Replication timing and transcriptional control: beyond cause and effect - part IV

Abstract

Decades of work on the spatiotemporal organization of mammalian DNA replication timing (RT) continues to unveil novel correlations with aspects of transcription and chromatin organization but, until recently, mechanisms regulating RT and the biological significance of the RT program had been indistinct. We now know that the RT program is both influenced by and necessary to maintain chromatin structure, forming an epigenetic positive feedback loop. Moreover, the discovery of specific cis-acting elements regulating mammalian RT at both the domain and the whole-chromosome level has revealed multiple cell-type-specific and developmentally regulated mechanisms of RT control. We review recent evidence for diverse mechanisms employed by different cell types to regulate their RT programs and the biological significance of RT regulation during development.