C. Santocanale et Jfx. Diffley, A MEC1-DEPENDENT AND RAD53-DEPENDENT CHECKPOINT CONTROLS LATE-FIRING ORIGINS OF DNA-REPLICATION, Nature, 395(6702), 1998, pp. 615-618
DNA replication in eukaryotic cells initiates from many replication or
igins(1) which fire throughout the S phase of the cell cycle in a pred
ictable pattern: some origins fire early, others late(2). Little is kn
own about how the initiation of DNA replication and the elongation of
newly synthesized DNA strands are coordinated during S phase. Here we
show that, in budding yeast, hydroxyurea, which blocks the progression
of replication forks from early-firing origins, also inhibits the fir
ing of late origins. These late origins are maintained in the initiati
on-competent prereplicative state for extended periods. The block to l
ate origin firing is an active process and is defective in yeast with
mutations in the rad53 and mec1 checkpoint genes, indicating that regu
lation of late origin firing may also be an important component of the
'intra-S-phase' checkpoint(3) and may aid cell survival under adverse
conditions.