Structural details of ribonuclease H from Escherichia coli as refined to an atomic resolution.

The crystal structure of RNase H from Escherichia coli has been determined by the multiple isomorphous replacement method, and refined by the stereochemically restrained least-squares procedure to a crystallographic R-factor of 0.196 at 1.48 A resolution. In the final structure, the root-mean-square (r.m.s.) deviation for bond lengths is 0.017 A, and for angle distances 0.036 A. The structure is composed of a five-stranded beta-sheet and five alpha-helices, and reveals the details of hydrogen bonding, electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between intra- and intermolecular residues. The refined structure allows an explanation of the particular interactions between the basic protrusion, consisting of helix alpha III and the following loop, and the remaining major domain. The beta-sheet, alpha II, alpha III and alpha IV form a central hydrophobic cleft that contains all six tryptophan residues, and presumably serves to fix the orientation of the basic protrusion. Two parallel adjacent helices, alpha I and alpha IV, are associated with a few triads of hydrophobic interactions, including many leucine residues, that are similar to the repeated leucine motif. The well-defined electron density map allows detailed discussion of amino acid residues likely to be involved in binding a DNA/RNA hybrid, and construction of a putative model of the enzyme complexed with a DNA/RNA hybrid oligomer. In this model, a protein region, from the Mg(2+)-binding site to the basic protrusion, covers roughly two turns of a DNA/RNA hybrid double helix. A segment (11-23) containing six glycine residues forms a long loop between the beta A and beta B strands. This loop, which protrudes into the solvent region, lies on the interface between the enzyme and a DNA/RNA hybrid in the model of the complex. The mean temperature factors of main-chain atoms show remarkably high values in helix alpha III that constitutes the basic protrusion, suggesting some correlation between its flexibility and the nucleic acid binding function. The Mg(2+)-binding site, surrounded by four invariant acidic residues, can now be described more precisely in conjunction with the catalytic activity. The arrangement of molecules within the crystal appears to be dominated by the cancelling out of a remarkably biased charge distribution on the molecular surface, which is derived in particular from the separation between the acidic Mg(2+)-binding site and the basic protrusion.     

Structural biochemistry of a type 2 RNase H: RNA primer recognition and removal during DNA replication

DNA replication and cellular survival requires efficient removal of RNA primers during lagging strand DNA synthesis. In eukaryotes, RNA primer removal is initiated by type 2 RNase H, which specifically cleaves the RNA portion of an RNA-DNA/DNA hybrid duplex. This conserved type 2 RNase H family of replicative enzymes shares little sequence similarity with the well-characterized prokaryotic type 1 RNase H enzymes, yet both possess similar enzymatic properties. Crystal structures and structure-based mutational analysis of RNase HII from Archaeoglobus fulgidus, both with and without a bound metal ion, identify the active site for type 2 RNase H enzymes that provides the general nuclease activity necessary for catalysis. The two-domain architecture of type 2 RNase H creates a positively charged binding groove and links the unique C-terminal helix-loop-helix cap domain to the active site catalytic domain. This architectural arrangement apparently couples directional A-form duplex binding, by a hydrogen-bonding Arg-Lys phosphate ruler motif, to substrate-discrimination, by a tyrosine finger motif, thereby providing substrate-specific catalytic activity. Combined kinetic and mutational analyses of structurally implicated substrate binding residues validate this binding mode. These structural and mutational results together suggest a molecular mechanism for type 2 RNase H enzymes for the specific recognition and cleavage of RNA in the RNA-DNA junction within hybrid duplexes, which reconciles the broad substrate binding affinity with the catalytic specificity observed in biochemical assays. In combination with a recent independent structural analysis, these results furthermore identify testable molecular hypotheses for the activity and function of the type 2 RNase H family of enzymes, including structural complementarity, substrate-mediated conformational changes and coordination with subsequent FEN-1 activity.     

Specific recognition of RNA/DNA hybrid and enhancement of human RNase H1 activity by HBD

Human RNase H1 contains an N-terminal domain known as dsRHbd for binding both dsRNA and RNA/DNA hybrid. We find that dsRHbd binds preferentially to RNA/DNA hybrids by over 25-fold and rename it as hybrid binding domain (HBD). The crystal structure of HBD complexed with a 12 bp RNA/DNA hybrid reveals that the RNA strand is recognized by a protein loop, which forms hydrogen bonds with the 2'-OH groups. The DNA interface is highly specific and contains polar residues that interact with the phosphate groups and an aromatic patch that appears selective for binding deoxyriboses. HBD is unique relative to non-sequence-specific dsDNA- and dsRNA-binding domains because it does not use positive dipoles of alpha-helices for nucleic acid binding. Characterization of full-length enzymes with defective HBDs indicates that this domain dramatically enhances both the specific activity and processivity of RNase H1. Similar activity enhancement by small substrate-binding domains linked to the catalytic domain likely occurs in other nucleic acid enzymes.