Kao Ya-Ting, Saxena Chaitanya, Wang Lijuan, Sancar Aziz, Zhong Dongping
Department of Physics, Ohio State University, 174 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Nov 8;102(45):16128-32. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0506586102. Epub 2005 Sep 16.
Photolyase uses light energy to split UV-induced cyclobutane dimers in damaged DNA, but its molecular mechanism has never been directly revealed. Here, we report the direct mapping of catalytic processes through femtosecond synchronization of the enzymatic dynamics with the repair function. We observed direct electron transfer from the excited flavin cofactor to the dimer in 170 ps and back electron transfer from the repaired thymines in 560 ps. Both reactions are strongly modulated by active-site solvation to achieve maximum repair efficiency. These results show that the photocycle of DNA repair by photolyase is through a radical mechanism and completed on subnanosecond time scale at the dynamic active site, with no net change in the redox state of the flavin cofactor.
光解酶利用光能裂解受损DNA中紫外线诱导形成的环丁烷二聚体,但其分子机制从未被直接揭示。在此,我们报告通过将酶促动力学与修复功能进行飞秒同步来直接绘制催化过程。我们观察到在170皮秒内从激发态黄素辅因子到二聚体的直接电子转移,以及在560皮秒内从修复后的胸腺嘧啶的反向电子转移。这两个反应都受到活性位点溶剂化的强烈调节,以实现最大修复效率。这些结果表明,光解酶修复DNA的光循环是通过自由基机制进行的,并且在动态活性位点上在亚纳秒时间尺度内完成,黄素辅因子的氧化还原状态没有净变化。