scholarly journals The HRDC domain oppositely modulates the unwinding activity of E. coli RecQ helicase on duplex DNA and G-quadruplex

2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (51) ◽  
pp. 17646-17658
Author(s):  
Fang-Yuan Teng ◽  
Ting-Ting Wang ◽  
Hai-Lei Guo ◽  
Ben-Ge Xin ◽  
Bo Sun ◽  
...  

RecQ family helicases are highly conserved from bacteria to humans and have essential roles in maintaining genome stability. Mutations in three human RecQ helicases cause severe diseases with the main features of premature aging and cancer predisposition. Most RecQ helicases shared a conserved domain arrangement which comprises a helicase core, an RecQ C-terminal domain, and an auxiliary element helicase and RNaseD C-terminal (HRDC) domain, the functions of which are poorly understood. In this study, we systematically characterized the roles of the HRDC domain in E. coli RecQ in various DNA transactions by single-molecule FRET. We found that RecQ repetitively unwinds the 3′-partial duplex and fork DNA with a moderate processivity and periodically patrols on the ssDNA in the 5′-partial duplex by translocation. The HRDC domain significantly suppresses RecQ activities in the above transactions. In sharp contrast, the HRDC domain is essential for the deep and long-time unfolding of the G4 DNA structure by RecQ. Based on the observations that the HRDC domain dynamically switches between RecA core- and ssDNA-binding modes after RecQ association with DNA, we proposed a model to explain the modulation mechanism of the HRDC domain. Our findings not only provide new insights into the activities of RecQ on different substrates but also highlight the novel functions of the HRDC domain in DNA metabolisms.

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahad Rashid ◽  
Paul D Harris ◽  
Manal S Zaher ◽  
Mohamed A Sobhy ◽  
Luay I Joudeh ◽  
...  

Human flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) and related structure-specific 5’nucleases precisely identify and incise aberrant DNA structures during replication, repair and recombination to avoid genomic instability. Yet, it is unclear how the 5’nuclease mechanisms of DNA distortion and protein ordering robustly mediate efficient and accurate substrate recognition and catalytic selectivity. Here, single-molecule sub-millisecond and millisecond analyses of FEN1 reveal a protein-DNA induced-fit mechanism that efficiently verifies substrate and suppresses off-target cleavage. FEN1 sculpts DNA with diffusion-limited kinetics to test DNA substrate. This DNA distortion mutually ‘locks’ protein and DNA conformation and enables substrate verification with extreme precision. Strikingly, FEN1 never misses cleavage of its cognate substrate while blocking probable formation of catalytically competent interactions with noncognate substrates and fostering their pre-incision dissociation. These findings establish FEN1 has practically perfect precision and that separate control of induced-fit substrate recognition sets up the catalytic selectivity of the nuclease active site for genome stability.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjie Li ◽  
Bhaswati Sengupta ◽  
Stephen J. Benkovic ◽  
Tae Hee Lee ◽  
Mark Hedglin

ABSTRACTTranslesion DNA synthesis (TLS) enables DNA replication through damaging modifications to template DNA and requires monoubiquitination of the PCNA sliding clamp by the Rad6/Rad18 complex. This posttranslational modification is critical to cell survival following exposure to DNA damaging agents and is tightly regulated to restrict TLS to damaged DNA. RPA, the major single strand DNA (ssDNA) binding protein, forms filaments on ssDNA exposed at TLS sites and plays critical yet undefined roles in regulating PCNA monoubiquitination. Here, we utilize kinetic assays and single molecule FRET microscopy to monitor PCNA monoubiquitination and Rad6/Rad18 complex dynamics on RPA filaments, respectively. Results reveal that a Rad6/Rad18 complex is recruited to an RPA filament via Rad18•RPA interactions and randomly translocates along the filament. These translocations promote productive interactions between the Rad6/Rad18 complex and the resident PCNA, significantly enhancing monoubiquitination. These results illuminate critical roles of RPA in the specificity and efficiency of PCNA monoubiquitination.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Israels ◽  
Claire S. Albrecht ◽  
Anson Dang ◽  
Megan Barney ◽  
Peter H. von Hippel ◽  
...  

Thermally-driven conformational fluctuations (or 'breathing') of DNA plays important roles in the function and regulation of the 'macromolecular machinery of genome expression.' Fluctuations in double-stranded (ds) DNA are involved in the transient exposure of pathways to protein binding sites within the DNA framework, leading to the binding of functional and regulatory proteins to single-stranded (ss) DNA templates. These interactions often require that the ssDNA sequences, as well as the proteins involved, assume transient conformations critical for successful binding. Here we use microsecond-resolved single-molecule F&oumlrster Resonance Energy Transfer (smFRET) experiments to investigate the backbone fluctuations of short (ss) oligo- oligo(dT)n templates within DNA constructs that can also serve as models for ss-dsDNA junctions. Such junctions, as well as the attached ssDNA sequences, are involved in the binding of ssDNA binding (ssb) proteins that control and integrate the mechanisms of DNA replication complexes. We have used these data to determine multi-order time-correlation functions (TCFs) and probability distribution functions (PDFs) that characterize the kinetic and thermodynamic behavior of the system. We find that the oligo(dT)n tails of ss-dsDNA constructs inter-convert, on sub-millisecond time-scales, between three macrostates with distinctly different end-to-end distances. These are: (i) a 'compact' macrostate that represents the dominant species at equilibrium; (ii) a 'partially extended' macrostate that exists as a minority species; and (iii) a 'highly extended' macrostate that is present in trace amounts. We propose a model for ssDNA secondary structure that advances our understanding of how spontaneously formed nucleic acid conformations may facilitate the activities of ssDNA associating proteins.


2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (16) ◽  
pp. 5461-5469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Qiang Wu ◽  
Ming-Li Zhang ◽  
Chun-Peng Song

Telomeres are specific nucleoprotein structures that are located at the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes and play crucial roles in genomic stability. Telomere DNA consists of simple repeats of a short G-rich sequence: TTAGGG in mammals and TTTAGGG in most plants. In recent years, the mammalian telomeric G-rich repeats have been shown to form G-quadruplex (G4) structures, which are crucial for modulating telomere functions. Surprisingly, even though plant telomeres are essential for plant growth, development, and environmental adaptions, only few reports exist on plant telomeric G4 DNA (pTG4). Here, using bulk and single-molecule assays, including CD spectroscopy, and single-molecule FRET approaches, we comprehensively characterized the structure and dynamics of a typical plant telomeric sequence, d[GGG(TTTAGGG)3]. We found that this sequence can fold into mixed G4s in potassium, including parallel and antiparallel structures. We also directly detected intermediate dynamic transitions, including G-hairpin, parallel G-triplex, and antiparallel G-triplex structures. Moreover, we observed that pTG4 is unfolded by the AtRecQ2 helicase but not by AtRecQ3. The results of our work shed light on our understanding about the existence, topological structures, stability, intermediates, unwinding, and functions of pTG4.


2006 ◽  
Vol 398 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudha Sharma ◽  
Kevin M. Doherty ◽  
Robert M. Brosh

Helicases are molecular motor proteins that couple the hydrolysis of NTP to nucleic acid unwinding. The growing number of DNA helicases implicated in human disease suggests that their vital specialized roles in cellular pathways are important for the maintenance of genome stability. In particular, mutations in genes of the RecQ family of DNA helicases result in chromosomal instability diseases of premature aging and/or cancer predisposition. We will discuss the mechanisms of RecQ helicases in pathways of DNA metabolism. A review of RecQ helicases from bacteria to human reveals their importance in genomic stability by their participation with other proteins to resolve DNA replication and recombination intermediates. In the light of their known catalytic activities and protein interactions, proposed models for RecQ function will be summarized with an emphasis on how this distinct class of enzymes functions in chromosomal stability maintenance and prevention of human disease and cancer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (18) ◽  
pp. 9708-9720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seoyun Choi ◽  
Seung-Won Lee ◽  
Hajin Kim ◽  
Byungchan Ahn

Abstract The RecQ family of helicases is highly conserved both structurally and functionally from bacteria to humans. Defects in human RecQ helicases are associated with genetic diseases that are characterized by cancer predisposition and/or premature aging. RecQ proteins exhibit 3′-5′ helicase activity and play critical roles in genome maintenance. Recent advances in single-molecule techniques have revealed the reiterative unwinding behavior of RecQ helicases. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear, with contradicting reports. Here, we characterized the unwinding dynamics of the Caenorhabditis elegans RecQ helicase HIM-6 using single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer measurements. We found that HIM-6 exhibits reiterative DNA unwinding and the length of DNA unwound by the helicase is sharply defined at 25–31 bp. Experiments using various DNA substrates revealed that HIM-6 utilizes the mode of ‘sliding back’ on the translocated strand, without strand-switching for rewinding. Furthermore, we found that Caenorhabditis elegans replication protein A, a single-stranded DNA binding protein, suppresses the reiterative behavior of HIM-6 and induces unidirectional, processive unwinding, possibly through a direct interaction between the proteins. Our findings shed new light on the mechanism of DNA unwinding by RecQ family helicases and their co-operation with RPA in processing DNA.


2010 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 64a-65a
Author(s):  
Jonghyun Park ◽  
Yong-Moon Jeon ◽  
Daekil In ◽  
Seong-Dal Heo ◽  
Changill Ban ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (18) ◽  
pp. E3612-E3621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carey Phelps ◽  
Brett Israels ◽  
Davis Jose ◽  
Morgan C. Marsh ◽  
Peter H. von Hippel ◽  
...  

DNA replication is a core biological process that occurs in prokaryotic cells at high speeds (∼1 nucleotide residue added per millisecond) and with high fidelity (fewer than one misincorporation event per 107 nucleotide additions). The ssDNA binding protein [gene product 32 (gp32)] of the T4 bacteriophage is a central integrating component of the replication complex that must continuously bind to and unbind from transiently exposed template strands during DNA synthesis. We here report microsecond single-molecule FRET (smFRET) measurements on Cy3/Cy5-labeled primer-template (p/t) DNA constructs in the presence of gp32. These measurements probe the distance between Cy3/Cy5 fluorophores that label the ends of a short (15-nt) segment of ssDNA attached to a model p/t DNA construct and permit us to track the stochastic interconversion between various protein bound and unbound states. The length of the 15-nt ssDNA lattice is sufficient to accommodate up to two cooperatively bound gp32 proteins in either of two positions. We apply a unique multipoint time correlation function analysis to the microsecond-resolved smFRET data obtained to determine and compare the kinetics of various possible reaction pathways for the assembly of cooperatively bound gp32 protein onto ssDNA sequences located at the replication fork. The results of our analysis reveal the presence and translocation mechanisms of short-lived intermediate bound states that are likely to play a critical role in the assembly mechanisms of ssDNA binding proteins at replication forks and other ss duplex junctions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhura De ◽  
Mehmet Ali Oeztuerk ◽  
Katalin Toth ◽  
Rebecca C. Wade

The linker histone (LH) associates with the nucleosome with its globular domain (gH) binding in an on or off-dyad binding mode. The positioning of the LH may play a role in the compaction of higher-order structures of chromatin. Preference for different binding modes has been attributed to the LHs amino acid sequence. We here study the effect of the linker DNA (L-DNA) sequence on the positioning of a full-length LH, Xenopus laevis H1.0b, by employing single-molecule FRET spectroscopy. Chromatosomes were fluorescently labelled on one of the two 40bp long L-DNA arms, and on the gH. We varied 11bp of DNA flanking the core (non-palindromic Widom 601) of each chromatosome construct, making them either A-tract, purely GC, or mixed, with 64% AT. The gH consistently exhibited higher FRET efficiency with the L-DNA containing the A-tract, than that with the pure-GC stretch, even when the stretches were swapped. However, it did not exhibit higher FRET efficiency with the L-DNA containing 64% AT-rich mixed DNA, compared to the pure-GC stretch. We explain our observations with a FRET-distance restrained model that shows that the gH binds on-dyad and that two arginines mediate recognition of the A-tract via its characteristically narrow minor groove.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 1219-1226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Börsch ◽  
Thomas M. Duncan

Subunit rotation is the mechanochemical intermediate for the catalytic activity of the membrane enzyme FoF1-ATP synthase. smFRET (single-molecule FRET) studies have provided insights into the step sizes of the F1 and Fo motors, internal transient elastic energy storage and controls of the motors. To develop and interpret smFRET experiments, atomic structural information is required. The recent F1 structure of the Escherichia coli enzyme with the ϵ-subunit in an inhibitory conformation initiated a study for real-time monitoring of the conformational changes of ϵ. The present mini-review summarizes smFRET rotation experiments and previews new smFRET data on the conformational changes of the CTD (C-terminal domain) of ϵ in the E. coli enzyme.


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