Pausing of simian virus 40 DNA replication fork movement in vivo by (dG-dA)n.(dT-dC)n tracts

We have earlier demonstrated that a sequence bordering an amplified DNA segment and containing the unusual sequence (dG-dA)n.(dT-dC)n could slow replication fork movement [Rao et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 16 (1988) 8077-8094]. This was done by cloning the unusual sequence in simian virus 40 (SV40) and following the rate of incorporation of radioactively labeled nucleotides into various regions of the SV40 genome. In the present study, we have analyzed the in vivo replicative intermediates of the SV40 variants containing the unusual sequences by a two-dimensional gel electrophoretic technique. We found that the technique can be used to detect minor pauses in DNA replication and demonstrated that the cloned (dG-dA)n.(dT-dC)n tracts, that can potentially adopt triplex structures, could slow DNA replication fork movement. A sequence from the plasmid pUC18 did not slow fork movement when cloned in the same locus of SV40. The pause caused by the alternating guanosine-adenosine repeats might play a role in the regulation of DNA replication and gene amplification in vivo.