Biology subjects

Le Tallec, B.

Publications and source records attributed to Le Tallec, B..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

High-resolution single-molecule replication profiling of the human genome

Despite the considerable progress made in recent years thanks to the rise of long-read sequencing, high-resolution, single molecule (SM)-based replication profiling of large genomes has remained out of reach. Here, we present a replication labelling strategy consisting in repeated pulse-labelling of asynchronously growing cells with the thymidine analogue bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) that greatly enhances the number of detectable replication tracks. We show that the multipulse BrdU labelling protocol, in association with ForkML, a machine-learning method translating BrdU signals in nanopore reads into oriented and positioned replication forks, enables the establishment of a SM replication map of the entire human genome at kilobase resolution.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2024

Nanotiming: telomere-to-telomere DNA replication timing profiling by nanopore sequencing

Current temporal studies of DNA replication are either low-resolution or require complex cell synchronisation and/or sorting procedures. Here we introduce Nanotiming, a nanopore sequencing-based method producing high-resolution, telomere-to-telomere replication timing (RT) profiles of eukaryotic genomes by interrogating changes in intracellular dTTP concentration during S phase through competition with its analogue bromodeoxyuridine triphosphate (BrdUTP) for incorporation into replicating DNA. Nanotiming solely demands the labelling of asynchronously growing cells with an innocuous dose of BrdU during one doubling time followed by BrdU quantification along nanopore reads. We demonstrate in yeast S. cerevisiae that Nanotiming precisely reproduces RT profiles generated by reference methods in wild-type and mutant cells inactivated for known RT determinants, for one-tenth of the cost. Nanotiming is simple, accurate, inexpensive, amenable to large-scale analyses, and is capable of unveiling RT at individual telomeres, revealing that Rif1 iconic telomere regulator directly delays the replication only of telomeres with specific subtelomeric elements.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2020

FORK-seq: replication landscape of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome by nanopore sequencing

Genome replication mapping methods profile cell populations, masking cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Here, we describe FORK-seq, a nanopore sequencing method to map replication of single DNA molecules at 200 nucleotide resolution. By quantifying BrdU incorporation along pulse-chased replication intermediates from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we orient 58,651 replication tracks reproducing population-based replication directionality profiles and map 4,964 and 4,485 individual initiation and termination events, respectively. Although most events cluster at known origins and fork merging zones, 9% and 18% of initiation and termination events, respectively, occur at many locations previously missed. Thus, FORK-seq reveals the full extent of cell-to-cell heterogeneity in DNA replication.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2018

Mapping DNA replication with nanopore sequencing

We have harnessed nanopore sequencing to study DNA replication genome-wide at the single-molecule level. Using in vitro prepared DNA substrates, we characterized the effect of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) substitution for thymidine on the MinION nanopore electrical signal. Using a neural-network basecaller trained on yeast DNA containing either BrdU or thymidine, we identified BrdU-labelled tracts in yeast cells synchronously entering S phase in the presence of hydroxyurea and BrdU. As expected, the BrdU-labelled tracts coincided with previously identified early-firing, but not late-firing, replication origins. These results open the way to high-throughput, high-resolution, single-molecule analysis of DNA replication in many experimental systems.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2018

Transcription-dependent regulation of replication dynamics modulates genome stability

Replication stress is a primary threat to genome stability and has been implicated in tumorigenesis1, 2. Common fragile sites (CFSs) are loci hypersensitive to replication stress3 and are hotspots for chromosomal rearrangements in cancers4. CFSs replicate late in S-phase3, are cell-type dependent4-6 and nest within very large genes4, 7-9. The mechanisms responsible for CFS instability are still discussed, notably the relative impact of transcription-replication conflicts7, 8, 10 versus their low density in replication initiation events5, 6. Here we address the relationships between transcription, replication, gene size and instability by manipulating the transcription of three endogenous large genes, two in chicken and one in human cells. Remarkably, moderate transcription destabilises large genes whereas high transcription levels alleviate their instability. Replication dynamics analyses showed that transcription quantitatively shapes the replication program of large genes, setting both their initiation profile and their replication timing as well as regulating internal fork velocity. Noticeably, high transcription levels advance the replication time of large genes from late to mid S-phase, which most likely gives cells more time to complete replication before mitotic entry. Transcription can therefore contribute to maintaining the integrity of some difficult-to-replicate loci, challenging the dominant view that it is exclusively a threat to genome stability.

molecular biology↗