Genome-wide ChIP-chip Rad50 in early S-phase in the presence of hydroxyurea

The Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2 (MRX) complex is related to SMC complexes that form rings capable of holding two distinct DNA strands together. MRX functions at stalled replication forks and double-strand breaks (DSB). A mutation in the N-terminal OB-fold of the 70-kD subunit of yeast replication protein A, rfa1-t11, abrogates MRX recruitment to both types of damage. The rfa1 mutation is functionally epistatic with loss of any of the MRX subunits for survival of replication fork stress or DSB recovery, although it does not compromise end resection. High resolution imaging shows that either the rfa1-t11 or the rad50 mutation lets stalled replication forks collapse, and allows the separation not only of opposing ends, but of sister chromatids at breaks. Given that cohesin loss does not provoke visible sister separation as long as the RPA -MRX contacts are intact, we conclude that MRX also serves as a structural lynchpin of sister chromatids at breaks. Rad50 is a member of the Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2 (MRX) complex which is known to associate to replication forks under hydroxyurea-stress condition. Using ChIP-chip, we show that MRX recruitment to replication forks partially rely on Rfa1 (RPA) at the genome-wide level. Rad50-ChIP from wild-type cells and rfa1-t11 (25°C)