Isolation and Characterization of Various Complexes of the Minichromosome Maintenance Proteins of Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Helicases are molecular machines that utilize energy derived from ATP hydrolysis to move along nucleic acids and to separate base-paired nucleotides. The movement of the helicase can also be described as a stationary helicase that pumps nucleic acid. Recent structural data for the hexameric E1 helicase of papillomavirus in complex with single-stranded DNA and MgADP has provided a detailed atomic and mechanistic picture of its ATP-driven DNA translocation. The structural and mechanistic features of this helicase are compared with the hexameric helicase prototypes T7gp4 and SV40 T-antigen. The ATP-binding site architectures of these proteins are structurally similar to the sites of other prototypical ATP-driven motors such as F1-ATPase, suggesting related roles for the individual site residues in the ATPase activity. IntroductionHelicases are essential enzymes that unwind duplex DNA, RNA, or DNA-RNA hybrids. This unwinding is driven by consumption of input energy that is harnessed to separate base-paired oligonucleotides and also to maintain a unidirectional advancement of the helicase upon the nucleic acid substrate. This translocation can alternatively be described as an immobile helicase pumping nucleic acid. The energy for these transformations is derived from the hydrolysis of nucleotide triphosphate (NTP). Helicases can be depicted as an internal combustion engine with each individual NTPase site serving as one cylinder. Each individual cylinder follows a defined series of events: injection (ATP binding), compression (optimally positioning the site for hydrolysis), combustion (ATP hydrolysis/work generation), and exhaust (ADP and phosphate release). In a helicase, the individual combustion cylinders coordinate these actions to carry out the repetitive mechanical operation of prying open base pairs and/or actively translocating with respect to the nucleic acid substrate. Many other molecular motors utilize similar engines to carry out multiple diverse functions such as translocation of peptides in the case of ClpX, movement along cellular structures in the case of dyenin, and rotation about an axle as in F 1 -ATPase.Based upon conserved sequence motifs, helicases have been classified into six superfamilies [1,2 ]. An extensive review of these superfamilies has been provided recently [3 ]. Superfamily 1 (SF1) and superfamily 2 (SF2) helicases are very prevalent, generally monomeric, and participate in several diverse DNA and RNA manipulations. The other helicase superfamilies form hexameric rings (reviewed in [4]), as demonstrated by biochemistry [5][6][7][8] and electron microscopy studies [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], and often participate at the replication fork. All of these helicases bind and hydrolyze NTP at the interface between two recA-like domains. The binding site consists of a Walker A (P-loop) and a Walker B motif from the first domain and other elements such as an arginine finger from the other domain. The SF1 and SF2 helicases contain two recAlike domains coupled by a short linker, and t...

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“…and MCM3 appear to adopt positions on either side of MCM5 [58], all absent from the helicase-active MCM4/6/7 [59][60][61][62][63].…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

On helicases and other motor proteins

Enemark

Joshua‐Tor

2008

Current Opinion in Structural Biology

192

238

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“…1 and 2). MCM2-7 is thought to be the replicative helicase responsible for unwinding DNA ahead of the replication machinery (3)(4)(5)(6). It is loaded in a Cdc6-and Cdt1-dependent manner, and this loading can only occur during low levels of CDK activity, in late M phase and early G 1 phase.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Cdt1 Lacking the Evolutionarily Conserved Region That Interacts with MCM2–7 Is Capable of Inducing Re-replication

Teer

Dutta

2008

Journal of Biological Chemistry

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Replication initiation must be a carefully regulated process to avoid genomic instability caused by aberrant replication. In eukaryotic cells, distinct steps of protein loading (origin licensing) and replication activation are choreographed such that a cell can replicate only once per cell cycle. The first proteins recruited to the origins form the pre-replication complex. Of these proteins, Cdt1 is of interest, as it is the focus of several pathways to control replication initiation. It is degraded by two different pathways, mediated by the interaction of Cdt1 with proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) or with cyclin-Cdk2 and inhibited by geminin once cells are in S-phase, presumably to prevent reloading of pre-replication complexes once S-phase has begun. Although the requirement of Cdt1 in loading MCM2-7 is known, the mechanism by which overexpressed Cdt1 stimulates re-replication is unclear. In this study we have designed various mutations in Cdt1 to determine which portion of Cdt1 is important for re-replication, providing insight into possible mechanisms. Surprisingly, we found that mutants of Cdt1 that do not interact with MCM2-7 are able to induce rereplication when overexpressed. The re-replication is not due to titration of geminin from endogenous Cdt1 and is not accompanied by stabilization of endogenous Cdt1. Additionally, the N-terminal one-third of Cdt1 is sufficient to induce re-replication. The N terminus contains the PCNA-and cyclin-interacting motifs, and deletion of both motifs simultaneously in the overexpressed Cdt1 prevents re-replication. These findings suggest that exogenous Cdt1 induces re-replication by de-repressing endogenous Cdt1 through the titration of PCNA and cyclin.

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“…Similarly, changes in the incidences of ARL were observed for individuals that were on HAART. A number of studies have shown a decrease in incidence and mortality in patients with ARL (Besson et al, 2001;Kirk et al, 2001;Lee and Hurwitz, 2000;Navarro and Kaplan, 2006). The same Swiss cohort study has shown an overall decrease of HNL incidence of about 76% on HAART treatment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%