Structural insights into the first incision reaction during nucleotide excision repair

EMBO J. 2005 Mar 9;24(5):885-94. doi: 10.1038/sj.emboj.7600568. Epub 2005 Feb 3.

Abstract

Nucleotide excision repair is a highly conserved DNA repair mechanism present in all kingdoms of life. The incision reaction is a critical step for damage removal and is accomplished by the UvrC protein in eubacteria. No structural information is so far available for the 3' incision reaction. Here we report the crystal structure of the N-terminal catalytic domain of UvrC at 1.5 A resolution, which catalyzes the 3' incision reaction and shares homology with the catalytic domain of the GIY-YIG family of intron-encoded homing endonucleases. The structure reveals a patch of highly conserved residues surrounding a catalytic magnesium-water cluster, suggesting that the metal binding site is an essential feature of UvrC and all GIY-YIG endonuclease domains. Structural and biochemical data strongly suggest that the N-terminal endonuclease domain of UvrC utilizes a novel one-metal mechanism to cleave the phosphodiester bond.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Bacillus / enzymology
  • Bacillus / genetics
  • Catalytic Domain / genetics
  • Cations, Divalent / metabolism
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • DNA Repair / physiology*
  • DNA, Bacterial / chemistry
  • DNA, Bacterial / metabolism
  • Endodeoxyribonucleases / chemistry*
  • Endodeoxyribonucleases / genetics
  • Endodeoxyribonucleases / metabolism*
  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Static Electricity

Substances

  • Cations, Divalent
  • DNA, Bacterial
  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Endodeoxyribonucleases
  • I-TEVI endonuclease
  • UvrC protein, E coli

Associated data

  • PDB/1YCZ
  • PDB/1YD0-6