Genomic integrity is maintained by checkpoints that guard against undesired replication after DNA damage. Here, we show that CDT1, a licensing factor of the pre-replication complex (preRC), is rapidly proteolysed after UV- or gamma-irradiation. The preRC assembles on replication origins at the end of mitosis and during G1 to license DNA for replication in S phase. Once the origin recognition complex (ORC) binds to origins, CDC6 and CDT1 associate with ORC and promote loading of the MCM2-7 proteins onto chromatin, generating the preRC. We show that radiation-mediated CDT1 proteolysis is independent of ATM and CHK2 and can occur in G1-phase cells. Loss of the COP9-signalosome (CSN) or CUL4-ROC1 complexes completely suppresses CDT1 proteolysis. CDT1 is specifically polyubiquitinated by CUL4 complexes and the interaction between CDT1 and CUL4 is regulated in part by gamma-irradiation. Our study reveals an evolutionarily conserved and uncharacterized G1 checkpoint that induces CDT1 proteolysis by the CUL4-ROC1 ubiquitin E3 ligase and CSN complexes in response to DNA damage.

Alteration of the control of DNA replication and mitosis is considered to be a major cause of genome instability. To investigate the mechanism that controls DNA replication and genome stability, we used the RNA silencing-interference technique (RNAi) to eliminate the Drosophila geminin homologue from Schneider D2 (SD2) cells. Silencing of geminin by RNAi in SD2 cells leads to the cessation of mitosis and asynchronous overreplication of the genome, with cells containing single giant nuclei and partial ploidy between 4N and 8N DNA content. The effect of geminin deficiency is completely suppressed by cosilencing of Double parked (Dup), the Drosophila homologue of Cdt1, a replication factor to which geminin binds. The geminin deficiency-induced phenotype is also partially suppressed by coablation of Chk1/Grapes, indicating the involvement of Chk1/ Grapes in the checkpoint control in response to overreplication. We found that the silencing of cyclin A, but not of cyclin B, also promotes the formation of a giant nucleus and overreplication. However, in contrast to the effect of geminin knockout, cyclin A deficiency leads to the complete duplication of the genome from 4N to 8N. We observed that the silencing of geminin causes rapid downregulation of Cdt1/Dup, which may contribute to the observed partial overreplication in geminin-deficient cells. Analysis of cyclin A and geminin double knockout suggests that the effect of cyclin A deficiency is dominant over that of geminin deficiency for cell cycle arrest and overreplication. Together, our studies indicate that both cyclin A and geminin are required for the suppression of overreplication and for genome stability in Drosophila cells.

MVM NS2 is essential for viral DNA amplification, but its mechanism of action is unknown. A classification scheme for autonomous parvovirus-associated replication (APAR) center development, based on NS1 distribution, was used to characterize abnormal APAR body maturation in NS2null mutant infections, and their organization examined for defects in host protein recruitment. Since acquisition of known replication factors appeared normal, we looked for differences in invoked DNA damage responses. We observed widespread association of H2AX/MDC1 damage response foci with viral replication centers, and sequestration and complex hyperphosphorylation of RPA32, which occurred in wildtype and mutant infections. Quantifying these responses by western transfer indicated that both wildtype and NS2 mutant MVM elicited ATM activation, while phosphorylation of ATR, already basally activated in asynchronous A9 cells, was downregulated. We conclude that MVM infection invokes multiple damage responses that influence the APAR environment, but that NS2 does not modify the recruitment of cellular proteins.

The transcription factor GATA-1 participates in programming the differentiation of multiple hematopoietic lineages. In megakaryopoiesis, loss of GATA-1 function produces complex developmental abnormalities and underlies the pathogenesis of megakaryocytic leukemia in Down syndrome. Its distinct functions in megakaryocyte and erythroid maturation remain incompletely understood. In this study, we identified functional and physical interaction of GATA-1 with components of the positive transcriptional elongation factor P-TEFb, a complex containing cyclin T1 and the cyclindependent kinase 9 (Cdk9). Megakaryocytic induction was associated with dynamic changes in endogenous P-TEFb composition, including recruitment of GATA-1 and dissociation of HEXIM1, a Cdk9 inhibitor. shRNA knockdowns and pharmacologic inhibition both confirmed contribution of Cdk9 activity to megakaryocytic differentiation. In mice with megakaryocytic GATA-1 deficiency, Cdk9 inhibition produced a fulminant but reversible megakaryoblastic disorder reminiscent of the transient myeloproliferative disorder of Down syndrome. P-TEFb has previously been implicated in promoting elongation of paused RNA polymerase II and in programming hypertrophic differentiation of cardiomyocytes. Our results offer evidence for P-TEFb cross-talk with GATA-1 in megakaryocytic differentiation, a program with parallels to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. IntroductionMegakaryocytes and erythroblasts develop from bipotential megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitors (MEPs) under the influence of multiple critical transcription factors. Some of these factors, such as GATA-1, GATA-2, FOG1, and SCL, promote both lineages, whereas others, such as RUNX1 and EKLF, promote only megakaryocyte or erythroid development, respectively. 1,2 Many of these key factors serve dual functions in development, activating lineage-appropriate genes while simultaneously repressing lineageinappropriate genes. 2 Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have emphasized the centrality of GATA-1 in megakaryocyte development. Virtually all megakaryocytic promoters contain functionally important GATA binding sites. 3 Mice with diminished GATA-1 in megakaryocytes display thrombocytopenia and aberrant megakaryocytic maturation. 4 In particular, the GATA-1-deficient megakaryocytes show defects in growth regulation, polyploidization, proplatelet formation, granule biogenesis, and surface antigen expression. [5][6][7] Interestingly, these mice also display MEP abnormalities, implicating GATA-1 in development of a properly primed bipotent progenitor. 8,9 In humans, hereditary and acquired GATA-1 mutations have both been associated with defective megakaryopoiesis. Familial X-linked thrombocytopenia results from missense mutations affecting the N-terminal zinc finger of GATA-1, a domain involved in recruitment of the cofactor FOG1. [10][11][12][13][14] Acquired mutations of GATA-1 occur in the setting of the 2 Down syndrome (DS)-associated megakaryoblastic proliferative disorders, transient myeloproliferative disorder (DS-TMD) and...

We have shown earlier that DNA polymerase b (Pol b) localizes to the synaptonemal complex (SC) during Prophase I of meiosis in mice. Pol b localizes to synapsed axes during zygonema and pachynema, and it associates with the ends of bivalents during late pachynema and diplonema. To test whether these localization patterns reflect a function for Pol b in recombination and/or synapsis, we used conditional gene targeting to delete the PolB gene from germ cells. We find that Pol b-deficient spermatocytes are defective in meiotic chromosome synapsis and undergo apoptosis during Prophase I. We also find that SPO11-dependent cH2AX persists on meiotic chromatin, indicating that Pol b is critical for the repair of SPO11-induced doublestrand breaks (DSBs). Pol b-deficient spermatocytes yielded reduced steady-state levels of the SPO11-oligonucleotide complexes that are formed when SPO11 is removed from the ends of DSBs, and cytological experiments revealed that chromosome-associated foci of replication protein A (RPA), RAD51 and DMC1 are less abundant in Pol b-deficient spermatocyte nuclei. Localization of Pol b to meiotic chromosomes requires the formation of SPO11-dependent DSBs. Taken together, these findings strongly indicate that Pol b is required at a very early step in the processing of meiotic DSBs, at or before the removal of SPO11 from DSB ends and the generation of the 3 0 single-stranded tails necessary for subsequent strand exchange. The chromosome synapsis defects and Prophase I apoptosis of Pol b-deficient spermatocytes are likely a direct consequence of these recombination defects.

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SUMMARY Megakaryocyte morphogenesis employs a “hypertrophy-like” developmental program, dependent on P-TEFb kinase activation and cytoskeletal remodeling. P-TEFb activation classically occurs by a feedback regulated process of signal-induced, reversible release of active Cdk9-cyclin T modules from large inactive 7SK snRNP complexes. Here we have identified an alternative pathway of irreversible P-TEFb activation in megakaryopoiesis, mediated by dissolution of the 7SK snRNP complex. In this pathway calpain 2 cleavage of the core 7SK snRNP component MePCE promoted P-TEFb release and consequent upregulation of a cohort of cytoskeleton remodeling factors, including α-actinin-1. In a subset of human megakaryocytic leukemias, the transcription factor GATA1 undergoes truncating mutation (GATA1s). Here we linked the GATA1s mutation to defects in megakaryocytic upregulation of calpain 2 and of P-TEFb-dependent cytoskeletal remodeling factors. Restoring calpain 2 expression in GATA1s-mutant megakaryocytes rescued normal development, implicating this morphogenetic pathway as a target in human leukemogenesis.

Parvoviruses encode a small number of ancillary proteins that differ substantially between genera. Within the genus Protoparvovirus, minute virus of mice (MVM) encodes three isoforms of its ancillary protein NS2, while human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1), in the genus Bocaparvovirus, encodes an NP1 protein that is unrelated in primary sequence to MVM NS2. To search for functional overlap between NS2 and NP1, we generated murine A9 cell populations that inducibly express HBoV1 NP1. These were used to test whether NP1 expression could complement specific defects resulting from depletion of MVM NS2 isoforms. NP1 induction had little impact on cell viability or cell cycle progression in uninfected cells, and was unable to complement late defects in MVM virion production associated with low NS2 levels. However, NP1 did relocate to MVM replication centers, and supports both the normal expansion of these foci and overcomes the early paralysis of DNA replication in NS2-null infections.