Transient dsDNA breaks during pre-replication complex assembly

Initiation of DNA replication involves the ordered assembly of the multi-protein pre-replicative complex (pre-RC) during G(1) phase. Previously, DNA topoisomerase II (topo II) was shown to associate with the DNA replication origin located in the lamin B2 gene locus in a cell-cycle-modulated manner. Here we report that activation of both the early-firing lamin B2 and the late-firing hOrs8 human replication origins involves DNA topo II-dependent, transient, site-specific dsDNA-break formation. Topo IIβ in complex with the DNA repair protein Ku associates in vivo and in vitro with the pre-RC region, introducing dsDNA breaks in a biphasic manner, during early and mid-G(1) phase. Inhibition of topo II activity interferes with the pre-RC assembly resulting in prolonged G(1) phase. The data mechanistically link DNA topo IIβ-dependent dsDNA breaks and the components of the DNA repair machinery with the initiation of DNA replication and suggest an important role for DNA topology in origin activation.