Influence of a replication enhancer on the hierarchy of origin efficiencies within a cluster of DNA replication origins

DNA replication origins in animal cells sometimes occur in clusters. Often one of the multiple origins within these clusters fires more frequently than the others. The reason for this hierarchy remains unknown. Similar origin clusters occur in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. One such cluster is located near the ura4 gene on chromosome III and contains three origins: ars3002, ars3003, and ars3004. In their natural chromosomal context (ars3003 is about 2.5 kb upstream of ars3002 and ars3004 is adjacent to ars3002 on the downstream side) their initiation frequencies display a striking hierarchy: ars3002 much greater than ars3003 much greater than ars3004. Here, we describe experiments that reveal a 400 bp replication enhancer within ars3004, adjacent to ars3002. The enhancer is essential for ars3004 origin function in a plasmid, but even with the enhancer ars3004 is an inefficient origin. The enhancer is not essential for ars3002 plasmid origin activity, but dramatically stimulates this activity, converting ars3002 from an inefficient plasmid origin to a very efficient one. It also stimulates the plasmid origin activity of ars3001 and ars3003 at all, tested positions and orientations on both sides of each autonomously replicating sequence (ARS) element. If ars3002 is redefined to include the enhancer, then the relative activities of the three ARS elements as single origins within separate plasmids or as origins when all three ARS elements are present in a single plasmid is the same as the chromosomal hierarchy. Thus, this replication enhancer defines the relative activities of the three origins in the ura4 origin region. Similar enhancers may affect relative activities in the origin clusters of animal cells. (C) 1999 Academic Press.