Chromosome length influences replication-induced topological stress

During chromosome duplication the parental DNA molecule becomes over-wound, or positively supercoiled, in the region ahead of the advancing replication fork. To allow fork progression this superhelical tension has to be removed by topoisomerases, which operate by introducing transient DNA breaks. Positive supercoiling can also be diminished if the advancing fork rotates along the DNA helix, but then sister chromatid intertwinings form in its wake. Despite these insights it remains largely unknown how replicationinduced superhelical stress is dealt with on linear, eukaryotic chromosomes. Here we show that this stress increases with the length of budding yeast chromosomes. This opens for the possibility that superhelical tension is handled on a chromosome scale and not only within topologically closed chromosomal domains as the current view predicts. We found that inhibition of type I topoisomerases leads to a late replication delay of longer, but not shorter chromosomes. This phenotype is also displayed by cells expressing mutated versions of the cohesin- and condensin–related Smc5/6 complex. The chromosomal association of the Smc5/6 complex is shown to increase in response to chromosome lengthening, chromosome circularization, or inactivation of Topoisomerase 2, all having the potential to increase the number of sister chromatid intertwinings 3. Furthermore, non-functional Smc6 reduces the accumulation of intertwined sister plasmids after one round of replication in the absence of Topoisomerase 2 function. Our results demonstrate that the length of a chromosome influences the need of superhelical tension release in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and allow us to propose a model where the Smc5/6 complex facilitates fork rotation by sequestering nascent chromatid intertwinings which form behind the replication machinery. Smc6、Nse4, and Scc2 profiles with or without topological tension was analyzed (in top2 mutant, cells with circular chromosome, and fragmented chromosome) . 17 ChIP samples and corresponding WCE fractions have been analyzed.