UMMS Affiliation

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Publication Date

2017-02-17

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Biochemistry | Cell Biology | Genetics | Molecular Biology

Abstract

Faithful duplication of the genome is a challenge because DNA is susceptible to damage by a number of intrinsic and extrinsic genotoxins, such as free radicals and UV light. Cells activate the intra-S checkpoint in response to damage during S phase to protect genomic integrity and ensure replication fidelity. The checkpoint prevents genomic instability mainly by regulating origin firing, fork progression, and transcription of G1/S genes in response to DNA damage. Several studies hint that regulation of forks is perhaps the most critical function of the intra-S checkpoint. However, the exact role of the checkpoint at replication forks has remained elusive and controversial. Is the checkpoint required for fork stability, or fork restart, or to prevent fork reversal or fork collapse, or activate repair at replication forks? What are the factors that the checkpoint targets at stalled replication forks? In this review, we will discuss the various pathways activated by the intra-S checkpoint in response to damage to prevent genomic instability.

Keywords

ATR, Chk1, DNA damage, fork stability, intra-S checkpoint, origin regulation

Rights and Permissions

Copyright © 2017 by the authors.

DOI of Published Version

10.3390/genes8020074

Source

Genes (Basel). 2017 Feb 17;8(2). pii: E74. doi: 10.3390/genes8020074. Link to article on publisher's site

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Genes

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

PubMed ID

28218681

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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