Project description:Transcription hinders replication fork progression and stability, and the Mec1/ATR checkpoint protects fork integrity. Examining checkpoint-dependent mechanisms controlling fork stability, we find that fork reversal or dormant origin firing owing to checkpoint defects are rescued in checkpoint mutants lacking THO, TREX-2 or inner basket nucleoporins. Gene gating tethers transcribed genes to the nuclear periphery and is counteracted by checkpoint kinases through phosphorylation of nucleoporins such as Mlp1. Checkpoint mutants fail to detach transcribed genes from nuclear pores, thus generating topological impediments for incoming forks. Releasing this topological complexity by introducing a double-strand break between a fork and a transcribed unit prevents fork collapse. Mlp1 mutants mimicking constitutive checkpoint-dependent phosphorylation also alleviate checkpoint defects. We propose that the checkpoint assists fork progression and stability at transcribed genes by phosphorylating key nucleoporins and counteracting gene gating, thus neutralizing the topological tension generated at nuclear pore gated genes.
Project description:Replication stress activates the Mec1ATR and Rad53 kinases. Rad53 phosphorylates nuclear pores to counteract gene gating, thus preventing aberrant transitions at forks approaching transcribed genes. Here, we show that Rrm3 and Pif1, DNA helicases assisting fork progression across pausing sites, are detrimental in rad53 mutants experiencing replication stress. Rrm3 and Pif1 ablations rescue cell lethality, chromosome fragmentation, replisome-fork dissociation, fork reversal, and processing in rad53 cells. Through phosphorylation, Rad53 regulates Rrm3 and Pif1; phospho-mimicking rrm3 mutants ameliorate rad53 phenotypes following replication stress without affecting replication across pausing elements under normal conditions. Hence, the Mec1-Rad53 axis protects fork stability by regulating nuclear pores and DNA helicases. We propose that following replication stress, forks stall in an asymmetric conformation by inhibiting Rrm3 and Pif1, thus impeding lagging strand extension and preventing fork reversal; conversely, under unperturbed conditions, the peculiar conformation of forks encountering pausing sites would depend on active Rrm3 and Pif1. BrdU incorporation profiles by ssDNA-BrdU IP on chip have been generated as described (Katou et al., 2003). Protein binding profiles by ChIP-chip analysis were generated as described (Bermejo et al., 2009). Labeled probes were hybridized to Affymetrix S.cerevisiae Tiling 1.0 (P/N 900645) arrays and processed with TAS software.
Project description:Replication stress activates the Mec1ATR and Rad53 kinases. Rad53 phosphorylates nuclear pores to counteract gene gating, thus preventing aberrant transitions at forks approaching transcribed genes. Here, we show that Rrm3 and Pif1, DNA helicases assisting fork progression across pausing sites, are detrimental in rad53 mutants experiencing replication stress. Rrm3 and Pif1 ablations rescue cell lethality, chromosome fragmentation, replisome-fork dissociation, fork reversal, and processing in rad53 cells. Through phosphorylation, Rad53 regulates Rrm3 and Pif1; phospho-mimicking rrm3 mutants ameliorate rad53 phenotypes following replication stress without affecting replication across pausing elements under normal conditions. Hence, the Mec1-Rad53 axis protects fork stability by regulating nuclear pores and DNA helicases. We propose that following replication stress, forks stall in an asymmetric conformation by inhibiting Rrm3 and Pif1, thus impeding lagging strand extension and preventing fork reversal; conversely, under unperturbed conditions, the peculiar conformation of forks encountering pausing sites would depend on active Rrm3 and Pif1.
Project description:Upon replication stress, the Mec1ATR kinase triggers the downregulation of transcription, reducing the level of RNA polymerase on chromatin to facilitate replication fork progression. We identify a hydroxyurea-induced phosphorylation site at Mec1-S1991 that contributes to the eviction of RNAPII and RNAPIII during replication stress. The non-phosphorylatable mec1-S1991A mutant reduces replication fork progression genome-wide and compromises survival on hydroxyurea. This defect can be suppressed by destabilizing chromatin-bound RNAPII with a Rpb3-TAP fusion, suggesting that lethality arises from replication-transcription conflicts. Coincident with a failure to repress gene expression, highly transcribed genes like GAL1 persist at nuclear pores in mec1-S1991A cells. Consistently, we find pore proteins and several components controlling RNAPII and RNAPIII transcription are phosphorylated in a Mec1-dependent manner, suggesting that Mec1-S1991 phosphorylation limits conflicts between replication and either RNA polymerase complex. We further show that Mec1 contributes to reduced RNAPII occupancy on chromatin during an unperturbed S phase.
Project description:Upon replication stress, the Mec1ATR kinase triggers the downregulation of transcription, reducing the level of RNA polymerase on chromatin to facilitate replication fork progression. We identify a hydroxyurea-induced phosphorylation site at Mec1-S1991 that contributes to the eviction of RNAPII and RNAPIII during replication stress. The non-phosphorylatable mec1-S1991A mutant reduces replication fork progression genome-wide and compromises survival on hydroxyurea. This defect can be suppressed by destabilizing chromatin-bound RNAPII with a Rpb3-TAP fusion, suggesting that lethality arises from replication-transcription conflicts. Coincident with a failure to repress gene expression, highly transcribed genes like GAL1 persist at nuclear pores in mec1-S1991A cells. Consistently, we find pore proteins and several components controlling RNAPII and RNAPIII transcription are phosphorylated in a Mec1-dependent manner, suggesting that Mec1-S1991 phosphorylation limits conflicts between replication and either RNA polymerase complex. We further show that Mec1 contributes to reduced RNAPII occupancy on chromatin during an unperturbed S phase.
Project description:Upon replication stress, the Mec1ATR kinase triggers the downregulation of transcription, reducing the level of RNA polymerase on chromatin to facilitate replication fork progression. We identify a hydroxyurea-induced phosphorylation site at Mec1-S1991 that contributes to the eviction of RNAPII and RNAPIII during replication stress. The non-phosphorylatable mec1-S1991A mutant reduces replication fork progression genome-wide and compromises survival on hydroxyurea. This defect can be suppressed by destabilizing chromatin-bound RNAPII with a Rpb3-TAP fusion, suggesting that lethality arises from replication-transcription conflicts. Coincident with a failure to repress gene expression, highly transcribed genes like GAL1 persist at nuclear pores in mec1-S1991A cells. Consistently, we find pore proteins and several components controlling RNAPII and RNAPIII transcription are phosphorylated in a Mec1-dependent manner, suggesting that Mec1-S1991 phosphorylation limits conflicts between replication and either RNA polymerase complex. We further show that Mec1 contributes to reduced RNAPII occupancy on chromatin during an unperturbed S phase.
Project description:Here we analysed the role of yeast Senataxin (Sen1) in coordinating replication with transcription and in protecting genome integrity. Senataxin is mutated in the two severe neurodegenerative diseases AOA2 and ALS4. We show that a fraction of Sen1/Senataxin DNA/RNA helicase associates with replication forks and protects the integrity of those fork encountering highly expressed RNAPII genes. sen1 mutants accumulate aberrant DNA structures and RNA-DNA hybrids while forks clash head-on with RNAPII transcription units and counteract recombinogenic events and accumulation of checkpoint signals. Nrd1, which acts togheter with Sen1 in trascription temination, is not recruited at replication forks. nrd1 mutants does not display replication defects, high genome instability and checkpoint activation observed in sen1 mutants The Sen1 function in replication can be therefore separable from its role in RNA processing. We propose a role for Sen1/Senataxin during chromosome replication in facilitating replisome progression across RNAPII transcribed genes thus preventing DNA-RNA hybrids accumulation when forks encounter nascent transcripts on the lagging strand template. Chip on chip analysis was carried out as described (Bermejo et al., 2011), employing anti-Flag monoclonal antibody M2 (Sigma-Aldrich) Labelled probes were hybridized to Affymetrix S.cerevisiae Tiling 1.0 (P/N 900645) arrays and processed with TAS software.
Project description:In response to DNA replication stress, DNA replication checkpoint is activated to maintain fork stability, a process critical for maintenance of genome stability. However, how DNA replication checkpoint regulates replication forks remain elusive. Here we show that Rad53, a highly conserved replication checkpoint kinase, functions to couple leading and lagging strand DNA synthesis. In wild type cells under HU induced replication stress, synthesis of lagging strand, which contains ssDNA gaps, is comparable to leading strand DNA. In contrast, synthesis of lagging strand is much more than leading strand, and consequently, leading template ssDNA coated with ssDNA binding protein RPA was detected in rad53-1 mutant cells, suggesting that synthesis of leading strand and lagging strand DNA is uncoupled. Mechanistically, we show that replicative helicase MCM and leading strand DNA polymerase Pole move beyond actual DNA synthesis and that an increase in dNTP pools largely suppresses the uncoupled leading and lagging strand DNA synthesis. Our studies reveal an unexpected mechanism whereby Rad53 regulates replication fork stability.
Project description:The influence of mono-ubiquitylation of histone H2B (H2Bub) on transcription via nucleosome reassembly has been widely documented. Recently, it has also been shown that H2Bub promotes recovery from replication stress; however, the underling molecular mechanism remains unclear. Here, we show that H2B ubiquitylation coordinates activation of the intra-S replication checkpoint and chromatin re-assembly, in order to limit fork progression and DNA damage in the presence of replication stress. In particular, we show that the absence of H2Bub affects replication dynamics (enhanced fork progression and reduced origin firing), leading to γH2A accumulation and increased hydroxyurea sensitivity. Further genetic analysis indicates a role for H2Bub in transducing Rad53 phosphorylation. Concomitantly, we found that a change in replication dynamics is not due to a change in dNTP level, but is mediated by reduced Rad53 activation and destabilization of the RecQ helicase Sgs1 at the fork. Furthermore, we demonstrate that H2Bub facilitates the dissociation of the histone chaperone Asf1 from Rad53, and nucleosome reassembly behind the fork is compromised in cells lacking H2Bub. Taken together, these results indicate that the regulation of H2B ubiquitylation is a key event in the maintenance of genome stability, through coordination of intra-S checkpoint activation, chromatin assembly and replication fork progression. S.cerevisiae oligonucleotide microarrays were provided by Affymetrix (S.cerevisiae Tiling 1.0R, P/N 900645). BrdU and proteins ChIP-chip analyses were carried out as described (Fachinetti et al., M Cell, 2010).
Project description:Here we analysed the role of yeast Senataxin (Sen1) in coordinating replication with transcription and in protecting genome integrity. Senataxin is mutated in the two severe neurodegenerative diseases AOA2 and ALS4. We show that a fraction of Sen1/Senataxin DNA/RNA helicase associates with replication forks and protects the integrity of those fork encountering highly expressed RNAPII genes. sen1 mutants accumulate aberrant DNA structures and RNA-DNA hybrids while forks clash head-on with RNAPII transcription units and counteract recombinogenic events and accumulation of checkpoint signals. Nrd1, which acts togheter with Sen1 in trascription temination, is not recruited at replication forks. nrd1 mutants does not display replication defects, high genome instability and checkpoint activation observed in sen1 mutants The Sen1 function in replication can be therefore separable from its role in RNA processing. We propose a role for Sen1/Senataxin during chromosome replication in facilitating replisome progression across RNAPII transcribed genes thus preventing DNA-RNA hybrids accumulation when forks encounter nascent transcripts on the lagging strand template.