Previous structural studies on native T5 5 nuclease, a member of the flap endonuclease family of structure-specific nucleases, demonstrated that this enzyme possesses an unusual helical arch mounted on the enzyme's active site. Based on this structure, the protein's surface charge distribution, and biochemical analyses, a model of DNA binding was proposed in which single-stranded DNA threads through the archway. We investigated the kinetic and substrate-binding characteristics of wild-type and mutant nucleases in relation to the proposed model. Five basic residues R33, K215, K241, R172, and R216, are all implicated in binding branched DNA substrates. All these residues except R172 are involved in binding to duplex DNA carrying a 5 overhang. Replacement of either K215 or R216 with a neutral amino acid did not alter k cat appreciably. However, these mutant nucleases displayed significantly increased values for K d and Km. A comparison of flap endonuclease binding to pseudoY substrates and duplexes with a single-stranded 5 overhang suggests a better model for 5 nuclease-DNA binding. We propose a major revision to the binding model consistent with these biophysical data.T he flap endonucleases, or 5Ј nucleases, are structure-specific endonucleases that also possess 5Ј-3Ј exonucleolytic activity. They are involved in processing substrates with 5Ј singlestranded tails such as those that arise during nick translation and replication and in some DNA damage-repair pathways (1, 2). These enzymes bind substrates containing a single-stranded 5Ј end and a duplex region such as 5Ј overhangs (5OVHs), 5Ј flaps, and pseudoY (Ps-Y) substrates (Fig. 1;. It has been suggested that the single-stranded 5Ј tail of such substrates threads through the 5Ј nuclease (4). Several prokaryotic and archaeal flap endonuclease structures have been solved (6-10). Because none of the reported structures contained bound DNA substrates, the precise mode of nucleic acid binding is unclear. These nucleases share significant primary sequence conservation as well as extensive structural similarities (11)(12)(13)(14). A central -sheet carrying many of the core metal-binding ligands is a striking feature of all 5Ј-nuclease structures reported to date. This core region contains acidic residues responsible for binding the two divalent metal ions required for nuclease activity in vitro. A series of helices and loops comprise the enzyme's core. The most variable region seems to be that comprising a helical arch in T5 5Ј nuclease, the observation of which led us to develop a model of substrate binding (ref. 8; Fig. 2). In T5 5Ј nuclease, the archway delineates a hole able to accommodate a threaded single-stranded nucleic acid. Although a similar hole is present in the Methanococcus jannaschii homologue (9), this region often appears disordered (6, 7) or as a folded loop in the structure of the Pyrococcus furiosus homologue (10). The conceptual model for flap endonuclease-DNA binding has been widely accepted (1,7,9,10,15,16). Nevertheless, this model suffers f...