Excess Cdt1 inhibits nascent strand elongation by repressing the progression of replication forks in Xenopus egg extracts

Cdt1 is a protein essential for initiation of DNA replication; it recruits MCM helicase, a core component of the replicative DNA helicase, onto replication origins. In our previous study, we showed that addition of excess Cdt1 inhibits nascent strand elongation during DNA replication in Xenopus egg extracts. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism behind the inhibitory effect of Cdt1. We found that addition of recombinant Cdt1 inhibited nascent DNA synthesis in a reinitiation-independent manner. To identify the mechanism by which Cdt1 inhibits nascent strand elongation, the effect of Cdt1 on loading of Mcm4 and Rpa70 onto chromatin was examined. The results showed that Cdt1 suppressed the excessive Rpa70 binding caused by extensive, aphidicolin-induced DNA unwinding; this unwinding occurs between stalled DNA polymerases and advancing replication forks. These findings suggested that excess Cdt1 suppressed the progression of replication forks.