Phosphorylation of DNA polymerase alpha-primase by cyclin A-dependent kinases regulates initiation of DNA replication in vitro.

DNA polymerase alpha-primase is the only known eukaryotic enzyme that can start DNA replication de novo. In this study, we investigated the regulation of DNA replication by phosphorylation of DNA polymerase alpha-primase. The p180 and the p68 subunits of DNA polymerase alpha-primase were phosphorylated using Cyclin A-, B- and E- dependent kinases. This phosphorylation did not influence its DNA polymerase activity on activated DNA, but slightly stimulated primase activity using poly(dT) single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) without changing the product length of primers. In contrast, site-specific initiation of replication on plasmid DNA containing the SV40 origin is affected: Cyclin A-Cdk2 and Cyclin A-Cdc2 inhibited initiation of SV40 DNA replication in vitro, Cyclin B-Cdc2 had no effect and Cyclin E-Cdk2 stimulated the initiation reaction. DNA polymerase alpha-primase that was pre-phosphorylated by Cyclin A-Cdk2 was completely unable to initiate the SV40 DNA replication in vitro; Cyclin B-Cdc2-phosphorylated enzyme was moderately inhibited, while Cyclin E-Cdk2-treated DNA polymerase alpha-primase remained fully active in the initiation reaction.