scholarly journals Archaeal DNA Replication: Identifying the Pieces to Solve a Puzzle

Genetics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 152 (4) ◽  
pp. 1249-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac K O Cann ◽  
Yoshizumi Ishino

Abstract Archaeal organisms are currently recognized as very exciting and useful experimental materials. A major challenge to molecular biologists studying the biology of Archaea is their DNA replication mechanism. Undoubtedly, a full understanding of DNA replication in Archaea requires the identification of all the proteins involved. In each of four completely sequenced genomes, only one DNA polymerase (Pol BI proposed in this review from family B enzyme) was reported. This observation suggested that either a single DNA polymerase performs the task of replicating the genome and repairing the mutations or these genomes contain other DNA polymerases that cannot be identified by amino acid sequence. Recently, a heterodimeric DNA polymerase (Pol II, or Pol D as proposed in this review) was discovered in the hyperthermophilic archaeon, Pyrococcus furiosus. The genes coding for DP1 and DP2, the subunits of this DNA polymerase, are highly conserved in the Euryarchaeota. Euryarchaeotic DP1, the small subunit of Pol II (Pol D), has sequence similarity with the small subunit of eukaryotic DNA polymerase δ. DP2 protein, the large subunit of Pol II (Pol D), seems to be a catalytic subunit. Despite possessing an excellent primer extension ability in vitro, Pol II (Pol D) may yet require accessory proteins to perform all of its functions in euryarchaeotic cells. This review summarizes our present knowledge about archaeal DNA polymerases and their relationship with those accessory proteins, which were predicted from the genome sequences.

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 4843-4852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumiko Matsuno ◽  
Maya Kumano ◽  
Yumiko Kubota ◽  
Yoshitami Hashimoto ◽  
Haruhiko Takisawa

ABSTRACT Recruitment of DNA polymerases onto replication origins is a crucial step in the assembly of eukaryotic replication machinery. A previous study in budding yeast suggests that Dpb11 controls the recruitment of DNA polymerases α and ε onto the origins. Sld2 is an essential replication protein that interacts with Dpb11, but no metazoan homolog has yet been identified. We isolated Xenopus RecQ4 as a candidate Sld2 homolog. RecQ4 is a member of the metazoan RecQ helicase family, and its N-terminal region shows sequence similarity with Sld2. In Xenopus egg extracts, RecQ4 is essential for the initiation of DNA replication, in particular for chromatin binding of DNA polymerase α. An N-terminal fragment of RecQ4 devoid of the helicase domain could rescue the replication activity of RecQ4-depleted extracts, and antibody against the fragment inhibited DNA replication and chromatin binding of the polymerase. Further, N-terminal fragments of RecQ4 physically interacted with Cut5, a Xenopus homolog of Dpb11, and their ability to bind to Cut5 closely correlated with their ability to rescue the replication activity of the depleted extracts. Our data suggest that RecQ4 performs an essential role in the assembly of replication machinery through interaction with Cut5 in vertebrates.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 5288-5298 ◽  
Author(s):  
N H Kuldell ◽  
S Buratowski

Biochemical analysis of proteins necessary for transcription initiation by eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (pol II) has identified transcription factor IIE (TFIIE) as an essential component of the reaction. To better understand the role of TFIIE in transcription, we isolated conditional alleles of TFA1, the gene encoding the large subunit of TFIIE in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mutant Tfa1 proteins fall into two classes. The first class causes thermosensitive growth due to single amino acid substitutions of the cysteines comprising the Zn-binding motif. The second mutant class is made up of proteins that are C-terminally truncated and that cause a cold-sensitive growth phenotype. The behavior of these mutants suggests that Tfa1p possesses at least two domains with genetically distinct functions. The mutations in the Zn-binding motif do not affect the mutant protein's stability at the nonpermissive temperature or its ability to associate with the small subunit of TFIIE. Our studies further determined that wild-type TFIIE can bind to single-stranded DNA in vitro. However, this property is unaffected in the mutant TFIIE complexes. Finally, we have demonstrated the biological importance of TFIIE in pol II-mediated transcription by depleting the Tfa1 protein from the cells and observing a concomitant decrease in total poly(A)+ mRNA.


1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1234-1243 ◽  
Author(s):  
J J Kang ◽  
D T Auble ◽  
J A Ranish ◽  
S Hahn

To probe the structure and function of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae general transcription factor TFIIA, we have systematically mutagenized the genes encoding both subunits and analyzed the effects of the mutations both in vivo and in vitro. We found that the central nonconserved region of the large subunit is not essential for function and likely acts as a spacer between the conserved N- and C-terminal regions. Deletion mutagenesis of the large subunit defined a region which is required for TATA binding protein (TBP) interaction. Alanine scanning mutagenesis defined a cluster of four basic residues which are likely required for interaction with DNA in the TBP-DNA complex. Much of the conserved regions of both subunits is required for subunit association, suggesting that these conserved regions fold into compact domains which extensively interact. In vitro transcription performed with extracts from yeast strains with mutations in either the large or the small TFIIA subunit demonstrated that TFIIA stimulates both basal and activated polymerase II (Pol II) transcription. The TFIIA-depleted extracts have normal Pol I and Pol III transcription activity, showing that TFIIA is a Pol II-specific factor. In vivo depletion of TFIIA activity reduced transcription from four different Pol II promoters. Finally, alanine scanning mutagenesis of TFIIA's small subunit has identified at least one mutation which is defective in transcription but which is not defective in subunit association or binding to TBP or TBP-DNA complexes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 89-92
Author(s):  
Muhammad Amir ◽  
Sabeera Afzal ◽  
Alia Ishaq

Polymerases were revealed first in 1970s. Most important to the modest perception the enzyme responsible for nuclear DNA replication that was pol , for DNA repair pol and for mitochondrial DNA replication pol  DNA construction and renovation done by DNA polymerases, so directing both the constancy and discrepancy of genetic information. Replication of genome initiate with DNA template-dependent fusion of small primers of RNA. This preliminary phase in replication of DNA demarcated as de novo primer synthesis which is catalyzed by specified polymerases known as primases. Sixteen diverse DNA-synthesizing enzymes about human perspective are devoted to replication, reparation, mutilation lenience, and inconsistency of nuclear DNA. But in dissimilarity, merely one DNA polymerase has been called in mitochondria. It has been suggest that PrimPol is extremely acting the roles by re-priming DNA replication in mitochondria to permit an effective and appropriate way replication to be accomplished. Investigations from a numeral of test site have significantly amplified our appreciative of the role, recruitment and regulation of the enzyme during DNA replication. Though, we are simply just start to increase in value the versatile roles that play PrimPol in eukaryote.


1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (12) ◽  
pp. 1588-1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T. Denhardt ◽  
Makoto Iwaya ◽  
Grant McFadden ◽  
Gerald Schochetman

Evidence is presented that in Escherichia coli made permeable to nucleotides by exposure to toluene, the synthesis of a DNA chain complementary to the infecting single-stranded DNA of bacteriophage [Formula: see text] requires ATP as well as the four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates. This synthesis results in the formation of the parental double-stranded replicative-form (RF) molecule. The ATP is not required simply to prevent degradation of the ribonucleoside or deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates; it can be partially substituted for by other ribonucleoside triphosphates.No single one of the known E. coli DNA polymerases appears to be uniquely responsible in vivo for the formation of the parental RF. Since [Formula: see text] replicates well in strains lacking all, or almost all, of the in-vitro activities of DNA polymerases I and II, neither of these two enzymes would seem essential; and in a temperature-sensitive E. coli mutant (dnaEts) deficient in DNA polmerase-I activity and possessing a temperature-sensitive DNA polymerase III, the viral single-stranded DNA is efficiently incorporated into an RF molecule at the restrictive temperature. In contrast, both RF replication and progeny single-stranded DNA synthesis are dependent upon DNA polymerase III activity.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (23) ◽  
pp. 14660-14667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Dittmer ◽  
John C. Drach ◽  
Leroy B. Townsend ◽  
Anke Fischer ◽  
Elke Bogner

ABSTRACT Herpesvirus DNA replication leads to unit length genomes that are translocated into preformed procapsids through a unique portal vertex. The translocation is performed by the terminase that cleaves the DNA and powers the insertion by its ATPase activity. Recently, we demonstrated that the putative human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) portal protein, pUL104, also forms high-molecular-weight complexes. Analyses now have been performed to determine the intracellular localization and identification of interaction partners of pUL104. In infected cells, HCMV pUL104 was found to be predominantly localized throughout the nucleus as well as in cytoplasmic clusters at late times of infection. The latter localization was abolished by phosphonoacetic acid, an inhibitor of viral DNA replication. Immunofluorescence revealed that pUL104 colocalized with pUL56, the large subunit of the HCMV terminase. Specific association of in vitro translated pUL104 with the carboxy-terminal half of GST-UL56C was detected. By using coimmunoprecipitations a direct interaction with pUL56 was confirmed. In addition, this interaction was no longer detected when the benzimidazole-d-nucleosides BDCRB or Cl4RB were added, thus indicating that these HCMV inhibitors block the insertion of the DNA into the capsid by preventing a necessary interaction of pUL56 with the portal. Electron microscopy revealed that in the presence of Cl4RB DNA is not packaged into capsids and these capsids failed to egress from the nucleus. Furthermore, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed that DNA concatemers synthesized in the presence of the compound failed to be processed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 288 (20) ◽  
pp. 13951-13959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Xiuxiang An ◽  
JoAnne Stubbe ◽  
Mingxia Huang

The small subunit (β2) of class Ia ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) houses a diferric tyrosyl cofactor (Fe2III-Y•) that initiates nucleotide reduction in the large subunit (α2) via a long range radical transfer (RT) pathway in the holo-(α2)m(β2)n complex. The C-terminal tails of β2 are predominantly responsible for interaction with α2, with a conserved tyrosine residue in the tail (Tyr356 in Escherichia coli NrdB) proposed to participate in cofactor assembly/maintenance and in RT. In the absence of structure of any holo-RNR, the role of the β tail in cluster assembly/maintenance and its predisposition within the holo-complex have remained unknown. In this study, we have taken advantage of the unusual heterodimeric nature of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNR small subunit (ββ′), of which only β contains a cofactor, to address both of these issues. We demonstrate that neither β-Tyr376 nor β′-Tyr323 (Tyr356 equivalent in NrdB) is required for cofactor assembly in vivo, in contrast to the previously proposed mechanism for E. coli cofactor maintenance and assembly in vitro. Furthermore, studies with reconstituted-ββ′ and an in vivo viability assay show that β-Tyr376 is essential for RT, whereas Tyr323 in β′ is not. Although the C-terminal tail of β′ is dispensable for cofactor formation and RT, it is essential for interactions with β and α to form the active holo-RNR. Together the results provide the first evidence of a directed orientation of the β and β′ C-terminal tails relative to α within the holoenzyme consistent with a docking model of the two subunits and argue against RT across the β β′ interface.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 754-754
Author(s):  
Likui Zhang ◽  
Yanchao Huang ◽  
Xinyuan Zhu ◽  
Yuxiao Wang ◽  
Haoqiang Shi ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Federley ◽  
Louis J. Romano

DNA replication is vital for an organism to proliferate and lying at the heart of this process is the enzyme DNA polymerase. Most DNA polymerases have a similar three dimensional fold, akin to a human right hand, despite differences in sequence homology. This structural homology would predict a relatively unvarying mechanism for DNA synthesis yet various polymerases exhibit markedly different properties on similar substrates, indicative of each type of polymerase being prescribed to a specific role in DNA replication. Several key conformational steps, discrete states, and structural moieties have been identified that contribute to the array of properties the polymerases exhibit. The ability of carcinogenic adducts to interfere with conformational processes by directly interacting with the protein explicates the mutagenic consequences these adducts impose. Recent studies have identified novel states that have been hypothesised to test the fit of the nascent base pair, and have also shown the enzyme to possess a lively quality by continually sampling various conformations. This review focuses on the homologous structural changes that take place in various DNA polymerases, both replicative and those involved in adduct bypass, the role these changes play in selection of a correct substrate, and how the presence of bulky carcinogenic adducts affects these changes.


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