Nirwal Shivlee, Jha Ritika, Narayanan Naveen, Sharma Minakshi, Kulkarni Dhananjaya S, Sharma Dalchand, Babu Amith S, Suthar Dhiraj K, Rao Desirazu N, Nair Deepak T
Regional Centre for Biotechnology, NCR Biotech Science Cluster, 3rd Milestone, Faridabad-Gurgaon Expressway, Faridabad 121001, Haryana (NCR Delhi), India.
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2025 Feb 8;53(4). doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaf094.
Many prokaryotes, including members of the Neisseria species, lack MutH and cannot employ methyl-directed DNA mismatch repair (MMR). The nick on the daughter strand is created by the endonuclease activity present in the C-terminal domain (CTD) of the MutL homodimer. MutL-CTD is known to interact with the processivity-clamp. The crystal structure of the homodimeric MutL-CTD from Neisseria (NgoL-CTD) in complex with homodimeric processivity-clamp (Nβ-Clamp) shows that each NgoL-CTD monomer binds to a Nβ-Clamp monomer through the conserved motif III (517QHLLIP522). The structure and allied biochemical studies plus in vivo growth assays conducted with wild-type (wt) plus mutant proteins shows that the endonuclease dimer sits transversely across the C-terminal face of the Nβ-Clamp ring. The comparison of the structure with that of the partial prokaryotic replisome suggests that the relative orientation of DNA, Nβ-Clamp, and NgoL-CTD may direct the daughter strand towards one of the active sites in endonuclease homodimer. Nicking assays conducted with wt and mutant NgoL-CTD in the presence and absence of Nβ-Clamp support this inference. Overall, our studies posit that strand discrimination in non-methyl-directed MMR is achieved through a structural strategy involving the β-Clamp which is distinct from the chemical strategy employed in prokaryotes like Escherichia coli.
许多原核生物,包括奈瑟氏菌属的成员,缺乏MutH,无法进行甲基导向的DNA错配修复(MMR)。子链上的切口由MutL同型二聚体C端结构域(CTD)中的核酸内切酶活性产生。已知MutL-CTD与持续合成因子钳相互作用。来自奈瑟氏菌的同型二聚体MutL-CTD(NgoL-CTD)与同型二聚体持续合成因子钳(Nβ-Clamp)形成的复合物的晶体结构表明,每个NgoL-CTD单体通过保守基序III(517QHLLIP522)与一个Nβ-Clamp单体结合。结构及相关生化研究,以及对野生型(wt)和突变蛋白进行的体内生长试验表明,核酸内切酶二聚体横向位于Nβ-Clamp环的C端面上。将该结构与部分原核生物复制体的结构进行比较表明,DNA、Nβ-Clamp和NgoL-CTD的相对取向可能会将子链导向核酸内切酶同型二聚体的一个活性位点。在有和没有Nβ-Clamp的情况下,用wt和突变型NgoL-CTD进行的切口试验支持了这一推断。总体而言,我们的研究认为,非甲基导向MMR中的链辨别是通过一种涉及β-Clamp的结构策略实现的,这与大肠杆菌等原核生物采用的化学策略不同。