Project description:Assembly of the DNA helicase known as CMG (CDC45-MCM-GINS) is the key regulated step during DNA replication initiation in eukaryotes. Using the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo as a model system, we identify a new CMG assembly factor called DNSN-1, which associates with the BRCT-domain protein MUS-101. We show that DNSN-1 is required to recruit the GINS complex to chromatin and find that DNSN-1 positions GINS on the MCM-2-7 helicase motor, by direct binding of DNSN-1 to GINS and MCM-3, on interfaces that are important for initiation and essential for viability.
Project description:A key event during eukaryotic replication termination is the removal of the CMG helicase from chromatin. CMG unloading involves ubiquitylation of its MCM7 subunit and the action of the p97 ATPase. Using a proteomic screen in Xenopus egg extracts, we identified factors that are retained on chromatin when CMG unloading is blocked and identified the E3 ubiquitin ligase CRL2LRR1 and several other potential regulators of termination including a specific p97 complex. We show that CRL2LRR1 recruitment coincides with MCM7 ubiquitylation and occurs only when replisomes converge. In the absence of CRL2LRR1, MCM7 is not ubiquitylated, CMG unloading is inhibited, and many replisome components including DNA pol are retained on DNA. Our data identify CRL2LRR1 as a master regulator of replisome disassembly during vertebrate DNA replication termination.
