Abstract
During S phase, eukaryotic cells unwind and duplicate a tremendous amount of DNA, generating structures that are very sensitive to both endogenous and exogenous insults. The collision of DNA polymerases with damaged DNA or other obstructions to fork progression generates replication stress, which can evolve into fork collapse if the replisome components are not stabilized. To ensure genome integrity, stalled replication forks are recognized by a checkpoint, whose central player is the human kinase ATR or Mec1 in S. cerevisiae. This review will discuss recent findings revealing roles of the ATR/Mec1 kinase: both in stabilizing the replisome directly and in activating the checkpoint response to regulate origin firing, DNA repair, fork restart, and cell cycle progression.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Review
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
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Cell Cycle / physiology
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Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
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Cell Cycle Proteins / metabolism*
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Checkpoint Kinase 1
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Checkpoint Kinase 2
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DNA Damage
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DNA Repair*
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DNA Replication*
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Enzyme Activation
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Genomic Instability*
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Humans
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Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / genetics
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Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / metabolism*
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Protein Kinases / genetics
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Protein Kinases / metabolism
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Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics
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Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*
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Saccharomyces cerevisiae / genetics
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Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / genetics
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Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / metabolism*
Substances
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Cell Cycle Proteins
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Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
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Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
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Protein Kinases
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Checkpoint Kinase 2
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ATR protein, human
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Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
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Checkpoint Kinase 1
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MEC1 protein, S cerevisiae
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Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
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RAD53 protein, S cerevisiae