  
Takemi Enomoto ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujan Devbhandari ◽  
Dirk Remus

ABSTRACTThe coordination of DNA unwinding and synthesis at replication forks promotes efficient and faithful replication of chromosomal DNA. Using the reconstituted budding yeast DNA replication system, we demonstrate that Pol ε variants harboring catalytic point mutations in the Pol2 polymerase domain, contrary to Pol2 polymerase domain deletions, inhibit DNA synthesis at replication forks by displacing Pol δ from PCNA/primer-template junctions, causing excessive DNA unwinding by the replicative DNA helicase, CMG, uncoupled from DNA synthesis. Mutations that suppress the inhibition of Pol δ by Pol ε restore viability in Pol2 polymerase point mutant cells. We also observe uninterrupted DNA unwinding at replication forks upon dNTP depletion or chemical inhibition of DNA polymerases, demonstrating that leading strand synthesis is not tightly coupled to DNA unwinding by CMG. Importantly, the Rad53 kinase controls excessive DNA unwinding at replication forks by limiting CMG helicase activity, suggesting a mechanism for fork-stabilization by the replication checkpoint.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (22) ◽  
pp. 7115-7125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Vaiskunaite ◽  
Andrew Miller ◽  
Laura Davenport ◽  
Gisela Mosig

ABSTRACT Two new, small, early bacteriophage T4 genes, repEA andrepEB, located within the origin E (oriE) region of T4 DNA replication, affect functioning of this origin. An important and unusual property of the oriE region is that it is transcribed at early and late periods after infection, but in opposite directions (from complementary DNA strands). The early transcripts are mRNAs for RepEA and RepEB proteins, and they can serve as primers for leading-strand DNA synthesis. The late transcripts, which are genuine antisense RNAs for the early transcripts, direct synthesis of virion components. Because the T4 genome contains several origins, and because recombination can bypass a primase requirement for retrograde synthesis, neither defects in a single origin nor primase deficiencies are lethal in T4 (Mosig et al., FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 17:83–98, 1995). Therefore, repEA and repEBwere expected and found to be important for T4 DNA replication only when activities of other origins were reduced. To investigate the in vivo roles of the two repE genes, we constructed nonsense mutations in each of them and combined them with the motAmutation sip1 that greatly reduces initiation from other origins. As expected, T4 DNA synthesis and progeny production were severely reduced in the double mutants as compared with the singlemotA mutant, but early transcription of oriEwas reduced neither in the motA nor in the repEmutants. Moreover, residual DNA replication and growth of the double mutants were different at different temperatures, suggesting different functions for repEA and repEB. We surmise that the different structures and protein requirements for functioning of the different origins enhance the flexibility of T4 to adapt to varied growth conditions, and we expect that different origins in other organisms with multiorigin chromosomes might differ in structure and function for similar reasons.


2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (47) ◽  
pp. 15883-15891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie A. Sparks ◽  
Peter M. Burgers ◽  
Roberto Galletto

Successful DNA replication requires carefully regulated mechanisms to overcome numerous obstacles that naturally occur throughout chromosomal DNA. Scattered across the genome are tightly bound proteins, such as transcription factors and nucleosomes, that are necessary for cell function, but that also have the potential to impede timely DNA replication. Using biochemically reconstituted systems, we show that two transcription factors, yeast Reb1 and Tbf1, and a tightly positioned nucleosome, are strong blocks to the strand displacement DNA synthesis activity of DNA polymerase δ. Although the block imparted by Tbf1 can be overcome by the DNA-binding activity of the single-stranded DNA-binding protein RPA, efficient DNA replication through either a Reb1 or a nucleosome block occurs only in the presence of the 5'-3' DNA helicase Pif1. The Pif1-dependent stimulation of DNA synthesis across strong protein barriers may be beneficial during break-induced replication where barriers are expected to pose a problem to efficient DNA bubble migration. However, in the context of lagging strand DNA synthesis, the efficient disruption of a nucleosome barrier by Pif1 could lead to the futile re-replication of newly synthetized DNA. In the presence of FEN1 endonuclease, the major driver of nick translation during lagging strand replication, Pif1-dependent stimulation of DNA synthesis through a nucleosome or Reb1 barrier is prevented. By cleaving the short 5' tails generated during strand displacement, FEN1 eliminates the entry point for Pif1. We propose that this activity would protect the cell from potential DNA re-replication caused by unwarranted Pif1 interference during lagging strand replication.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Giannattasio ◽  
Dana Branzei

This review discusses a set of experimental results that support the existence of extended strand displacement events during budding yeast lagging strand DNA synthesis. Starting from introducing the mechanisms and factors involved in leading and lagging strand DNA synthesis and some aspects of the architecture of the eukaryotic replisome, we discuss studies on bacterial, bacteriophage and viral DNA polymerases with potent strand displacement activities. We describe proposed pathways of Okazaki fragment processing via short and long flaps, with a focus on experimental results obtained in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that suggest the existence of frequent and extended strand displacement events during eukaryotic lagging strand DNA synthesis, and comment on their implications for genome integrity.


The three different prokaryotic replication systems that have been most extensively studied use the same basic components for moving a DNA replication fork, even though the individual proteins are different and lack extensive amino acid sequence homology. In the T4 bacteriophage system, the components of the DNA replication complex can be grouped into functional classes as follows: DNA polymerase (gene 43 protein), helix-destabilizing protein (gene 32 protein), polymerase accessory proteins (gene 44/62 and 45 proteins), and primosome proteins (gene 41 DNA helicase and gene 61 RNA primase). DNA synthesis in the in vitro system starts by covalent addition onto the 3'OH end at a random nick on a double-stranded DNA template and proceeds to generate a replication fork that moves at about the in vivo rate, and with approximately the in vivo base-pairing fidelity. DNA is synthesized at the fork in a continuous fashion on the leading strand and in a discontinuous fashion on the lagging strand (generating short Okazaki fragments with 5'-linked pppApCpXpYpZ pentaribonucleotide primers). Kinetic studies reveal that the DNA polymerase molecule on the lagging strand stays associated with the fork as it moves. Therefore the DNA template on the lagging strand must be folded so that the stop site for the synthesis of one Okazaki fragment is adjacent to the start site for the next such fragment, allowing the polymerase and other replication proteins on the lagging strand to recycle.


2008 ◽  
Vol 412 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongqing Liu ◽  
Shahenda El-Naggar ◽  
Brian Clem ◽  
Jason Chesney ◽  
Douglas C. Dean

Disruption of the Rb (retinoblastoma protein)/E2F cell-cycle pathway and Ras activation are two of the most frequent events in cancer, and both of these mutations place oncogenic stress on cells to increase DNA replication. In the present study, we demonstrate that these mutations have an additive effect on induction of members of the RecQ DNA helicase family. RecQ activity is important for genomic stability, initiation of DNA replication and telomere maintenance, and mutation of the BLM (Bloom's syndrome gene), WRN (Werner's syndrome gene) or RECQL4 (Rothmund–Thomson syndrome gene) family members leads to premature aging syndromes characterized by genetic instability and telomere loss. RecQ family members are frequently overexpressed in cancers, and overexpression of BLM has been shown to cause telomere elongation. Concomitant with induction of RecQ genes in response to Rb family mutation and Ras activation, we show an increase in the number of telomeric repeats. We suggest that this induction of RecQ genes in response to common oncogenic mutations may explain the up-regulation of the genes seen in cancers, and it may provide a means for transformed cells to respond to an increased demand for DNA replication.


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