title: Role of fission yeast primase catalytic subunit in the replication checkpoint.
abstract: To investigate the cell cycle checkpoint response to aberrant S phase-initiation, we analyzed mutations of the two DNA primase subunit genes of Schizosaccharomyces pombe, spp1(+) and spp2(+) (S. pombe primase 1 and 2). spp1(+) encodes the catalytic subunit that synthesizes the RNA primer, which is then utilized by Polalpha to synthesize the initiation DNA. Here, we reported the isolation of the fission yeast spp1(+) gene and cDNA and the characterization of Spp1 protein and its cellular localization during the cell cycle. Spp1 is essential for cell viability, and thermosensitive mutants of spp1(+) exhibit an allele-specific abnormal mitotic phenotype. Mutations of spp1(+) reduce the steady-state cellular levels of Spp1 protein and compromised the formation of Polalpha-primase complex. The spp1 mutant displaying an aberrant mitotic phenotype also fails to properly activate the Chk1 checkpoint kinase, but not the Cds1 checkpoint kinase. Mutational analysis of Polalpha has previously shown that activation of the replication checkpoint requires the initiation of DNA synthesis by Polalpha. Together, these have led us to propose that suboptimal cellular levels of polalpha-primase complex due to the allele-specific mutations of Spp1 might not allow Polalpha to synthesize initiation DNA efficiently, resulting in failure to activate a checkpoint response. Thus, a functional Spp1 is required for the Chk1-mediated, but not the Cds1-mediated, checkpoint response after an aberrant initiation of DNA synthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5324, USA.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nurse
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D020134:Catalytic Domain / Q000235:genetics; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000187:drug effects; D000071877:Checkpoint Kinase 1; D064447:Checkpoint Kinase 2; D004256:DNA Polymerase I / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D019915:DNA Primase / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000187:drug effects; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D021122:Protein Subunits; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics*; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D021122:Protein Subunits; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases; D064447:Checkpoint Kinase 2; C578636:Cds1 protein, S pombe; D000071877:Checkpoint Kinase 1; C000605873:Chk1 protein, S pombe; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D019915:DNA Primase; D004256:DNA Polymerase I