Faculty Opinions recommendation of Idling by DNA polymerase delta maintains a ligatable nick during lagging-strand DNA replication.

Author(s):  
Michael Lieber
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha C Koussa ◽  
Duncan J. Smith

ABSTRACTDNA polymerase delta (Pol δ) plays several essential roles in eukaryotic DNA replication and repair. At the replication fork, Pol δ is responsible for the synthesis and processing of the lagging-strand. At replication origins, Pol δ has been proposed to initiate leading-strand synthesis by extending the first Okazaki fragment. Destabilizing mutations in human Pol δ subunits cause replication stress and syndromic immunodeficiency. Analogously, reduced levels of Pol δ in Saccharomyces cerevisiae lead to pervasive genome instability. Here, we analyze how the depletion of Pol δ impacts replication origin firing and lagging-strand synthesis during replication elongation in vivo in S. cerevisiae. By analyzing nascent lagging-strand products, we observe a genome-wide change in both the establishment and progression of replication. S-phase progression is slowed in Pol δ depletion, with both globally reduced origin firing and slower replication progression. We find that no polymerase other than Pol δ is capable of synthesizing a substantial amount of lagging-strand DNA, even when Pol δ is severely limiting. We also characterize the impact of impaired lagging-strand synthesis on genome integrity and find increased ssDNA and DNA damage when Pol δ is limiting; these defects lead to a strict dependence on checkpoint signaling and resection-mediated repair pathways for cellular viability.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTDNA replication in eukaryotes is carried out by the replisome – a multi-subunit complex comprising the enzymatic activities required to generate two intact daughter DNA strands. DNA polymerase delta (Pol δ) is a multi-functional replisome enzyme responsible for synthesis and processing of the lagging-strand. Mutations in Pol δ cause a variety of human diseases: for example, destabilizing mutations lead to immunodeficiency. We titrate the concentration of Pol δ in budding yeast – a simple model eukaryote with conserved DNA replication machinery. We characterize several replication defects associated with Pol δ scarcity. The defects we observe provide insight into how destabilizing Pol δ mutations lead to genome instability.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Fien ◽  
B Stillman

A number of proteins have been isolated from human cells on the basis of their ability to support DNA replication in vitro of the simian virus 40 (SV40) origin of DNA replication. One such protein, replication factor C (RFC), functions with the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), replication protein A (RPA), and DNA polymerase delta to synthesize the leading strand at a replication fork. To determine whether these proteins perform similar roles during replication of DNA from origins in cellular chromosomes, we have begun to characterize functionally homologous proteins from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. RFC from S. cerevisiae was purified by its ability to stimulate yeast DNA polymerase delta on a primed single-stranded DNA template in the presence of yeast PCNA and RPA. Like its human-cell counterpart, RFC from S. cerevisiae (scRFC) has an associated DNA-activated ATPase activity as well as a primer-template, structure-specific DNA binding activity. By analogy with the phage T4 and SV40 DNA replication in vitro systems, the yeast RFC, PCNA, RPA, and DNA polymerase delta activities function together as a leading-strand DNA replication complex. Now that RFC from S. cerevisiae has been purified, all seven cellular factors previously shown to be required for SV40 DNA replication in vitro have been identified in S. cerevisiae.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Khandagale ◽  
Doureradjou Peroumal ◽  
Kodavati Manohar ◽  
Narottam Acharya

AbstractHuman DNA polymerase delta (Polδ), a holoenzyme consisting of p125, p50, p68 and p12 subunits, plays an essential role in all the three DNA transaction processes. Herein, using multiple physicochemical and cellular approaches we found that the p12 protein forms a dimer in solution. In vitro reconstitution and pull-down of cellular Polδ by tagged p12 authenticates pentameric nature of this critical holoenzyme. Further, a consensus PIP motif at the extreme carboxyl terminal tail and a homodimerization domain at the amino-terminus of the p12 subunit were identified. Our mutational analyses of p12 subunit suggest that 3RKR5 motif is critical for dimerization that facilitates p12 binding to IDCL of PCNA via its PIP motif 98QCSLWHLY105. Additionally, we observed that oligomerization of the smallest subunit of Polδs is evolutionarily conserved as Cdm1 of S. pombe also dimerzes. Thus, we suggest that human Polδ is a pentameric complex with a dimeric p12 subunit; and discuss implications of p12 dimerization in regulating enzyme architecture and PCNA interaction during DNA replication.


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.


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.


Author(s):  
Roland Chanet ◽  
Dorothée Baïlle ◽  
Marie-Pierre Golinelli-Cohen ◽  
Sylvie Riquier ◽  
Olivier Guittet ◽  
...  

Abstract B-type eukaryotic polymerases contain a [4Fe-4S] cluster in their C-terminus domain, whose role is not fully understood yet. Among them, DNA polymerase delta (Polδ) plays an essential role in chromosomal DNA replication, mostly during lagging strand synthesis. Previous in vitro work suggested that the Fe-S cluster in Polδ is required for efficient binding of the Pol31 subunit, ensuring stability of the Polδ complex. Here we analyzed the in vivo consequences resulting from an impaired coordination of the Fe-S cluster in Polδ. We show that a single substitution of the very last cysteine coordinating the cluster by a serine is responsible for the generation of massive DNA damage during S phase, leading to checkpoint activation, requirement of homologous recombination for repair, and ultimately to cell death when the repair capacities of the cells are overwhelmed. These data indicate that impaired Fe-S cluster coordination in Polδ is responsible for aberrant replication. More generally, Fe-S in Polδ may be compromised by various stress including anti-cancer drugs. Possible in vivo Polδ Fe-S cluster oxidation and collapse may thus occur, and we speculate this could contribute to induced genomic instability and cell death, comparable to that observed in pol3-13 cells.


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