Human Repl Mech · Mechanisms of human DNA replication

Mechanisms of human DNA replication

The eukaryotic DNA replication machinery consists of several dozen proteins. Initiation of DNA replication is a highly regulated process that ensures that the genome is duplicated exactly once per cell cycle. In G1 phase, the core of the replicative helicase, the Mcm2-7 complex (MCM) is loaded onto DNA at origins of replication. MCM loading depends on the origin recognition complex (ORC), Cdc6 and Cdt1. These proteins recruit MCM to DNA and load two MCMs onto DNA in the form of MCM double hexamers. Helicase activation then happens in S phase, when the cell cycle-regulated kinases Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK) and a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) become active. It involves the remodelling of MCM double hexamers to two active Cdc45-MCM-GINS (CMG) helicases, each encircling a single DNA strand. The remodelling involves several firing factors, phosphorylation and ATP hydrolysis. In budding yeast, DDK-phosphorylation of MCM recruits the firing factors Sld3/Sld7 (Treslin/MTBP in humans) and Cdc45. CDK-phosphorylation of Sld2 (RECQL4) and Sld3 (Treslin) promotes binding to Dpb11 (TOPBP1), which leads to recruitment of the tetrameric GINS complex and to CMG formation. Mcm10 and ATP hydrolysis then allow DNA unwinding and CMG activation. To form active replisomes additional proteins are recruited, such as the DNA polymerases Pol epsilon, Pol alpha-primase and Pol delta, PCNA and its loader the RFC complex, as well as Ctf4 (AND-1), Mrc1 (Claspin), Tof1 (Timeless) and Csm3 (TIPIN). For the budding yeast proteins, an in vitro reconstitution system exists in which individual yeast DNA replication proteins can be purified and mixed together to recapitulate the processes of MCM loading, CMG activation and DNA replication in vitro. This system greatly facilitates studies of how DNA replication mechanisms work in yeast. While a clearer picture of the molecular details how the replicative helicase is loaded and activated in yeast is emerging, the steps leading to helicase loading and activation in mammals remain poorly understood. For example, the human MCM loading factors differ in complex composition and the human firing factors contain additional domains compared to their yeast orthologs. Furthermore, the phospho-regulation of the process might be different. Mechanistic studies are required to better understand how human DNA replication is initiated and how the process is regulated at the molecular level. I am particularly interested in how the key replication initiation steps of MCM loading and CMG activation are mechanistically achieved and regulated in humans. Therefore, in this project I worked towards the following objectives: (I) The first objective is to reconstitute the human DNA replication machinery using recombinant human proteins expressed in baculovirus-infected insect cells. I am combining methodology that I developed during my PhD for the rapid generation of human protein complexes with the host lab's expertise in the reconstituted yeast replication system. (II) The second objective is to use the reconstitution system to study mechanistic details of human replication initiation. The reconstitution system will facilitate mechanistic studies of human DNA replication and could in future enable studies on disease mechanisms. Defects in the replication machinery are involved in a range of diseases such as Meier-Gorlin syndrome and the process is misregulated in cancer.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union