Dynamics of the Eukaryotic Replicative Helicase at Lagging-Strand Protein Barriers Support the Steric Exclusion Model

Summary: Progression of DNA replication depends on the ability of the replisome complex to overcome nucleoprotein barriers. During eukaryotic replication, the CMG helicase translocates along the leading-strand template and unwinds the DNA double helix. While proteins bound to the leading-strand template efficiently block the helicase, the impact of lagging-strand protein obstacles on helicase translocation and replisome progression remains controversial. Here, we show that CMG and replisome progressions are impaired when proteins crosslinked to the lagging-strand template enhance the stability of duplex DNA. In contrast, proteins that exclusively interact with the lagging-strand template influence neither the translocation of isolated CMG nor replisome progression in Xenopus egg extracts. Our data imply that CMG completely excludes the lagging-strand template from the helicase central channel while unwinding DNA at the replication fork, which clarifies how two CMG helicases could freely cross one another during replication initiation and termination. : During DNA replication, the CMG complex unwinds the double helix and must overcome protein barriers on DNA. Kose et al. show that proteins that interact exclusively with the lagging-strand template are bypassed by the helicase without stalling, implying that the lagging-strand template is completely excluded from CMG during unwinding. Keywords: eukaryotic DNA replication, CMG, replicative helicase, DNA-protein crosslink, single-molecule imaging, steric exclusio