scholarly journals Replication Fork Reversal and Protection

Author(s):  
Shan Qiu ◽  
Guixing Jiang ◽  
Liping Cao ◽  
Jun Huang

During genome replication, replication forks often encounter obstacles that impede their progression. Arrested forks are unstable structures that can give rise to collapse and rearrange if they are not properly processed and restarted. Replication fork reversal is a critical protective mechanism in higher eukaryotic cells in response to replication stress, in which forks reverse their direction to form a Holliday junction-like structure. The reversed replication forks are protected from nuclease degradation by DNA damage repair proteins, such as BRCA1, BRCA2, and RAD51. Some of these molecules work cooperatively, while others have unique functions. Once the stress is resolved, the replication forks can restart with the help of enzymes, including human RECQ1 helicase, but restart will not be considered here. Here, we review research on the key factors and mechanisms required for the remodeling and protection of stalled replication forks in mammalian cells.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinxing Lyu ◽  
Kai-Hang Lei ◽  
Olga Shiva ◽  
Megan Chastain ◽  
Peter Chi ◽  
...  

AbstractDegradation and collapse of stalled replication forks are main sources of genome instability, yet the molecular mechanism for protecting forks from degradation/collapse is not well understood. Here, we report that human CST (CTC1-STN1-TEN1), a single-stranded DNA binding protein complex, localizes at stalled forks and protects forks from MRE11 nuclease degradation upon replication perturbation. CST deficiency causes nascent strand degradation, ssDNA accumulation after fork stalling, and delay in replication recovery, leading to cellular sensitivity to fork stalling agents. Purified CST binds to 5’ overhangs and directly blocks MRE11 degradation in vitro, and the DNA binding ability of CST is required for blocking MRE11-mediated nascent strand degradation. Finally, we uncover that CST and BRCA2 form non-overlapping foci upon fork stalling, and CST inactivation is synthetic with BRCA2 deficiency in inducing genome instability. Collectively, our findings identify CST as an important fork protector to preserve genome integrity under replication perturbation.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Daza-Martin ◽  
Mohammed Jamshad ◽  
Katarzyna Starowicz ◽  
Anoop Singh Chauhan ◽  
James F.J. Beesley ◽  
...  

AbstractBRCA1, BRCA2 and a subset of Fanconi’s Anaemia proteins act to promote RAD51-mediated protection of newly synthesised DNA at stalled replication forks from degradation by nucleases. How BRCA1 contributes, how it is regulated and whether replication fork protection relates to, or differs from, the roles BRCA1 has in homologous recombination is not clear. Here we show that the canonical BRCA1-PALB2 interaction is not required for fork protection and instead we demonstrate that the ability of BRCA1 to protect nascent DNA is regulated in an unexpected fashion through conformational change mediated by the phosphorylation-directed prolyl isomerase, PIN1. BRCA1 isomerisation enhances BRCA1-BARD1 interaction with RAD51 and consequently RAD51 presence at stalled replication structures. Our data suggest BRCA1-BARD1 promotes fork protection in part by enhancing the RAD51 synapse. Patient missense variants in the regulated BRCA1-BARD1 regions similarly show poor nascent strand protection but proficient homologous recombination, defining novel domains required for fork protection in BRCA1-BARD1 associated with cancer predisposition. Together these findings reveal a previously unrecognised pathway that governs BRCA1-mediated replication fork protection.


2019 ◽  
Vol 218 (4) ◽  
pp. 1096-1107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Rickman ◽  
Agata Smogorzewska

The replisome, the molecular machine dedicated to copying DNA, encounters a variety of obstacles during S phase. Without a proper response to this replication stress, the genome becomes unstable, leading to disease, including cancer. The immediate response is localized to the stalled replisome and includes protection of the nascent DNA. A number of recent studies have provided insight into the factors recruited to and responsible for protecting stalled replication forks. In response to replication stress, the SNF2 family of DNA translocases has emerged as being responsible for remodeling replication forks in vivo. The protection of stalled replication forks requires the cooperation of RAD51, BRCA1, BRCA2, and many other DNA damage response proteins. In the absence of these fork protection factors, fork remodeling renders them vulnerable to degradation by nucleases and helicases, ultimately compromising genome integrity. In this review, we focus on the recent progress in understanding the protection, processing, and remodeling of stalled replication forks in mammalian cells.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenji Shimada ◽  
Monika Tsai-Pflugfelder ◽  
Niloofar Davoodi Vijeh Motlagh ◽  
Neda Delgoshaie ◽  
Jeannette Fuchs ◽  
...  

AbstractDNA Polymerase δ plays an essential role in genome replication and in the preservation of genome integrity. In S. cerevisiae, Polδ consists of three subunits: Pol3 (the catalytic subunit), Pol31 and Pol32. We have constructed pol31 mutants by alanine substitution at conserved amino acids, and identified three alleles that do not confer any disadvantage on their own, but which suppress the cold-, HU- and MMS-hypersensitivity of yeast strains lacking Pol32. We have shown that Pol31 and Pol32 are both involved in translesion synthesis, error-free bypass synthesis, and in preservation of replication fork stability under conditions of HU arrest. We identified a solvent exposed loop in Pol31 defined by two alanine substitutions at T415 and W417. Whereas pol31-T4l5A compromises polymerase stability at stalled forks, pol31-W417A is able to suppress many, but not all, of the phenotypes arising from pol32Δ. ChIP analyses showed that the absence of Pol32 destabilizes Pole and Polα at stalled replication forks, but does not interfere with checkpoint kinase activation. We show that the Pol31-W417A-mediated suppression of replicationstress sensitivity in pol32Δ stems from enhanced interaction between Pol3 and Pol31, which stabilizes a functional Polδ.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jadwiga Nieminuszczy ◽  
Peter Martin ◽  
Ronan Broderick ◽  
Joanna Krwawicz ◽  
Alexandra Kanellou ◽  
...  

Abstract Accurate genome replication is essential for all life and a key mechanism of disease prevention, underpinned by the ability of cells to respond to replicative stress and protect stalled replication forks. All such responses rely on the formation of Replication Protein A (RPA)-ssDNA complexes, yet supra-physiological binding of RPA to ssDNA is toxic. How cells regulate RPA availability to promote fork protection and genome stability is largely unknown. Here we establish that during replication excess RPA is sequestered by monomeric actin and released upon replicative stress through transition to polymeric actin state. Impairment in actin nucleation leads to RPA sequestration, deprotection of ssDNA generated at the stressed forks and consequently, catastrophic fork collapse and hypersensitivity to replication inhibitors. In line with this, we show that increasing RPA load is sufficient to restore efficient fork protection in actin polymerization mutants. Collectively, this work identifies a simple yet robust RPA-buffering mechanism regulating its availability to bind ssDNA and protect replication forks against nucleolytic degradation. Inhibition of this pathway could be of therapeutic interest in treatment of cancers.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 3443-3450
Author(s):  
C A Berger ◽  
H J Edenberg

UV light produces lesions, predominantly pyrimidine dimers, which inhibit DNA replication in mammalian cells. The mechanism of inhibition is controversial: is synthesis of a daughter strand halted at a lesion while the replication fork moves on and reinitiates downstream, or is fork progression itself blocked for some time at the site of a lesion? We directly addressed this question by using electron microscopy to examine the distances of replication forks from the origin in unirradiated and UV-irradiated simian virus 40 chromosomes. If UV lesions block replication fork progression, the forks should be asymmetrically located in a large fraction of the irradiated molecules; if replication forks move rapidly past lesions, the forks should be symmetrically located. A large fraction of the simian virus 40 replication forks in irradiated molecules were asymmetrically located, demonstrating that UV lesions present at the frequency of pyrimidine dimers block replication forks. As a mechanism for this fork blockage, we propose that polymerization of the leading strand makes a significant contribution to the energetics of fork movement, so any lesion in the template for the leading strand which blocks polymerization should also block fork movement.


2004 ◽  
Vol 323 (3) ◽  
pp. 831-837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Nikiforov ◽  
Maria Svetlova ◽  
Lioudmila Solovjeva ◽  
Lioudmila Sasina ◽  
Joseph Siino ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (2) ◽  
pp. 630-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aline V. Grigorian ◽  
Rachel B. Lustig ◽  
Elena C. Guzmán ◽  
Joseph M. Mahaffy ◽  
Judith W. Zyskind

ABSTRACT The dnaA operon of Escherichia coli contains the genes dnaA, dnaN, and recF encoding DnaA, β clamp of DNA polymerase III holoenzyme, and RecF. When the DnaA concentration is raised, an increase in the number of DNA replication initiation events but a reduction in replication fork velocity occurs. Because DnaA is autoregulated, these results might be due to the inhibition of dnaN and recF expression. To test this, we examined the effects of increasing the intracellular concentrations of DnaA, β clamp, and RecF, together and separately, on initiation, the rate of fork movement, and cell viability. The increased expression of one or more of the dnaA operon proteins had detrimental effects on the cell, except in the case of RecF expression. A shorter C period was not observed with increased expression of the β clamp; in fact, many chromosomes did not complete replication in runout experiments. Increased expression of DnaA alone resulted in stalled replication forks, filamentation, and a decrease in viability. When the three proteins of the dnaA operon were simultaneously overexpressed, highly filamentous cells were observed (>50 μm) with extremely low viability and, in runout experiments, most chromosomes had not completed replication. The possibility that recombinational repair was responsible for the survival of cells overexpressing DnaA was tested by using mutants in different recombinational repair pathways. The absence of RecA, RecB, RecC, or the proteins in the RuvABC complex caused an additional ∼100-fold drop in viability in cells with increased levels of DnaA, indicating a requirement for recombinational repair in these cells.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 2396-2408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Vaisica ◽  
Anastasija Baryshnikova ◽  
Michael Costanzo ◽  
Charles Boone ◽  
Grant W. Brown

Mms1 and Mms22 form a Cul4Ddb1-like E3 ubiquitin ligase with the cullin Rtt101. In this complex, Rtt101 is bound to the substrate-specific adaptor Mms22 through a linker protein, Mms1. Although the Rtt101Mms1/Mms22ubiquitin ligase is important in promoting replication through damaged templates, how it does so has yet to be determined. Here we show that mms1Δ and mms22Δ cells fail to properly regulate DNA replication fork progression when replication stress is present and are defective in recovery from replication fork stress. Consistent with a role in promoting DNA replication, we find that Mms1 is enriched at sites where replication forks have stalled and that this localization requires the known binding partners of Mms1—Rtt101 and Mms22. Mms1 and Mms22 stabilize the replisome during replication stress, as binding of the fork-pausing complex components Mrc1 and Csm3, and DNA polymerase ε, at stalled replication forks is decreased in mms1Δ and mms22Δ. Taken together, these data indicate that Mms1 and Mms22 are important for maintaining the integrity of the replisome when DNA replication forks are slowed by hydroxyurea and thereby promote efficient recovery from replication stress.


Cell Cycle ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1703-1705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Piwko ◽  
Raymond Buser ◽  
Matthias Peter

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