# Replication Of Chromosomes In Budding Yeast

> **NIH NIH R01** · SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH · 2020 · $453,382

## Abstract

Abstract
Chromatin is of fundamental importance to basic biological processes that rely on access to the genome.
Given that there is such diversity in chromatin structure, a central question is: how is chromatin structure
established and maintained within a cell? This question is perhaps most significant during S-phase when
chromatin is disassembled and reassembled on the new daughter genomes. We have developed new
tools with which we have investigated how DNA replication proceeds across a genome and how
chromatin is established on nascent DNA. Our most recent published work has shown that nucleosomes
are rapidly organized on newly replicated DNA, but the mechanics of how this happens remain unclear.
In this proposal we will generate data to provide a basic framework for understanding how chromatin
structures are established in S-phase in budding yeast.
Faithful duplication of chromatin during S-phase relies on two pools of histones: those from the parental
DNA and those synthesized during S-phase. How the “old” and “new” histones are handled by the
replisome and deposited into chromatin is not well understood. Recent data has suggested that old
histones may be asymmetrically segregated to one daughter cell! – raising the possibility that old (or
new) histones carry important information that help define cell identity. In order to understand how this
may occur, we have developed a new assay that can track parental histones through replication. Using
this assay we will define whether histone deposition is influenced by the asymmetric nature of the
replication fork and if there are specific mechanisms utilized by the cell to regulate where old and new
histones are deposited.
The final aspect of this proposal is to develop a new technology to map how individual replication forks
proceed across genomes. Our understanding of DNA replication and its relationship with chromatin
structure, nuclear organization and gene transcription has advanced significantly through the
development of genome-wide assays. All genome-wide tools utilize large populations of cells meaning
that they report on the average of the population; as such, many of the basic parameters that underlie
how a replication fork progresses through chromatin are not known. We describe a new technique that
captures and maps the positions and abundance of sister replication forks that initiated from the same
replication origin. We show how this information can be used to generate an entirely new view of how
replication proceeds across a genome.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10019567
- **Project number:** 5R01GM129058-02
- **Recipient organization:** SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Iestyn Whitehouse
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $453,382
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-17 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10019567

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10019567, Replication Of Chromosomes In Budding Yeast (5R01GM129058-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10019567. Licensed CC0.

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