DNA replication

Use of DNA combing to study DNA replication in Xenopus and human cell-free systems

The Xenopus egg extract has become the gold standard for in vitro studies of metazoan DNA replication. We have used this system to study the mechanisms that ensure rapid and complete DNA replication despite random initiation during Xenopus early development. To this end we adapted the DNA combing technique to investigate the distribution of replication bubbles along single DNA molecules. DNA replicating in egg extracts is labelled by addition of digoxigenin-11-dUTP and/or biotin-16-dUTP at precise times. These two dTTP analogues are efficiently incorporated into DNA during replication in the extract. After DNA purification and combing the DNA is visualized with appropriate fluorescent antibody/streptavidin molecules. Replicated DNA appears as green or red tracts whose pattern reveals how each molecule was replicated, allowing to follow the dynamics of DNA replication through S phase. We describe (a) the preparation and use of egg extracts and demembranated sperm chromatin templates; (b) a simple method for preparing silanized glass coverslips suitable for DNA combing and fluorescence detection; (c) two alternative replicative DNA labelling schemes and their respective advantages; and (d) a protocol for combining replicative labelling with detection of specific DNA sequences by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Although most observations made in Xenopus egg extracts are applicable to other eukaryotes, there are differences in cell-cycle regulation between mammalian somatic cells and embryonic amphibian cells, which led to the development of human cell-free systems that can initiate semi-conservative chromosomal DNA replication under cell-cycle control. We have employed the knowledge gained with Xenopus extracts to characterize DNA replication intermediates generated in human cell-free systems using DNA combing. We describe here (a) the preparation and use of human cell-free extracts and initiation-competent template nuclei for DNA combing studies; (b) an optimized labelling scheme for DNA replication intermediates by molecular combing and fluorescence microscopy.

Chemical footprinting of structural and functional elements of dhfr oribeta during the CHOC 400 cell cycle

Oribeta, an origin of replication 3' to Chinese hamster dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) gene, contains several sequence elements that function as components of a chromosomal replicator. Here we have examined sensitivity to KMnO(4) in vitro and in living cells of three regions within dhfr oribeta which contribute to replicator function: the origin of bidirectional DNA replication (OBR) that serves as an initiation site for DNA synthesis, a stably bent DNA region that binds activator protein one (AP-1) and RIP60 in vitro, and an AT-rich region that contains a dA/dT(23) dinucleotide repeat that has properties of a DNA unwinding element. The in vitro patterns of KMnO(4) modification in linear plasmid differed from that in supercoiled plasmid most prominently in the dA/dT(23) repeat, with evidence of palindrome extrusion in supercoiled plasmid. Although palindrome extrusion was not detected in genomic DNA during the cell cycle, the pattern of genomic DNA modification within the dA/dT(23) repeat differed substantially from that of either linear or plasmid DNA in vitro. An AT-rich region that borders the dA/dT repeat was also highly sensitive to modification by KMnO(4) in cells. Within the bent DNA region, the patterns of chemical modification of both the AP-1 and RIP60 sites differed between plasmid and genomic DNA, and minor differences in the in vitro and cellular modification patterns also were observed for the OBR. Nonetheless, there was little evidence of cell cycle-specific modifications in any sequence examined. These studies suggest that sequences within dhfr oribeta adopt specific conformations in cells, with the most prominent changes in the AT-rich region associated with the dA/dT(23) repeat and DNA unwinding.