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Review
. 2021 Jan 23;22(3):1113.
doi: 10.3390/ijms22031113.

Replication-Coupled Chromatin Remodeling: An Overview of Disassembly and Assembly of Chromatin during Replication

Céline Duc  1 , Christophe Thiriet  1
Affiliations
Review

Replication-Coupled Chromatin Remodeling: An Overview of Disassembly and Assembly of Chromatin during Replication

Céline Duc et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

The doubling of genomic DNA during the S-phase of the cell cycle involves the global remodeling of chromatin at replication forks. The present review focuses on the eviction of nucleosomes in front of the replication forks to facilitate the passage of replication machinery and the mechanism of replication-coupled chromatin assembly behind the replication forks. The recycling of parental histones as well as the nuclear import and the assembly of newly synthesized histones are also discussed with regard to the epigenetic inheritance.

Keywords: chromatin; histones; replication.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Terminology of the histone and nucleoprotein complexes. The drawing represents the proteins and nucleoprotein complexes that compose the basic unit of chromatin. H4 (1); H3 (2); H2B (3); H2A (4) (Core histones); H3/H4 dimer (5); (H3/H4) 2 tetramer (6), H2A/H2B dimer (7) (histone complexes); core particle (8) (146 bp of DNA); nucleosome (9) (>146 bp of DNA, presence of linker DNA); chromatosome (11) (nucleosome with linker histone (10)).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time frame of the chromatin remodeling coupled to replication. The access of the replication machinery to DNA requires the well-controlled destabilization of chromatin in front of the replication fork and the reformation of chromatin onto the daughter strands. This latter process involves the recycling of parental and newly synthesized histones. Newly synthesized histones are necessary to compensate the deficit of histones due to the doubling of DNA.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Two halves of parental and newly synthesized histones are assembled behind the replication fork onto the daughter strands for restoring the parental chromatin landscape, leading to three putative models of distribution. (1) Parental core histones and newly synthesized histones form distinct octamers. (2) Parental and new histone complexes (H2A/H2B dimers and H3/H4 tetramers) are mixed during the assembly. (3) The smallest stable complexes of parental and new histones (H2A/H2B dimers and H3/H4 dimers) are randomly mixed for forming core histone octamers.
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