Joanna Niska

Faithful transmission of genetic material is challenged by the presence of natural impediments affecting replication fork progression that jeopardize genome integrity. Transcription, which competes with DNA replication for the same template, is a common barrier to replication in both prokaryotes and higher eukaryotes. Multiple mechanisms minimize the consequences of DNA replication and transcription collisions in order to prevent torsional stress accumulation that occurs when replication fork encounters the transcription machinery. Defects in resolving topological problems during chromosome replication lead to fork reversal, R loop formation and recombination-induced genome rearrangements. Our interest is focused on the processes that coordinate replication with transcription at TERs (termination sites) and on the molecular pathways involved in termination of DNA replication. We investigated the roles of Rrm3, a DNA helicase that assists replication fork progression, and of Sen1, a DNA/RNA helicase that resolves the conflicts between replication and transcription. We found that Rrm3 and Sen1 mediate replication termination at specific TERs, preventing aberrant events ultimately leading to chromosome fragility. Our results contribute to the elucidation of mechanisms coordinating replication and transcription at TER zones in eukaryotes.