Disease relevance of asf1

• ASF-1 produced in E. coli can activate splicing in vitro and switch 5' splice-site utilization, establishing that the recombinant protein is sufficient to supply these activities [1].

High impact information on asf1

• Use of the upstream site results in a second mRNA (ASF-2) in which translation of the downstream exon occurs extensively in an alternative reading frame distinct from ASF-1 [1].
• ASF-1 consists of 248 amino acid residues, including an 80 residue RNA-binding domain at its N-terminus and a 50 residue C-terminal region that is 80% serine plus arginine [1].
• Genetic analyses in Saccharomyces cerevisiae demonstrate that ASF1 is essential for normal cell cycle progression, and suggest that RCAF mediates chromatin assembly after DNA replication and the repair of double-strand DNA damage in vivo [2].
• In mammals, their activity peaks during S phase, when they phosphorylate the antisilencing function protein 1 (ASF1), a histone chaperone involved in replication-dependent chromatin assembly [3].
• Here, we show that Drosophila ASF1 is also a phosphorylation target of TLK, and that the two components cooperate to control chromatin replication in vivo [3].

Biological context of asf1

• Interaction between the Drosophila CAF-1 and ASF1 chromatin assembly factors [4].
• The histone chaperone ASF1 localizes to active DNA replication forks to mediate efficient DNA replication [5].
• Cells lacking dASF1 accumulate in S phase of the cell cycle as determined by flow cytometry analysis of DNA content and quantitation of the proportion of cells with replication foci [5].

Associations of asf1 with chemical compounds

• In agreement, bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) pulse-chase analysis demonstrates that the absence of ASF1 leads to delayed progression through S-phase [5].
• We have also found that dASF1 colocalizes with DNA replication foci throughout S phase by immunofluorescence analysis and that these dASF1 foci are disrupted upon inhibition of DNA replication by treatment of cells with hydroxyurea [5].

Other interactions of asf1

• The analysis of native and recombinant dCAF-1 revealed an interaction between dCAF-1 and the Drosophila anti-silencing function 1 (dASF1) component of replication-coupling assembly factor (RCAF) [4].
• The assembly and disassembly of chromatin structures from histone proteins and DNA are mediated by histone chaperones, including the histone H3/H4 chaperone anti-silencing function 1 (ASF1) [5].

References