Helicases and Genomic Integrity Section, Translational Gerontology Branch, National Institute on Aging, NIH, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
Methods Enzymol. 2024;695:1-27. doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2023.12.006. Epub 2024 Jan 5.
G-quadruplex (G4) DNA or RNA poses a unique nucleic acid structure in genomic transactions. Because of the unique topology presented by G4, cells have exquisite mechanisms and pathways to metabolize G4 that arise in guanine-rich regions of the genome such as telomeres, promoter regions, ribosomal DNA, and other chromosomal elements. G4 resolvases are often represented by a class of molecular motors known as helicases that disrupt the Hoogsteen hydrogen bonds in G4 by harnessing the chemical energy of nucleoside triphosphate hydrolysis. Of special interest to researchers in the field, including us, is the human FANCJ DNA helicase that efficiently resolves G4 DNA structures. Notably, FANCJ mutations are linked to Fanconi Anemia and are prominent in breast and ovarian cancer. Since our discovery that FANCJ efficiently resolves G4 DNA structures 15 years ago, we and other labs have characterized mechanistic aspects of FANCJ-catalyzed G4 resolution and its biological importance in genomic integrity and cellular DNA replication. In addition to its G4 resolvase function, FANCJ is also a classic DNA helicase that acts on conventional duplex DNA structures, which are relevant to the enzyme's role in interstrand cross link repair, double-strand break repair via homologous recombination, and response to replication stress. Here, we describe detailed procedures for the purification of recombinant FANCJ protein and characterization of its G4 resolvase and duplex DNA helicase activity.
G-四链体 (G4) DNA 或 RNA 在基因组转录中呈现出一种独特的核酸结构。由于 G4 呈现出独特的拓扑结构,细胞内存在着精细的机制和途径来代谢基因组中富含鸟嘌呤的区域(如端粒、启动子区域、核糖体 DNA 和其他染色体元件)中产生的 G4。G4 解旋酶通常由一类称为解旋酶的分子马达来代表,它们通过利用核苷三磷酸水解的化学能来破坏 G4 中的 Hoogsteen 氢键。包括我们在内的该领域的研究人员特别感兴趣的是能够有效解决 G4 DNA 结构的人源 FANCJ DNA 解旋酶。值得注意的是,FANCJ 突变与范可尼贫血症有关,并且在乳腺癌和卵巢癌中较为突出。自从我们 15 年前发现 FANCJ 能够有效地解决 G4 DNA 结构以来,我们和其他实验室已经对 FANCJ 催化的 G4 分辨率的机制方面及其在基因组完整性和细胞 DNA 复制中的生物学重要性进行了特征描述。除了其 G4 解旋酶功能外,FANCJ 还是一种经典的 DNA 解旋酶,作用于常规的双链 DNA 结构,这与酶在链间交联修复、同源重组修复双链断裂以及对复制应激的反应中的作用相关。在这里,我们描述了重组 FANCJ 蛋白的纯化程序以及其 G4 解旋酶和双链 DNA 解旋酶活性的特征描述程序。