C. elegans CUL-4 prevents rereplication by promoting the nuclear export of CDC-6 via a CKI-1-dependent pathway

Genome stability requires that genomic DNA is replicated only once per cell cycle. The replication-licensing system ensures that the formation of prereplicative complexes is temporally separated from the initiation of DNA replication [1-4]. The replication-licensing factors Cdc6 and Cdt1 are required for the assembly of prereplicative complexes during G1 phase. During S phase, metazoan Cdt1 is targeted for degradation by the CUL4 ubiquitin ligase [5-8], and vertebrate Cdc6 is translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm [9, 10]. However, because residual vertebrate Cdc6 remains in the nucleus throughout S phase [10-13], it has been unclear whether Cdc6 translocation to the cytoplasm prevents rereplication [1, 2, 14]. The inactivation of C. elegans CUL-4 is associated with dramatic levels of DNA rereplication [5]. Here, we show that C. elegans CDC-6 is exported from the nucleus during S phase in response to the phosphorylation of multiple CDK sites. CUL-4 promotes the phosphorylation and subsequent translocation of CDC-6 via negative regulation of the CDK-inhibitor CKI-1. Rereplication can be induced by coexpression of nonexportable CDC-6 with nondegradable CDT-1, indicating that redundant regulation of CDC-6 and CDT-1 prevents rereplication. This demonstrates that CDC-6 translocation is critical for preventing rereplication and that CUL-4 independently controls both replication-licensing factors.