Diminished S-Phase Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Function Elicits Vital Rad53-Dependent Checkpoint Responses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (original) (raw)

Checkpoint proteins control morphogenetic events during DNA replication stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The Journal of Cell Biology, 2006

In response to DNA replication stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the DNA replication checkpoint maintains replication fork stability, prevents precocious chromosome segregation, and causes cells to arrest as large-budded cells. The checkpoint kinases Mec1 and Rad53 act in this checkpoint. Treatment of mec1 or rad53Δ mutants with replication inhibitors results in replication fork collapse and inappropriate partitioning of partially replicated chromosomes, leading to cell death. We describe a previously unappreciated function of various replication stress checkpoint proteins, including Rad53, in the control of cell morphology. Checkpoint mutants have aberrant cell morphology and cell walls, and show defective bud site selection. Rad53 shows genetic interactions with septin ring pathway components, and, along with other checkpoint proteins, controls the timely degradation of Swe1 during replication stress, thereby facilitating proper bud growth. Thus, checkpoint proteins play an impo...

Perspectives on the DNA damage and replication checkpoint responses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

DNA Repair, 2009

The DNA damage and replication checkpoints are believed to primarily slow the progression of the cell cycle to allow DNA repair to occur. Here we summarize known aspects of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae checkpoints including how these responses are integrated into downstream effects on the cell cycle, chromatin, DNA repair, and cytoplasmic targets. Analysis of the transcriptional response demonstrates that it is far more complex and less relevant to the repair of DNA damage than the bacterial SOS response. We also address more speculative questions regarding potential roles of the checkpoint during the normal S-phase and how current evidence hints at a checkpoint activation mechanism mediated by positive feedback that amplifies initial damage signals above a minimium threshold.

The yeast DNA damage checkpoint proteins control a cytoplasmic response to DNA damage

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007

A single HO endonuclease-induced double-strand break (DSB) is sufficient to activate the DNA damage checkpoint and cause Saccharomyces cells to arrest at G 2 /M for 12–14 h, after which cells adapt to the presence of the DSB and resume cell cycle progression. The checkpoint signal leading to G 2 /M arrest was previously shown to be nuclear-limited. Cells lacking ATR-like Mec1 exhibit no DSB-induced cell cycle delay; however, cells lacking Mec1's downstream protein kinase targets, Rad53 or Chk1, still have substantial G 2 /M delay, as do cells lacking securin, Pds1. This delay is eliminated only in the triple mutant chk1 Δ rad53 Δ pds1 Δ, suggesting that Rad53 and Chk1 control targets other than the stability of securin in enforcing checkpoint-mediated cell cycle arrest. The G 2 /M arrest in rad53 Δ and chk1 Δ revealed a unique cytoplasmic phenotype in which there are frequent dynein-dependent excursions of the nucleus through the bud neck, without entering anaphase. Such excursi...

Mitotic checkpoint genes in budding yeast and the dependence of mitosis on DNA replication and repair

Genes & Development, 1994

In eukaryotes a cell-cycle control termed a checkpoint causes arrest in the S or G2 phases when chromosomes are incompletely replicated or damaged. Previously, we showed in budding yeast that RAD9 and RAD17 are checkpoint genes required for arrest in the G2 phase after DNA damage. Here, we describe a genetic strategy that identified four additional checkpoint genes that act in two pathways. Both classes of genes are required for arrest in the G2 phase after DNA damage, and one class of genes is also required for arrest in S phase when DNA replication is incomplete. The Gz-specific genes include MEC3 (for mitosis entry checkpoint), RAD9, RAD17, and RAD24. The genes common to both S phase and G2 phase pathways are MECl and MEC2. The MEC2 gene proves to be identical to the RAD53 gene. Checkpoint mutants were identified by their interactions with a temperature-sensitive allele of the cell division cycle gene CDC13-, cdcl3 mutants arrested in G2 and survived at the restrictive temperature, whereas all cdcl3 checkpoint double mutants failed to arrest in G2 and died rapidly at the restrictive temperature. The cell-cycle roles of the RAD and MEC genes were examined by combination of rad and mec mutant alleles with 10 cdc mutant alleles that arrest in different stages of the cell cycle at the restrictive temperature and by the response of rad and mec mutant alleles to DNA damaging agents and to hydroxyurea, a drug that inhibits DNA replication. We conclude that the checkpoint in budding yeast consists of overlapping S-phase and G2-phase pathways that respond to incomplete DNA replication and/or DNA damage and cause arrest of cells before mitosis.

p34cdc2 kinase activity is maintained upon activation of the replication checkpoint in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1996

All eukaryotes use feedback controls to order and coordinate cell cycle events. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, several classes of checkpoint genes serve to ensure that DNA replication is complete and free of error before the onset of mitosis. Wild-type cells normally arrest upon inhibition of DNA synthesis or in response to DNA damage, although the exact mechanisms controlling this arrest are unclear. Genetic evidence in fission yeast suggests that the dependence of mitosis upon completion of DNA replication is linked to the regulation of the p34cdc2 cyclin-dependent kinase. It has been hypothesized that inhibition of DNA synthesis triggers down-regulation of p34cdc2 kinase activity, although this has never been shown biochemically. We analyzed the activity of p34cdc2 in wild-type and checkpoint-defective cells treated with a DNA synthesis inhibitor. Using standard in vitro assays we demonstrate that p34cdc2 kinase activity is maintained in wild-type cells arrested at the replication...

Mechanisms of checkpoint kinase Rad53 inactivation after a double-strand break in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Molecular and cellular biology, 2007

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, double-strand breaks (DSBs) activate DNA checkpoint pathways that trigger several responses including a strong G(2)/M arrest. We have previously provided evidence that the phosphatases Ptc2 and Ptc3 of the protein phosphatase 2C type are required for DNA checkpoint inactivation after a DSB and probably dephosphorylate the checkpoint kinase Rad53. In this article we have investigated further the interactions between Ptc2 and Rad53. We showed that forkhead-associated domain 1 (FHA1) of Rad53 interacts with a specific threonine of Ptc2, T376, located outside its catalytic domain in a TXXD motif which constitutes an optimal FHA1 binding sequence in vitro. Mutating T376 abolishes Ptc2 interaction with the Rad53 FHA1 domain and results in adaptation and recovery defects following a DSB. We found that Ckb1 and Ckb2, the regulatory subunits of the protein kinase CK2, are necessary for the in vivo interaction between Ptc2 and the Rad53 FHA1 domain, that Ckb1 bind...

Regulation of Saccharomyces Rad53 Checkpoint Kinase during Adaptation from DNA Damage–Induced G2/M Arrest

Molecular Cell, 2001

In budding yeast, a single unrepaired DSB, for example, one created by expression of the site-specific HO endonuclease, is sufficient to cause G2/M arrest (Sandell and Zakian, 1993). However, these cells do not remain permanently arrested; rather, after 8-12 hr they resume progression through the cell cycle (Sandell and Waltham, Massachusetts 02454 Zakian, 1993; Toczyski et al., 1997; Lee et al., 1998). This † Istituto F.I.R.C. di Oncologia Molecolare and escape from G2/M arrest occurs despite the continued Dipartimento di Genetica e di Biologia dei presence of the broken chromosome and hence is Microrganismi termed adaptation (Sandell and Zakian, 1993; Toczyski Universita' degli Studi di Milano et al., 1997; Lee et al., 1998).

Checkpoint-Dependent Regulation of Origin Firing and Replication Fork Movement in Response to DNA Damage in Fission Yeast

Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2009

To elucidate the checkpoint mechanism responsible for slowing passage through S phase when fission yeast cells are treated with the DNA-damaging agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), we carried out two-dimensional gel analyses of replication intermediates in cells synchronized by cdc10 block (in G 1 ) followed by release into synchronous S phase. The results indicated that under these conditions early-firing centromeric origins were partially delayed but late-firing telomeric origins were not delayed. Replication intermediates persisted in MMS-treated cells, suggesting that replication fork movement was inhibited. These effects were dependent on the Cds1 checkpoint kinase and were abolished in cells overexpressing the Cdc25 phosphatase, suggesting a role for the Cdc2 cyclin-dependent kinase. We conclude that both partial inhibition of the firing of a subset of origins and inhibition of replication fork movement contribute to the slowing of S phase in MMS-treated fission yeast cells.

Rad53 regulates replication fork restart after DNA damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Genes & Development, 2008

Replication fork stalling at a DNA lesion generates a damage signal that activates the Rad53 kinase, which plays a vital role in survival by stabilizing stalled replication forks. However, evidence that Rad53 directly modulates the activity of replication forks has been lacking, and the nature of fork stabilization has remained unclear. Recently, cells lacking the Psy2–Pph3 phosphatase were shown to be defective in dephosphorylation of Rad53 as well as replication fork restart after DNA damage, suggesting a mechanistic link between Rad53 deactivation and fork restart. To test this possibility we examined the progression of replication forks in methyl-methanesulfonate (MMS)-damaged cells, under different conditions of Rad53 activity. Hyperactivity of Rad53 in pph3Δ cells slows fork progression in MMS, whereas deactivation of Rad53, through expression of dominant-negative Rad53-KD, is sufficient to allow fork restart during recovery. Furthermore, combined deletion of PPH3 and PTC2, a ...