Molecular mechanism of the initiation in eukaryotic chromosomal DNA replication

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25251005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Molecular biology
• Research Institution: National Institute of Genetics
• Principal Investigator: ARAKI Hiroyuki 国立遺伝学研究所, 細胞遺伝研究系, 教授 (20151160)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HIZUME Kohji 国立遺伝学研究所, 細胞遺伝研究系, 助教 (10378846)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: DNA複製 / 細胞周期

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Double-stranded DNA must be unwound to single-stranded DNA to initiate DNA replication. Mcm2-7, the core of the helicase that unwinds DNA, is loaded to replication origins first and then Cdc45 and GINS associate with the loaded Mcm2-7 to form an active helicase. We reveal that the Sld3-Sld7 complex, which is essential for this activation, comprises two Sld3 molecules connected by two Sld7 molecules and suggest that this structure is important for the initiation of DNA replication. Moreover, we confirm that DNA polymerase epsilon also works for this activation step. We further devise the way to analyze the relationship between chromatin, cell cycle checkpoints and DNA replication.

Free Research Field

染色体動態