DNA Replication and Epigenetics group, Research Unit Gene Vectors, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, 81377 München, Germany.
J Cell Biol. 2012 Aug 20;198(4):509-28. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201109105. Epub 2012 Aug 13.
Whether or not metazoan replication initiates at random or specific but flexible sites is an unsolved question. The lack of sequence specificity in origin recognition complex (ORC) DNA binding complicates genome-scale chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-based studies. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) persists as chromatinized minichromosomes that are replicated by the host replication machinery. We used EBV to investigate the link between zones of pre-replication complex (pre-RC) assembly, replication initiation, and micrococcal nuclease (MNase) sensitivity at different cell cycle stages in a genome-wide fashion. The dyad symmetry element (DS) of EBV's latent origin, a well-established and very efficient pre-RC assembly region, served as an internal control. We identified 64 pre-RC zones that correlate spatially with 57 short nascent strand (SNS) zones. MNase experiments revealed that pre-RC and SNS zones were linked to regions of increased MNase sensitivity, which is a marker of origin strength. Interestingly, although spatially correlated, pre-RC and SNS zones were characterized by different features. We propose that pre-RCs are formed at flexible but distinct sites, from which only a few are activated per single genome and cell cycle.
真核生物的复制起始是随机的还是特定但灵活的位点,这是一个尚未解决的问题。原点识别复合物 (ORC) DNA 结合缺乏序列特异性,这使得基于大规模染色质免疫沉淀 (ChIP) 的研究变得复杂。 Epstein-Barr 病毒 (EBV) 以染色质化的微染色体形式存在,这些微染色体由宿主复制机制复制。我们使用 EBV 来研究在整个基因组范围内,不同细胞周期阶段的前复制复合物 (pre-RC) 组装、复制起始和微球菌核酸酶 (MNase) 敏感性之间的联系。 EBV 潜伏原点的二分对称元件 (DS) 是一个成熟且非常有效的 pre-RC 组装区域,可用作内部对照。我们鉴定了 64 个与 57 个短新生链 (SNS) 区空间相关的 pre-RC 区。MNase 实验表明,pre-RC 和 SNS 区与 MNase 敏感性增加的区域相关,这是原点强度的标志。有趣的是,尽管空间上相关,但 pre-RC 和 SNS 区具有不同的特征。我们提出,pre-RC 是在灵活但独特的位点形成的,每个基因组和细胞周期只有少数几个被激活。