The mutational specificity of the Dbh lesion bypass polymerase and its implications

The Dbh polymerase of Sulfolobus solfataricus is a member of the recently described family of low fidelity DNA polymerases involved in bypass of DNA lesions. To investigate the enzymatic properties of Dbh, we characterized the errors made by this polymerase in vitro. Not only is Dbh much less accurate than the "classical" polymerases, but it showed a remarkable tendency to skip over a template pyrimidine positioned immediately 3' to a G residue, generating a single-base deletion. Single-turnover kinetic measurements suggest possible mechanisms. First, Dbh shows a bias in favor of dCTP, such that the rate of incorporation of dCTP opposite a template G is about 10-fold faster than for the other three dNTPs opposite their complementary partners. On a DNA substrate corresponding to a frameshift hotspot, the rate of frameshift insertion of dCTP opposite a template G that is one residue 5' to the expected templating position is approximately equal to the rate of the non-frameshifted C-dGTP insertion. We suspect that the unusual mutational specificity of Dbh (which is shared with other polymerases from the DinB branch of the bypass polymerase family) may be related to the type of DNA lesion(s) that it serves to bypass in vivo.     

DNA Polymerase β Ribonucleotide Discrimination: INSERTION,MISINSERTION, EXTENSION,AND CODING*

DNA polymerases must select nucleotides that preserve Watson-Crick base pairing rules and choose substrates with the correct (deoxyribose) sugar. Sugar discrimination represents a great challenge because ribonucleotide triphosphates are present at much higher cellular concentrations than their deoxy-counterparts. Although DNA polymerases discriminate against ribonucleotides, many therapeutic nucleotide analogs that target polymerases have sugar modifications, and their efficacy depends on their ability to be incorporated into DNA. Here, we investigate the ability of DNA polymerase β to utilize nucleotides with modified sugars. DNA polymerase β readily inserts dideoxynucleoside triphosphates but inserts ribonucleotides nearly 4 orders of magnitude less efficiently than natural deoxynucleotides. The efficiency of ribonucleotide insertion is similar to that reported for other DNA polymerases. The poor polymerase-dependent insertion represents a key step in discriminating against ribonucleotides because, once inserted, a ribonucleotide is easily extended. Likewise, a templating ribonucleotide has little effect on insertion efficiency or fidelity. In contrast to insertion and extension of a ribonucleotide, the chemotherapeutic drug arabinofuranosylcytosine triphosphate is efficiently inserted but poorly extended. These results suggest that the sugar pucker at the primer terminus plays a crucial role in DNA synthesis; a 3′-endo sugar pucker facilitates nucleotide insertion, whereas a 2′-endo conformation inhibits insertion.     

The properties of steric gate mutants reveal different constraints within the active sites of Y-family and A-family DNA polymerases

Y-family (lesion-bypass) DNA polymerases show the same overall structural features seen in other members of the polymerase superfamily, yet their active sites are more open, with fewer contacts to the DNA and nucleotide substrates. This raises the question of whether analogous active-site side chains play equivalent roles in the bypass polymerases and their classical DNA polymerase counterparts. In Klenow fragment, an A-family DNA polymerase, the steric gate side chain (Glu710) not only prevents ribonucleotide incorporation but also plays an important role in discrimination against purine-pyrimidine mispairs. In this work we show that the steric gate (Phe12) of the Y-family polymerase Dbh plays a very minor role in fidelity, despite its analogous role in sugar selection. Using ribonucleotide discrimination to report on the positioning of a mispaired dNTP, we found that the pyrimidine of a Pu-dPyTP nascent mispair occupies a similar position to that of a correctly paired dNTP in the Dbh active site, whereas in Klenow fragment the mispaired dNTP sits higher in the active site pocket. If purine-pyrimidine mispairs adopt the expected wobble geometry, the difference between the two polymerases can be attributed to the binding of the templating base, with the looser binding site of Dbh permitting a variety of template conformations with only minimal adjustment at the incoming dNTP. In Klenow fragment the templating base is more rigidly held, so that changes in base pair geometry would affect the dNTP position, allowing the Glu710 side chain to serve as a sensor of nascent mispairs.     

Crystal structure of a DinB lesion bypass DNA polymerase catalytic fragment reveals a classic polymerase catalytic domain.

The UmuC/DinB family of bypass polymerases is responsible for translesion DNA synthesis and includes the human polymerases eta, iota, and kappa. We determined the 2.3 A resolution crystal structure of a catalytic fragment of the DinB homolog (Dbh) polymerase from Sulfolobus solfataricus and show that it is nonprocessive and can bypass an abasic site. The structure of the catalytic domain is nearly identical to those of most other polymerase families. Homology modeling suggests that there is minimal contact between protein and DNA, that the nascent base pair binding pocket is quite accessible, and that the enzyme is already in a closed conformation characteristic of ternary polymerase complexes. These observations afford insights into the sources of low fidelity and low processivity of the UmuC/DinB polymerases.     

Conformational changes during normal and error-prone incorporation of nucleotides by a Y-family DNA polymerase detected by 2-aminopurine fluorescence

Y-family polymerases are specialized to carry out DNA synthesis past sites of DNA damage. Their active sites make fewer contacts to their substrates, consistent with the remarkably low fidelity of these DNA polymerases when copying undamaged DNA. We have used DNA containing the fluorescent reporter 2-aminopurine (2-AP) to study the reaction pathway of the Y-family polymerase Dbh. We detected 3 rapid noncovalent steps between binding of a correctly paired dNTP and the rate-limiting step for dNTP incorporation. These early steps resemble those seen with high-fidelity DNA polymerases, such as Klenow fragment, and include a step that may be related to the unstacking of the 5' neighbor of the templating base that is seen in polymerase ternary complex crystal structures. A significant difference between Dbh and high-fidelity polymerases is that Dbh generates no fluorescence changes subsequent to dNTP binding if the primer lacks a 3'OH, suggesting that the looser active site of Y-family polymerases may enforce reliance on the correct substrate structure in order to assemble the catalytic center. Dbh, like other bypass polymerases of the DinB subgroup, generates single-base deletion errors at an extremely high frequency by skipping over a template base that is part of a repetitive sequence. Using 2-AP as a reporter to study the base-skipping process, we determined that Dbh uses a mechanism in which the templating base slips back to pair with the primer terminus while the base that was originally paired with the primer terminus becomes unpaired.     

Kinetic basis of sugar selection by a Y-family DNA polymerase from Sulfolobus solfataricus P2

DNA polymerases use either a bulky active site residue or a backbone segment to select against ribonucleotides in order to faithfully replicate cellular genomes. Here, we demonstrated that an active site mutation (Y12A) within Sulfolobus solfataricus DNA polymerase IV (Dpo4) caused an average increase of 220-fold in matched ribonucleotide incorporation efficiency and an average decrease of 9-fold in correct deoxyribonucleotide incorporation efficiency, leading to an average reduction of 2000-fold in sugar selectivity. Thus, the bulky side chain of Tyr12 is important for both ribonucleotide discrimination and efficient deoxyribonucleotide incorporation. Other than synthesizing DNA as the wild-type Dpo4, the Y12A Dpo4 mutant incorporated more than 20 consecutive ribonucleotides into primer/template (DNA/DNA) duplexes, suggesting that this mutant protein possesses both a DNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity and a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity. Moreover, the binary and ternary crystal structures of Dpo4 have revealed that this DNA lesion bypass polymerase can bind up to eight base pairs of double-stranded DNA which is entirely in B-type. Thus, the DNA binding cleft of Dpo4 is flexible and can accommodate both A- and B-type oligodeoxyribonucleotide duplexes as well as damaged DNA.     

Novel ribonucleotide discrimination in the RNA polymerase-like two-barrel catalytic core of Family D DNA polymerases

Family D DNA polymerase (PolD) is the essential replicative DNA polymerase for duplication of most archaeal genomes. PolD contains a unique two-barrel catalytic core absent from all other DNA polymerase families but found in RNA polymerases (RNAPs). While PolD has an ancestral RNA polymerase catalytic core, its active site has evolved the ability to discriminate against ribonucleotides. Until now, the mechanism evolved by PolD to prevent ribonucleotide incorporation was unknown. In all other DNA polymerase families, an active site steric gate residue prevents ribonucleotide incorporation. In this work, we identify two consensus active site acidic (a) and basic (b) motifs shared across the entire two-barrel nucleotide polymerase superfamily, and a nucleotide selectivity (s) motif specific to PolD versus RNAPs. A novel steric gate histidine residue (H931 in Thermococcus sp. 9°N PolD) in the PolD s-motif both prevents ribonucleotide incorporation and promotes efficient dNTP incorporation. Further, a PolD H931A steric gate mutant abolishes ribonucleotide discrimination and readily incorporates a variety of 2′ modified nucleotides. Taken together, we construct the first putative nucleotide bound PolD active site model and provide structural and functional evidence for the emergence of DNA replication through the evolution of an ancestral RNAP two-barrel catalytic core.     

Comparative kinetics of nucleotide analog incorporation by vent DNA polymerase

Comparative kinetic and structural analyses of a variety of polymerases have revealed both common and divergent elements of nucleotide discrimination. Although the parameters for dNTP incorporation by the hyperthermophilic archaeal Family B Vent DNA polymerase are similar to those previously derived for Family A and B DNA polymerases, parameters for analog incorporation reveal alternative strategies for discrimination by this enzyme. Discrimination against ribonucleotides was characterized by a decrease in the affinity of NTP binding and a lower rate of phosphoryl transfer, whereas discrimination against ddNTPs was almost exclusively due to a slower rate of phosphodiester bond formation. Unlike Family A DNA polymerases, incorporation of 9-[(2-hydroxyethoxy)methyl]X triphosphates (where X is adenine, cytosine, guanine, or thymine; acyNTPs) by Vent DNA polymerase was enhanced over ddNTPs via a 50-fold increase in phosphoryl transfer rate. Furthermore, a mutant with increased propensity for nucleotide analog incorporation (Vent(A488L) DNA polymerase) had unaltered dNTP incorporation while displaying enhanced nucleotide analog binding affinity and rates of phosphoryl transfer. Based on kinetic data and available structural information from other DNA polymerases, we propose active site models for dNTP, ddNTP, and acyNTP selection by hyperthermophilic archaeal DNA polymerases to rationalize structural and functional differences between polymerases.     

The Y-family DNA polymerase Dpo4 uses a template slippage mechanism to create single-base deletions

The Y-family polymerases help cells tolerate DNA damage by performing translesion synthesis, yet they also can be highly error prone. One distinctive feature of the DinB class of Y-family polymerases is that they make single-base deletion errors at high frequencies in repetitive sequences, especially those that contain two or more identical pyrimidines with a 5' flanking guanosine. Intriguingly, different deletion mechanisms have been proposed, even for two archaeal DinB polymerases that share 54% sequence identity and originate from two strains of Sulfolobus. To reconcile these apparent differences, we have characterized Dpo4 from Sulfolobus solfataricus using the same biochemical and crystallographic approaches that we have used previously to characterize Dbh from Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. In contrast to previous suggestions that Dpo4 uses a deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP)-stabilized misalignment mechanism when creating single-base deletions, we find that Dpo4 predominantly uses a template slippage deletion mechanism when replicating repetitive DNA sequences, as was previously shown for Dbh. Dpo4 stabilizes the skipped template base in an extrahelical conformation between the polymerase and the little-finger domains of the enzyme. This contrasts with Dbh, in which the extrahelical base is stabilized against the surface of the little-finger domain alone. Thus, despite sharing a common deletion mechanism, these closely related polymerases use different contacts with the substrate to accomplish the same result.     

Pre-steady-state kinetic characterization of the DinB homologue DNA polymerase of Sulfolobus solfataricus

Equilibrium as well as pre-steady-state measurements were performed to characterize the molecular basis of DNA binding and nucleotide incorporation by the thermostable archaeal DinB homologue (Dbh) DNA polymerase of Sulfolobus solfataricus. Equilibrium titrations show a DNA binding affinity of about 60 nm, which is approximately 10-fold lower compared with other DNA polymerases. Investigations of the binding kinetics applying stopped-flow and pressure jump techniques confirm this weak binding affinity. Furthermore, these measurements suggest that the DNA binding occurs in a single step, diffusion-controlled manner. Single-turnover, single dNTP incorporation studies reveal maximal pre-steady-state burst rates of 0.64, 2.5, 3.7, and 5.6 s(-1) for dTTP, dATP, dGTP, and dCTP (at 25 degrees C), which is 10-100-fold slower than the corresponding rates of classical DNA polymerases. Another unique feature of the Dbh is the very low nucleotide binding affinity (K(d) approximately 600 mum), which again is 10-20-fold lower compared with classical DNA polymerases as well as other Y-family polymerases. Surprisingly, the rate-limiting step of nucleotide incorporation (correct and incorrect) is the chemical step (phosphoryl transfer) and not a conformational change of the enzyme. Thus, unlike replicative polymerases, an "induced fit" mechanism to select and incorporate nucleotides during DNA polymerization could not be detected for Dbh.     

Steric gate residues of Y-family DNA polymerases DinB and pol kappa are crucial for dNTP-induced conformational change

Discrimination against ribonucleotides by DNA polymerases is critical to preserve DNA integrity. For many DNA polymerases, including those of the Y family, rNTP discrimination has been attributed to steric clashes between a residue near the active site, the steric gate, and the 2′-hydroxyl of the incoming rNTP. Here we used hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) mass spectrometry (MS) to probe the effects of the steric gate in the Y-family DNA polymerases Escherichia coli DinB and human DNA pol κ. Formation of a ternary complex with a G:dCTP base pair in the active site resulted in slower hydrogen exchange relative to a ternary complex with G:rCTP in the active site. The protection from exchange was localized to regions both distal and proximal to the active site, suggesting that DinB and DNA pol κ adopt different conformations depending on the sugar of the incoming nucleotide. In contrast, when the respective steric gate residues were mutated to alanine, the differences in HDX between the dNTP- and rNTP-bound ternary complexes were attenuated such that for DinB(F13A) and pol κ(Y112A), ternary complexes with either G:dCTP or G:rCTP base pairs had similar HDX profiles. Furthermore, the HDX in these ternary complexes resembled that of the rCTP-bound state rather than the dCTP-bound state of the wild-type enzymes. Primer extension assays confirmed that DinB(F13A) and pol κ(Y112A) do not discriminate against rNTPs to the same extent as the wild-type enzymes. Our observations indicate that the steric gate is crucial for rNTP discrimination because of its role in specifically promoting a dNTP-induced conformational change and that rNTP discrimination occurs in a relatively closed state of the polymerases.     

Characterization of three mycobacterial DinB (DNA polymerase IV) paralogs highlights DinB2 as naturally adept at ribonucleotide incorporation

This study unveils Mycobacterium smegmatis DinB2 as the founder of a clade of Y-family DNA polymerase that is naturally adept at incorporating ribonucleotides by virtue of a leucine in lieu of a canonical aromatic steric gate. DinB2 efficiently scavenges limiting dNTP and rNTP substrates in the presence of manganese. DinB2''s sugar selectivity factor, gauged by rates of manganese-dependent dNMP versus rNMP addition, is 2.7- to 3.8-fold. DinB2 embeds ribonucleotides during DNA synthesis when rCTP and dCTP are at equimolar concentration. DinB2 can incorporate at least 16 consecutive ribonucleotides. In magnesium, DinB2 has a 26- to 78-fold lower affinity for rNTPs than dNTPs, but only a 2.6- to 6-fold differential in rates of deoxy versus ribo addition (k_pol). Two other M. smegmatis Y-family polymerases, DinB1 and DinB3, are characterized here as template-dependent DNA polymerases that discriminate strongly against ribonucleotides, a property that, in the case of DinB1, correlates with its aromatic steric gate side chain. We speculate that the unique ability of DinB2 to utilize rNTPs might allow for DNA repair with a ‘ribo patch’ when dNTPs are limiting. Phylogenetic analysis reveals DinB2-like polymerases, with leucine, isoleucine or valine steric gates, in many taxa of the phylum Actinobacteria.     

A single tyrosine prevents insertion of ribonucleotides in the eukaryotic-type phi29 DNA polymerase.

Three conserved motifs (named A, B and C) have been proposed to form the polymerization active site in all classes of DNA-dependent polymerases. In eukaryotic-type (alpha-like) DNA polymerases, motif A is characterized by the consensus "Dx2SLYP". Mutants in phi29 DNA polymerase residue Tyr254 of this conserved motif had been previously shown to be affected in dNTP binding. Here, we show that a single substitution of Tyr254 into a valine residue enables the enzyme to incorporate ribonucleotide substrates, without affecting its wild-type affinity for dNTPs. Whereas the wild-type enzyme preferred dNTPs more than two million-fold over rNTPs, the mutation of Tyr254 into valine reduced the discrimination for rNTPs up to 1000-fold. In addition to this discrimination mechanism, based on sugar selection, phi29 DNA polymerase is very inefficient when extending an RNA primer terminus, allowing its exonucleolytic degradation. These results indicate that the Tyr254 of phi29 DNA polymerase is responsible for the discrimination against the 2'-OH group of an incoming ribonucleotide. This is the first time that the invariant tyrosine residue of motif A is involved in ribo- versus deoxyribonucleotide discrimination in an eukaryotic-type DNA polymerase.     

DNA lesion bypass polymerases open up

Structures of catalytic fragments of two DNA lesion bypass DNA polymerases, yeast DNA polymerase eta and an archeon DinB homolog, have recently been solved. These structures share several common architectural and structural features observed in other DNA polymerases, including a hand-like architecture with fingers, palm, and thumb subdomains. The new structures provide the first structural insights into DNA lesion bypass. The fingers and thumb are smaller than those in other DNA polymerases. Modeled substrates suggest that the fingers in the vicinity of the incoming nucleotide is closed, a conformation not previously observed for an unliganded polymerase. However, the template binding pocket appears to be more open, indicating that for DNA polymerase eta, a covalently linked thymine-thymine dimer could be accommodated.     

Unlocking the sugar "steric gate" of DNA polymerases

To maintain genomic stability, ribonucleotide incorporation during DNA synthesis is controlled predominantly at the DNA polymerase level. A steric clash between the 2'-hydroxyl of an incoming ribonucleotide and a bulky active site residue, known as the "steric gate", establishes an effective mechanism for most DNA polymerases to selectively insert deoxyribonucleotides. Recent kinetic, structural, and in vivo studies have illuminated novel features about ribonucleotide exclusion and the mechanistic consequences of ribonucleotide misincorporation on downstream events, such as the bypass of a ribonucleotide in a DNA template and the subsequent extension of the DNA lesion bypass product. These important findings are summarized in this review.     

Crystal structure of a DinB family error-prone DNA polymerase from Sulfolobus solfataricus.

A new group of error-prone DNA polymerases overcomes the blockage posed to normal DNA replication by damaged template bases, suggesting an active site with a loose, flexible pocket that accommodates aberrant DNA structures. We have determined a 2.8 A resolution crystal structure of the Sulfolobus solfataricus Dbh protein, a DNA translesion polymerase closely related to Escherichia coli DNA polymerase IV and human polymerase kappa. A high error rate is observed for the Dbh polymerase in a range of 10(-2)-10(-3) for all 12 base substitution mispairs. The crystal structure of Dbh reveals an overall architecture resembling other DNA polymerases but has unique features that are likely to contribute to error-prone synthesis, including -1 frameshifting mutations.     

Discrimination against the cytosine analog tC by Escherichia coli DNA polymerase IV DinB

The cytosine analog 1,3-diaza-2-oxophenothiazine (tC) is a fluorescent nucleotide that forms Watson-Crick base pairs with dG. The Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I (an A-family polymerase) can efficiently bypass tC on the template strand and incorporate deoxyribose-triphosphate-tC into the growing primer terminus. Y-family DNA polymerases are known for their ability to accommodate bulky lesions and modified bases and to replicate beyond such nonstandard DNA structures in a process known as translesion synthesis. We probed the ability of the Escherichia coli Y-family DNA polymerase DinB (Pol IV) to copy DNA containing tC and to incorporate tC into a growing DNA strand. DinB selectively adds dGTP across from tC in template DNA but cannot extend beyond the newly formed G:tC base pair. However, we find that DinB incorporates the tC deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate opposite template G and extends from tC. Therefore, DinB displays asymmetry in terms of its ability to discriminate against the modification of the DNA template compared to the incoming nucleotide. In addition, our finding that DinB (a lesion-bypass DNA polymerase) specifically discriminates against tC in the template strand may suggest that DinB discriminates against template modifications in the major groove of DNA.     

Acidic residues critical for the activity and biological function of yeast DNA polymerase eta

Rad30 is a member of the newly discovered UmuC/DinB/Rad30 family of DNA polymerases. The N-terminal regions of these proteins are highly homologous, and they contain five conserved motifs, I to V, while their C-terminal regions are quite divergent. We examined the contributions of the C-terminal and N-terminal regions of Rad30 to its activity and biological function. Although deletion of the last 54 amino acids has no effect on DNA polymerase or thymine-thymine (T-T) dimer bypass activity, this C-terminal deletion-containing protein is unable to perform its biological function in vivo. The presence of a bipartite nuclear targeting sequence within this region suggests that at least one function of this portion of Rad30 is nuclear targeting. To identify the active-site residues of Rad30 important for catalysis, we generated mutations of nine acidic residues that are invariant or highly conserved among Rad30 proteins from different eukaryotic species. Mutations of the Asp30 and Glu39 residues present in motif I and of the Asp155 residue present in motif III to alanine completely inactivated the DNA polymerase and T-T dimer bypass activities, and these mutations did not complement the UV sensitivity of the rad30Delta mutation. Mutation of Glu156 in motif III to alanine confers a large reduction in the efficiency of nucleotide incorporation, whereas the remaining five Rad30 mutant proteins retain wild-type levels of DNA polymerase and T-T dimer bypass activities. From these observations, we suggest a role for the Asp30, Glu39, and Asp155 residues in the binding of two metal ions required for the reaction of the incoming deoxynucleoside 5'-triphosphate with the 3'-hydroxyl in the primer terminus, while Glu156 may participate in nucleotide binding.     

Structural mechanism of ribonucleotide discrimination by a Y-family DNA polymerase

The ability of DNA polymerases to differentiate between ribonucleotides and deoxribonucleotides is fundamental to the accurate replication and maintenance of an organism's genome. The active sites of Y-family DNA polymerases are highly solvent accessible, yet these enzymes still maintain a high selectivity towards deoxyribonucleotides. Here, we biochemically demonstrate that a single active-site mutation (Y12A) in Dpo4, a model Y-family DNA polymerase, causes both a dramatic loss of ribonucleotide discrimination and a decrease in nucleotide incorporation efficiency. We also determined two ternary crystal structures of the Dpo4 Y12A mutant incorporating either dATP or ATP nucleotides opposite a template dT base. Interestingly, both dATP and ATP were hydrolyzed to dADP and ADP, respectively. In addition, the dADP and ADP molecules adopt a similar conformation and position at the polymerase active site to a ddADP molecule in the ternary crystal structure of wild-type Dpo4. The Y12A mutant loses stacking interactions with the deoxyribose of dNTP, which destabilizes the binding of incoming nucleotides. The mutation also opens a space to accommodate the 2′-OH group of the ribose of NTP in the polymerase active site. The structural change leads to the reduction in deoxynucleotide incorporation efficiency and allows ribonucleotide incorporation.