Topoisomerase 1 dependent R-loop deficiency drives accelerated replication and genomic instability

DNA replication is a complex process tightly regulated to ensure faithful genome duplication, and its perturbation leads to DNA damage and genomic instability. Replication stress is commonly associated with slow and stalled replication forks. Recently, accelerated replication has emerged as a non-canonical form of replication stress. However, the molecular basis underlying fork acceleration is largely unknown. Here we show that mutated HRAS activation leads to increased topoisomerase 1 (TOP1) expression leading to aberrant replication fork acceleration and DNA damage by decreasing RNA-DNA hybrids or R-loops. In these cells, restoration of TOP1 expression or mild replication inhibition rescues the perturbed replication and reduces DNA damage. Furthermore, TOP1 or RNaseH1 overexpression induces accelerated replication and DNA damage, highlighting the importance of TOP1 equilibrium in regulating R-loop homeostasis to ensure faithful DNA replication and genome integrity. Altogether, our results reveal a novel mechanism of oncogene-induced DNA damage induced by aberrant replication fork acceleration. Overall design: RNA-seq profiles of immortalized human fibroblasts (FSE-hTert) infected with ER:HRASG12V with or without 4-OHT treatment for 2 or 4 days (3 biological replicaes per condition)