Research Article 4909 A hypophosphorylated form of RPA34 is a specific component of pre-replication centers Patricia Françon1, Jean-Marc Lemaître1, Christine Dreyer2, Domenico Maiorano1, Olivier Cuvier1 and Marcel Méchali1,* 1Institute of Human Genetics, CNRS, Genome Dynamics and Development, 141, rue de la Cardonille, 34396 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France 2Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Spemannstrasse 35, 72076 Tûbingen, Germany *Author for correspondence (e-mail:
[email protected]) Accepted 14 June 2004 Journal of Cell Science 117, 4909-4920 Published by The Company of Biologists 2004 doi:10.1242/jcs.01361 Summary Replication protein A (RPA) is a three subunit single- not require nuclear membrane formation, and is sensitive stranded DNA-binding protein required for DNA to the S-CDK inhibitor p21. We also provide evidence that replication. In Xenopus, RPA assembles in nuclear foci that RPA34 is present at initiation complexes formed in the form before DNA synthesis, but their significance in the absence of MCM3, but which contain MCM4. In such assembly of replication initiation complexes has been conditions, replication foci can form, and short RNA- questioned. Here we show that the RPA34 regulatory primed nascent DNAs of discrete size are synthesized. subunit is dephosphorylated at the exit of mitosis and binds These data show that in Xenopus, the hypophosphorylated to chromatin at detergent-resistant replication foci that co- form of RPA34 is a component of the pre-initiation localize with the catalytic RPA70 subunit, at both the complex. initiation and elongation stages of DNA replication. By contrast, the RPA34 phosphorylated form present at Supplementary material available online at mitosis is not chromatin bound.