Abstract
Selection and licensing of mammalian DNA replication origins may be regulated by epigenetic changes in chromatin structure. The Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) origin of plasmid replication (
OriP
) uses the cellular licensing machinery to regulate replication during latent infection of human cells. We found that the minimal replicator sequence of
OriP
, referred to as the dyad symmetry (DS), is flanked by nucleosomes. These nucleosomes were subject to cell cycle-dependent chromatin remodeling and histone modifications. Restriction enzyme accessibility assay indicated that the DS-bounded nucleosomes were remodeled in late G1. Remarkably, histone H3 acetylation of DS-bounded nucleosomes decreased during late G1, coinciding with nucleosome remodeling and MCM3 loading, and preceding the onset of DNA replication. The ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling factor SNF2h was also recruited to DS in late G1, and formed a stable complex with HDAC2 at DS. siRNA depletion of SNF2h reduced G1-specific nucleosome remodeling, histone deacetylation, and MCM3 loading at DS. We conclude that an SNF2h–HDAC1/2 complex coordinates G1-specific chromatin remodeling and histone deacetylation with the DNA replication initiation process at
OriP
.
