Search

Minichromosome maintenance proteins (MCMs) are DNA-dependent ATPases that bind to replication origins and license them to support a single round of DNA replication. A large excess of MCM2-7 assembles on chromatin in G1 phase as pre-replication complexes (pre-RCs), of which only a fraction become the productive CDC45-MCM-GINS (CMG) helicases that are required for genome duplication 1-4 . It remains unclear why cells generate this surplus of MCMs, how they manage to sustain it across multiple generations, and why even a mild reduction in the MCM pool compromises the integrity of replicating genomes 5,6 . Here we show that, for daughter cells to sustain error-free DNA replication, their mother cells build up a nuclear pool of MCMs both by recycling chromatin-bound (parental) MCMs and by synthesizing new (nascent) MCMs. Although all MCMs can form pre-RCs, it is the parental pool that is inherently stable and preferentially matures into CMGs. By contrast, nascent MCM3-7 (but not MCM2) undergo rapid proteolysis in the cytoplasm, and their stabilization and nuclear translocation require interaction with minichromosome-maintenance complex-binding protein (MCMBP), a distant MCM paralogue 7,8 . By chaperoning nascent MCMs, MCMBP safeguards replicating genomes by increasing chromatin coverage with pre-RCs that do not participate on replication origins but adjust the pace of replisome movement to minimize errors during DNA replication. Consequently, although the paucity of pre-RCs in MCMBP-deficient cells does not alter DNA synthesis overall, it increases the speed and asymmetry of individual replisomes, which leads to DNA damage. The surplus of MCMs therefore increases the robustness of genome duplication by restraining the speed at which eukaryotic cells replicate their DNA. Alterations in physiological fork speed might thus explain why even a minor reduction in MCM levels destabilizes the genome and predisposes to increased incidence of tumour formation.

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by transcriptional dysregulation that results in a block in differentiation and increased malignant self-renewal. Various epigenetic therapies aimed at reversing these hallmarks of AML have progressed into clinical trials, but most show only modest efficacy owing to an inability to effectively eradicate leukaemia stem cells (LSCs) 1 . Here, to specifically identify novel dependencies in LSCs, we screened a bespoke library of small hairpin RNAs that target chromatin regulators in a unique ex vivo mouse model of LSCs. We identify the MYST acetyltransferase HBO1 (also known as KAT7 or MYST2) and several known members of the HBO1 protein complex as critical regulators of LSC maintenance. Using CRISPR domain screening and quantitative mass spectrometry, we identified the histone acetyltransferase domain of HBO1 as being essential in the acetylation of histone H3 at K14. H3 acetylated at K14 (H3K14ac) facilitates the processivity of RNA polymerase II to maintain the high expression of key genes (including Hoxa9 and Hoxa10) that help to sustain the functional properties of LSCs. To leverage this dependency therapeutically, we developed a highly potent small-molecule inhibitor of HBO1 and demonstrate its mode of activity as a competitive analogue of acetyl-CoA. Inhibition of HBO1 phenocopied our genetic data and showed efficacy in a broad range of human cell lines and primary AML cells from patients. These biological, structural and chemical insights into a therapeutic target in AML will enable the clinical translation of these findings.

In the originally published version of this Letter, the authors Arthur F. Kluge, Michael A. Patane and Ce Wang were inadvertently omitted from the author list. Their affiliations are: I-to-D, Inc., PO Box 6177, Lincoln, Massachusetts 01773, USA (A.F.K.); Mitobridge, Inc. 1030 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA (M.A.P.); and China Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, No. 4218 Jinke Road, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong District, Shanghai 201203, China (C.W.). These authors contributed to the interpretation of results and design of compounds. In addition, author 'Edward A. Kesicki' was misspelled as 'Ed Kesicki'. These errors have been corrected online.

The dynamic and reversible acetylation of proteins, catalysed by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs), is a major epigenetic regulatory mechanism of gene transcription and is associated with multiple diseases. Histone deacetylase inhibitors are currently approved to treat certain cancers, but progress on the development of drug-like histone actyltransferase inhibitors has lagged behind. The histone acetyltransferase paralogues p300 and CREB-binding protein (CBP) are key transcriptional co-activators that are essential for a multitude of cellular processes, and have also been implicated in human pathological conditions (including cancer). Current inhibitors of the p300 and CBP histone acetyltransferase domains, including natural products, bi-substrate analogues and the widely used small molecule C646, lack potency or selectivity. Here, we describe A-485, a potent, selective and drug-like catalytic inhibitor of p300 and CBP. We present a high resolution (1.95 Å) co-crystal structure of a small molecule bound to the catalytic active site of p300 and demonstrate that A-485 competes with acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA). A-485 selectively inhibited proliferation in lineage-specific tumour types, including several haematological malignancies and androgen receptor-positive prostate cancer. A-485 inhibited the androgen receptor transcriptional program in both androgen-sensitive and castration-resistant prostate cancer and inhibited tumour growth in a castration-resistant xenograft model. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using small molecule inhibitors to selectively target the catalytic activity of histone acetyltransferases, which may provide effective treatments for transcriptional activator-driven malignancies and diseases.

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are highly cytotoxic DNA lesions that trigger non-proteolytic ubiquitylation of adjacent chromatin areas to generate binding sites for DNA repair factors. This depends on the sequential actions of the E3 ubiquitin ligases RNF8 and RNF168 (refs 1-6), and UBC13 (also known as UBE2N), an E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme that specifically generates K63-linked ubiquitin chains. Whereas RNF168 is known to catalyse ubiquitylation of H2A-type histones, leading to the recruitment of repair factors such as 53BP1 (refs 8-10), the critical substrates of RNF8 and K63-linked ubiquitylation remain elusive. Here we elucidate how RNF8 and UBC13 promote recruitment of RNF168 and downstream factors to DSB sites in human cells. We establish that UBC13-dependent K63-linked ubiquitylation at DSB sites is predominantly mediated by RNF8 but not RNF168, and that H1-type linker histones, but not core histones, represent major chromatin-associated targets of this modification. The RNF168 module (UDM1) recognizing RNF8-generated ubiquitylations is a high-affinity reader of K63-ubiquitylated H1, mechanistically explaining the essential roles of RNF8 and UBC13 in recruiting RNF168 to DSBs. Consistently, reduced expression or chromatin association of linker histones impair accumulation of K63-linked ubiquitin conjugates and repair factors at DSB-flanking chromatin. These results identify histone H1 as a key target of RNF8-UBC13 in DSB signalling and expand the concept of the histone code by showing that posttranslational modifications of linker histones can serve as important marks for recognition by factors involved in genome stability maintenance, and possibly beyond.