Arrested replication forks guide retrotransposon integration

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 349; no. 6255; pp. 1549 - 1553
• Main Authors: Jacobs, Jake Z., Rosado-Lugo, Jesus D., Cranz-Mileva, Susanne, Ciccaglione, Keith M., Tournier, Vincent, Zaratiegui, Mikel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 25.09.2015; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Binding; Coding; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA Replication; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Fission; Genes; Genomics; Insertion; Mutagenesis, Insertional; Parasites; Proteins; Replication; Retroelements - genetics; Schizosaccharomyces - genetics; Schizosaccharomyces pombe; Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins - genetics; Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins - metabolism; Site Selection; Terminal Repeat Sequences - genetics; Yeast
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa3810

Long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons are an abundant class of genomic parasites that replicate by insertion of new copies into the host genome. Fungal LTR retrotransposons prevent mutagenic insertions through diverse targeting mechanisms that avoid coding sequences, but conserved principles guiding their target site selection have not been established. Here, we show that insertion of the fission yeast LTR retrotransposon Tf1 is guided by the DNA binding protein Sap1 and that the efficiency and location of the targeting depend on the activity of Sap1 as a replication fork barrier. We propose that Sap1 and the fork arrest it causes guide insertion of Tf1 by tethering the integration complex to target sites.