Changing protein-DNA interactions promote ORC binding site exchange during replication origin licensing

During origin licensing, the eukaryotic replicative helicase Mcm2-7 forms head-to-head double hexamers to prime origins for bidirectional replication. Recent single-molecule and structural studies revealed that one molecule of the helicase loader ORC can sequentially load two Mcm2-7 hexamers to ensure proper head-to-head helicase alignment. To perform this task, ORC must release from its initial high-affinity DNA binding site and “flip” to bind a weaker, inverted DNA site. However, the mechanism of this binding-site switch remains unclear. In this study, we used single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (sm-FRET) to study the changing interactions between DNA and ORC or Mcm2-7. We found that the loss of DNA bending that occurs during DNA deposition into the Mcm2-7 central channel increases the rate of ORC dissociation from DNA. Further studies revealed temporally-controlled DNA sliding of helicase-loading intermediates, and that the first sliding complex includes ORC, Mcm2-7, and Cdt1. We demonstrate that sequential events of DNA unbending, Cdc6 release, and sliding lead to a stepwise decrease in ORC stability on DNA, facilitating ORC dissociation from its strong binding site during site switching. In addition, the controlled sliding we observed provides insight into how ORC accesses secondary DNA binding sites at different locations relative to the initial binding site. Our study highlights the importance of dynamic protein-DNA interactions in the loading of two oppositely-oriented Mcm2-7 helicases to ensure bidirectional DNA replication.