Replication dynamics of recombination-dependent replication forks: leading and lagging strand synthesis are not coupled

DNA replication fidelity is essential for maintaining genetic stability. Forks arrested at replication fork barriers can be stabilised by the intra-S phase checkpoint, subsequently being rescued by a converging fork, or resuming when the barrier is removed. However, some arrested forks cannot be stabilised and fork convergence cannot rescue in all situations. Thus, cells have developed homologous recombination-dependent mechanisms to restart persistently inactive forks. To understand the dynamics of HR-restart, we visualized in vivo replication dynamics at an S. pombe replication barrier, RTS1, using polymerase usage sequencing and model replication dynamics by Monte Carlo simulation. We confirm that HR-restarted forks synthesise both strands with Pol d and that Pol a is not used significantly on either strand: the lagging strand template remains as a gap that is filled in later. We further demonstrate that HR-restarted forks progress for >30 kb kilobases without maturing to a d/e configuration and can progress through a fork barrier that arrests canonical forks. Finally, by manipulating lagging strand resection during HR-restart by deleting pku70, we show that the leading strand initiates replication at the same position, demonstrating the stability of the 3' single strand in the context of increased resection. We mapped ribonucleotide-incorporation by the mutated DNA polymerase delta and epsilon at single-nucleotide resolution and used the data for following the replication fork restart by subsequent informatics analysis.