The roles of the G-quadruplex-binding activity of human ORC in replication origin establishment

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K06956
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Molecular biology
• Research Institution: Japan Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Waga Shou 日本女子大学, 理学部, 教授 (60222402)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KATAHIRA Masato 京都大学, エネルギー理工学研究所, 教授 (70211844) ; YURA Kei お茶の水女子大学, 大学院人間文化創成科学研究科, 教授 (50252226)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: DNA複製 / ORC / グアニン四重鎖

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Human ORC, one of the replication initiation proteins, exhibits preferential binding to G-quadruplex (G4)-formable single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) or RNA. To elucidate the biological roles of this activity, we analyzed the function of the human ORC1 subunit, which is known to possess the activity. We have found that the mutated ORC1, in which G4-motif ssDNA binding activity is reduced, exhibits abnormal localization in human cell nuclei and also that the N-terminal region, in which G4-motif ssDNA binding domains exist, has DNA supercoiling activity. These suggest that G4-motif ssDNA binding activity may be required for proper chromatin binding of ORC and involved in some structural changes of origin DNA during replication initiation.

Free Research Field

DNA複製の分子生物学