The bacterial single-stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) acts as an organizer of DNA repair complexes. The radD gene was recently identified as having an unspecified role in repair of radiation damage and, more specifically, DNA double-strand breaks. Purified RadD protein displays a DNA-independent ATPase activity. However, ATP hydrolytic rates are stimulated by SSB through its C terminus. The RadD and SSB proteins also directly interact in vivo in a yeast two-hybrid assay and in vitro through ammonium sulfate co-precipitation. Therefore, it is likely that the repair function of RadD is mediated through interaction with SSB at the site of damage.In Escherichia coli the single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB) 2 functions as a molecular organizer of a variety of DNA replication and repair functions (1). Nearly a score of different proteins directly interact with the C-terminal eight amino acids of SSB (1-9), and newly discovered members of the SSB interactome are being described regularly. In some cases the activity of the interacting protein is stimulated by SSB. All of the proteins that interact with SSB to date have a role in some aspect of DNA metabolism. Therefore, an interaction with the C terminus of SSB provides an increasingly reliable indicator of DNA metabolic function.The radD gene (formerly yejH) was recently implicated in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks after radiation or chemical damage (10,11). The peptide sequence of the RadD protein includes all seven of the motifs associated with a superfamily 2 (SF2) helicase (10). Although there is little homology outside of these regions, the helicase motifs align well to other E. coli SF2 helicases including RecG and RecQ. RadD also contains a putative zinc finger motif in the C terminus that could aid in binding to DNA substrates. Both the ATPase and zinc binding domains are necessary for the rescue of DNA repair activities of radD deletion strains in vivo (10).Here, we present the first biochemical characterization of the RadD protein. Although helicase activity was not observed, RadD hydrolyzes ATP in the absence of DNA. This activity is stimulated by the SSB protein, specifically the C-terminal amino acid residues of SSB. The RadD and SSB proteins interact in vivo and directly in vitro. The previous study and this work, taken together, suggest that SSB likely recruits and activates RadD in the cell during DNA repair.
ResultsRationale-Based on the sequence similarity of RadD to known DNA metabolism proteins and a recent study implicating RadD in the repair of double-strand DNA breaks (10), we natively purified the RadD protein and screened for likely activities and interactions. A number of assays for helicase activity, including a variety of both DNA and RNA substrates, produced no positive results and thus are not reported. Presented here are results that demonstrate DNA-independent ATPase activity for RadD as well as an interaction with the SSB C terminus.RadD Protein Has a DNA-independent ATPase Activity-As a predicted SF2 helicase (10), Rad...