Temporally coordinated assembly and disassembly of replication factories in the absence of DNA synthesis.

Here we show that exposure of aphidicolin-arrested Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells to the protein-kinase inhibitors 2-aminopurine or caffeine results in initiation of replication at successively later-replicating chromosomal domains, loss of the capacity to synthesize DNA at earlier-replicating sites, release of Mcm2 proteins from chromatin, and redistribution of PCNA and RPA from early- to late-replicating domains in the absence of detectable elongation of replication forks. These results provide evidence that, under conditions of replicational stress, checkpoint controls not only prevent further initiation but may also be required to actively maintain the integrity of stalled replication complexes.

Stability and nuclear distribution of mammalian replication protein A heterotrimeric complex.

Replication protein A (RPA), a stable complex of three polypeptides, is the single-stranded DNA-binding protein essential for DNA replication in eukaryotic cells. Previous studies of the subcellular distribution and stability of the RPA heterotrimer during the mammalian cell cycle have produced conflicting results. Here, we present evidence that these inconsistencies can be accounted for by the presence of an extractable pool of soluble RPA within the nucleus. Indirect immunofluorescence experiments in both CHO and HeLa cells showed that all three RPA subunits associated specifically with sites of ongoing DNA synthesis, similar to the replication fork protein proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Furthermore, we found no evidence for disassembly of the chromatin-bound heterotrimeric RPA complex in vivo. Our results are consistent with a role for RPA in the initiation and elongation steps of replication, as previously defined in the viral in vitro replication systems.

Effects of the anticholinesterase drug tacrine on the development of PTZ kindling and on learning and memory processes in mice.

INTRODUCTION: The anticholinesterase drug tacrine (Tac) is known to have a beneficial effect on memory deficit in mice involving in the process the cholinergic system in the brain. Chemically induced kindling is a well-known model of petit mal epilepsy. Kindling develops after repeated administration of subconvulsant doses of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ). This model is suitable for studying the two CNS disturbances associated with epilepsy, i.e. seizure attacks and memory impairment. OBJECTIVE. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of the anticholinesterase drug Tac on the model of PTZ kindling and on active avoidance in mice. METHODS. Kindling was induced by repeated administration of PTZ (40 mg/kg) s.c. at 48-hour intervals. Tac (at doses of 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg) was injected 40 minutes before PTZ over an 8 - week period in 4 experimental groups of mice. Seizure intensity was scored using a 5-grade scale. Kindling was defined as 3, 4 or 5 grade seizures evoked by 3 consecutive doses of PTZ and treatment was discontinued. The active avoidance method (training session consisting of 50 trials) was used to test learning and memory functions. On day 7 following the learning session a memory retention test was performed. The challenge dose of PTZ was given after a 15-day discontinuation of treatment. RESULTS: In control mice, kindling was developed over a 7-week period of treatment. Mice injected with Tac (in 3 consecutive doses) showed increased seizure intensity from week 1 through week 7 of the study. On learning and memory retention tests kindled mice showed a reduced learning capabilities whereas a statistically significant upward tendency in the number of conditioned responses (avoidances) was recorded in mice treated with Tac (1 mg/kg), when compared with the controls. Mice treated with Tac (in doses of 0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg) also exhibited an increased number of avoidances on learning and memory retention tests. CONCLUSIONS: 1. The anticholinesterase drug Tac increased the seizure intensity and facilitated the development of PTZ kindling in mice. 2. On the basis of well-developed kindling Tac did not impair the memory of the experimental animals, which is possibly due to its CNS stimulating effect.

Mcm2, but not RPA, is a component of the mammalian early G1-phase prereplication complex.

Previous experiments in Xenopus egg extracts identified what appeared to be two independently assembled prereplication complexes (pre-RCs) for DNA replication: the stepwise assembly of ORC, Cdc6, and Mcm onto chromatin, and the FFA-1-mediated recruitment of RPA into foci on chromatin. We have investigated whether both of these pre-RCs can be detected in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Early- and late-replicating chromosomal domains were pulse-labeled with halogenated nucleotides and prelabeled cells were synchronized at various times during the following G1-phase. The recruitment of Mcm2 and RPA to these domains was examined in relation to the formation of a nuclear envelope, specification of the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) replication origin and entry into S-phase. Mcm2 was loaded gradually and cumulatively onto both early- and late-replicating chromatin from late telophase throughout G1-phase. During S-phase, detectable Mcm2 was rapidly excluded from PCNA-containing active replication forks. By contrast, detergent-resistant RPA foci were undetectable until the onset of S-phase, when RPA joined only the earliest-firing replicons. During S-phase, RPA was present with PCNA specifically at active replication forks. Together, our data are consistent with a role for Mcm proteins, but not RPA, in the formation of mammalian pre-RCs during early G1-phase.

The spatial position and replication timing of chromosomal domains are both established in early G1 phase.

Mammalian chromosomal domains replicate at defined, developmentally regulated times during S phase. The positions of these domains in Chinese hamster nuclei were established within 1 hr after nuclear envelope formation and maintained thereafter. When G1 phase nuclei were incubated in Xenopus egg extracts, domains were replicated in the proper temporal order with nuclei isolated after spatial repositioning, but not with nuclei isolated prior to repositioning. Mcm2 was bound both to early- and late-replicating chromatin domains prior to this transition whereas specification of the dihydrofolate reductase replication origin took place several hours thereafter. These results identify an early G1 phase point at which replication timing is determined and demonstrate a provocative temporal coincidence between the establishment of nuclear position and replication timing.

DNA replication and nuclear organization: prospects for a soluble in vitro system.

The role of nuclear structure in the replication of eukaryotic DNA has been the subject of debate for many decades. The recent demonstration that once-per-cell-cycle replication can take place in vitro without a nucleus, providing sufficiently high concentrations of replication factors are supplied, suggests that one role of the nucleus is to concentrate essential factors. This important finding has paved the way for the establishment of a purified biochemical system for replication of eukaryotic DNA. However, this soluble system, derived from Xenopus egg extracts, initiates replication within any DNA sequence and does not recapitulate the spatial and temporal regulation of DNA replication that is observed in most cells. In both Xenopus and Drosophila embryos, site-specific initiation of replication is not observed until after nuclei become transcriptionally active at the blastula stage of development. Furthermore, programmed changes in both the locations of origins and the time during S-phase at which sequences are replicated accompany key stages of metazoan development. Recent findings indicate that these changes correlate with changes in nuclear organization and that the spatial and temporal program for replication is established early in G1-phase when nuclei are structurally and functionally reorganized after mitosis.

Regulation of mammalian replication origin usage in Xenopus egg extract.

Xenopus embryos initiate replication at random closely spaced sites until a certain concentration of nuclei is achieved within the embryo, after which fewer, more specific chromosomal sites are utilized as origins. We have examined the relationship between nucleo-cytosolic ratio and origin specification when Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell nuclei are introduced into Xenopus egg extracts. At concentrations of intact late-G1-phase nuclei that approximate early Xenopus embryos, the entire genome was duplicated nearly 4 times faster than in culture, accompanied by a de-localization of initiation sites at the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) locus. As the concentration of nuclei was increased, the number of initiation sites per nucleus decreased and initiation at the DHFR locus became localized to the physiologically utilized DHFR origin. Origin specification was optimal at nuclear concentrations that approximate the Xenopus mid-blastula transition (MBT). Higher concentrations resulted in an overall inhibition of DNA synthesis. By contrast, with intact early G1-phase nuclei, replication initiated at apparently random sites at all concentrations, despite an identical relationship between nucleo-cytosolic ratio and replicon size. Furthermore, permeabilization of late-G1-phase nuclei, using newly defined conditions that preserve the overall rate of replication, eliminated site-specificity, even at nuclear concentrations optimal for DHFR origin recognition. These data show that both nucleo-cytosolic ratio and nuclear structure play important but independent roles in the regulation of replication origin usage. Nucleo-cytosolic ratio clearly influences the number of replication origins selected. However, titration of cytosolic factors is not sufficient to focus initiation to specific sites. An independent mechanism, effecting changes within G1-phase nuclei, dictates which of many potential initiation sites will function as an origin.

In vivo protein-DNA interactions at human DNA replication origin.

Protein-DNA interactions were studied in vivo at the region containing a human DNA replication origin, located at the 3' end of the lamin B2 gene and partially overlapping the promoter of another gene, located downstream. DNase I treatment of nuclei isolated from both exponentially growing and nonproliferating HL-60 cells showed that this region has an altered, highly accessible, chromatin structure. High-resolution analysis of protein-DNA interactions in a 600-bp area encompassing the origin was carried out by the in vivo footprinting technique based on the ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction. In growing HL-60 cells, footprints at sequences homologous to binding sites for known transcription factors (members of the basic-helix-loop-helix family, nuclear respiratory factor 1, transcription factor Sp1, and upstream binding factor) were detected in the region corresponding to the promoter of the downstream gene. Upon conversion of cells to a nonproliferative state, a reduction in the intensity of these footprints was observed that paralleled the diminished transcriptional activity of the genomic area. In addition to these protections, in close correspondence to the replication initiation site, a prominent footprint was detected that extended over 70 nucleotides on one strand only. This footprint was absent from nonproliferating HL-60 cells, indicating that this specific protein-DNA interaction might be involved in the process of origin activation.