Bacterial type II topoisomerases as targets for antibacterial drugs

Bacterial type II DNA topoisomerases are essential enzymes for correct genome functioning and cell growth. Gyrase is responsible for maintaining negative supercoiling of bacterial chromosome, whereas topoisomerase IV acts in disentangling daughter chromosomes following replication. Type II DNA topoisomerases possess an ATP binding site, which can be treated as a target for antibacterial drugs. Resolving crystal structures of protein fragments consisting of an ATP binding site complexed with ADPNP/antibiotics have proven to be valuable for the understanding of the mode of action of existing antibacterial agents and presented new possibilities for novel drug design. Coumarins, quinolones and cyclothialidines are diverse group of antibiotics that interfere with type II DNA topoisomerases, however their mode of action is different. Recently a new class of antibiotics, simociclinones, was characterized. Their mechanism of action towards gyrase is entirely distinct from already known modes of action, therefore demonstrating the potential for development of novel anti-bacterial agents.     

Control of bacterial DNA supercoiling

Two DNA topoisomerases control the level of negative supercoiling in bacterial cells. DNA gyrase introduces supercoils, and DNA topoisomerase I prevents supercoiling from reaching unacceptably high levels. Perturbations of supercoiling are corrected by the substrate preferences of these topoisomerases with respect to DNA topology and by changes in expression of the genes encoding the enzymes. However, supercoiling changes when the growth environment is altered in ways that also affect cellular energetics. The ratio of [ATP] to [ADP], to which gyrase is sensitive, may be involved in the response of supercoiling to growth conditions. Inside cells, supercoiling is partitioned into two components, superhelical tension and restrained supercoils. Shifts in superhelical tension elicited by nicking or by salt shock do not rapidly change the level of restrained supercoiling. However, a steady-state change in supercoiling caused by mutation of topA does alter both tension and restrained supercoils. This communication between the two compartments may play a role in the control of supercoiling.     

The mechanism of negative DNA supercoiling: A cascade of DNA-induced conformational changes prepares gyrase for strand passage

DNA topoisomerases inter-convert different DNA topoisomers in the cell. They catalyze the introduction or relaxation of DNA supercoils, as well as catenation and decatenation. Members of the type I topoisomerase family cleave a single strand of their double-stranded DNA substrate, whereas enzymes of the type II family cleave both DNA strands. Bacterial DNA gyrase, a type II topoisomerase, catalyzes the introduction of negative supercoils into DNA in an ATP-dependent reaction. Gyrase is not present in humans, and constitutes an attractive drug target for the treatment of bacterial and parasite infections. DNA supercoiling by gyrase is believed to occur by a strand passage mechanism, in which one segment of the double-stranded DNA substrate is passed through a (transient) break in a second segment. This mechanism requires the coordinated opening and closing of three protein interfaces, so-called gates, to ensure the directionality of strand passage toward negative supercoiling.Single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments are ideally suited to investigate conformational changes during the catalytic cycle of DNA topoisomerases. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the cascade of DNA- and nucleotide-induced conformational changes in gyrase that lead to strand passage and negative supercoiling of DNA. We discuss how these conformational changes couple ATP hydrolysis to DNA supercoiling in gyrase, and how the common mechanistic principle of coordinated gate opening and closing is modulated to allow for the catalysis of different reactions by different type II topoisomerases.     

Reprint of “The mechanism of negative DNA supercoiling: A cascade of DNA-induced conformational changes prepares gyrase for strand passage”

DNA topoisomerases inter-convert different DNA topoisomers in the cell. They catalyze the introduction or relaxation of DNA supercoils, as well as catenation and decatenation. Members of the type I topoisomerase family cleave a single strand of their double-stranded DNA substrate, whereas enzymes of the type II family cleave both DNA strands. Bacterial DNA gyrase, a type II topoisomerase, catalyzes the introduction of negative supercoils into DNA in an ATP-dependent reaction. Gyrase is not present in humans, and constitutes an attractive drug target for the treatment of bacterial and parasite infections. DNA supercoiling by gyrase is believed to occur by a strand passage mechanism, in which one segment of the double-stranded DNA substrate is passed through a (transient) break in a second segment. This mechanism requires the coordinated opening and closing of three protein interfaces, so-called gates, to ensure the directionality of strand passage toward negative supercoiling.Single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments are ideally suited to investigate conformational changes during the catalytic cycle of DNA topoisomerases. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the cascade of DNA- and nucleotide-induced conformational changes in gyrase that lead to strand passage and negative supercoiling of DNA. We discuss how these conformational changes couple ATP hydrolysis to DNA supercoiling in gyrase, and how the common mechanistic principle of coordinated gate opening and closing is modulated to allow for the catalysis of different reactions by different type II topoisomerases.     

DNA supercoiling inhibits DNA knotting

Despite the fact that in living cells DNA molecules are long and highly crowded, they are rarely knotted. DNA knotting interferes with the normal functioning of the DNA and, therefore, molecular mechanisms evolved that maintain the knotting and catenation level below that which would be achieved if the DNA segments could pass randomly through each other. Biochemical experiments with torsionally relaxed DNA demonstrated earlier that type II DNA topoisomerases that permit inter- and intramolecular passages between segments of DNA molecules use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to select passages that lead to unknotting rather than to the formation of knots. Using numerical simulations, we identify here another mechanism by which topoisomerases can keep the knotting level low. We observe that DNA supercoiling, such as found in bacterial cells, creates a situation where intramolecular passages leading to knotting are opposed by the free-energy change connected to transitions from unknotted to knotted circular DNA molecules.     

DNA topology and the thermal stress response, a tale from mesophiles and hyperthermophiles

During heat shock and cold shock, plasmid DNA supercoiling changes transiently both in mesophilic bacteria and in hyperthermophilic archaea, despite a different overall topology (negative supercoiling versus relaxation to positive supercoiling). Transient changes in DNA supercoiling might be essential to generate the stress response, but they could also be a consequence of the physical effects of temperature on cellular components. Indeed, both appear intertwined. Comparison of the mechanisms acting in the two biological systems suggests that the dependence on temperature of the activity of different DNA topoisomerases, as well as of protein binding, are key factors for the control of DNA topology during stress, which may in turn be relevant for the expression of stress-induced genes.     

Interaction of diverse voltage sensor homologs with lipid bilayers revealed by self-assembly simulations

Homologous pairing and braiding (supercoiling) have crucial effects on genome organization, maintenance, and evolution. Generally, the pairing and braiding processes are discussed in different contexts, independently of each other. However, analysis of electrostatic interactions between DNA double helices suggests that in some situations these processes may be related. Here we present a theory of DNA braiding that accounts for the elastic energy of DNA double helices as well as for the chiral nature of the discrete helical patterns of DNA charges. This theory shows that DNA braiding may be affected, stabilized, or even driven by chiral electrostatic interactions. For example, electrostatically driven braiding may explain the surprising recent observation of stable pairing of homologous double-stranded DNA in solutions containing only monovalent salt. Electrostatic stabilization of left-handed braids may stand behind the chiral selectivity of type II topoisomerases and positive plasmid supercoiling in hyperthermophilic bacteria and archea.     

DNA supercoiling helps to unlink sister duplexes after replication

DNA supercoiling is one of the mechanisms that can help unlinking of newly replicated DNA molecules. Although DNA topoisomerases, which catalyze the strand passing of DNA segments through one another, make the unlinking problem solvable in principle, it remains difficult to complete the process that enables the separation of the sister duplexes. A few different mechanisms were developed by nature to solve the problem. Some of the mechanisms are very intuitive while the others, like topology simplification by type II DNA topoisomerases and DNA supercoiling, are not so evident. A computer simulation and analysis of linked sister plasmids formed in Escherichia coli cells with suppressed topoisomerase IV suggests an insight into the latter mechanism.     

Failure to relax negative supercoiling of DNA is a primary cause of mitotic hyper-recombination in topoisomerase-deficient yeast cells

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, DNA topoisomerases I and II can functionally substitute for each other in removing positive and negative DNA supercoils. Yeast Delta top1 top2(ts) mutants grow slowly and present structural instability in the genome; over half of the rDNA repeats are excised in the form of extrachromosomal rings, and small circular minichromosomes strongly multimerize. Because these traits can be reverted by the extrachromosomal expression of either eukaryotic topoisomerase I or II, their origin is attributed to the persistence of unconstrained DNA supercoiling. Here, we examine whether the expression of the Escherichia coli topA gene, which encodes the bacterial topoisomerase I that removes only negative supercoils, compensates the phenotype of Delta top1 top2(ts) yeast cells. We found that Delta top1 top2(ts) mutants expressing E. coli topoisomerase I grow faster and do not manifest rDNA excision and minichromosome multimerization. Furthermore, the recombination frequency in repeated DNA sequences, which is increased by nearly two orders of magnitude in Delta top1 top2(ts) mutants relative to the parental TOP+ cells, is restored to normal levels when the bacterial topoisomerase is expressed. These results indicate that the suppression of mitotic hyper-recombination caused by eukaryotic topoisomerases I and II is effected mainly by the relaxation of negative rather than positive supercoils; they also highlight the potential of unconstrained negative supercoiling to promote homologous recombination.     

DNA topoisomerase II, genotoxicity, and cancer

Type II topoisomerases are ubiquitous enzymes that play essential roles in a number of fundamental DNA processes. They regulate DNA under- and overwinding, and resolve knots and tangles in the genetic material by passing an intact double helix through a transient double-stranded break that they generate in a separate segment of DNA. Because type II topoisomerases generate DNA strand breaks as a requisite intermediate in their catalytic cycle, they have the potential to fragment the genome every time they function. Thus, while these enzymes are essential to the survival of proliferating cells, they also have significant genotoxic effects. This latter aspect of type II topoisomerase has been exploited for the development of several classes of anticancer drugs that are widely employed for the clinical treatment of human malignancies. However, considerable evidence indicates that these enzymes also trigger specific leukemic chromosomal translocations. In light of the impact, both positive and negative, of type II topoisomerases on human cells, it is important to understand how these enzymes function and how their actions can destabilize the genome. This article discusses both aspects of human type II topoisomerases.     

DNA gyrase: structure and function.

DNA gyrase is an essential bacterial enzyme that catalyzes the ATP-dependent negative super-coiling of double-stranded closed-circular DNA. Gyrase belongs to a class of enzymes known as topoisomerases that are involved in the control of topological transitions of DNA. The mechanism by which gyrase is able to influence the topological state of DNA molecules is of inherent interest from an enzymological standpoint. In addition, much attention has been focused on DNA gyrase as the intracellular target of a number of antibacterial agents as a paradigm for other DNA topoisomerases. In this review we summarize the current knowledge concerning DNA gyrase by addressing a wide range of aspects of the study of this enzyme.     

Varying levels of positive and negative supercoiling differently affect the efficiency with which topoisomerase II catenates and decatenates DNA

Type II DNA topoisomerases catalyze the transport of one DNA double helix through another. Here, by using a non-hydrolyzable analog of ATP, I examined the single-step DNA transport preferences of the yeast type II topoisomerase bound to positively and negatively supercoiled DNA rings. I found that negative supercoiling favors decatenation of DNA rings more than positive supercoiling. Conversely, positive supercoiling favors the catenation and knotting of DNA rings more than negative supercoiling. This vectorial effect of DNA supercoiling handedness supports a model in which type II topoisomerases can recognize three DNA segments, and highlights a novel influence of DNA supercoiling in global DNA topology.     

Human topoisomerase IIalpha rapidly relaxes positively supercoiled DNA: implications for enzyme action ahead of replication forks

Movement of the DNA replication machinery through the double helix induces acute positive supercoiling ahead of the fork and precatenanes behind it. Because topoisomerase I and II create transient single- and double-stranded DNA breaks, respectively, it has been assumed that type I enzymes relax the positive supercoils that precede the replication fork. Conversely, type II enzymes primarily resolve the precatenanes and untangle catenated daughter chromosomes. However, studies on yeast and bacteria suggest that type II topoisomerases may also function ahead of the replication machinery. If this is the case, then positive DNA supercoils should be the preferred relaxation substrate for topoisomerase IIalpha, the enzyme isoform involved in replicative processes in humans. Results indicate that human topoisomerase IIalpha relaxes positively supercoiled plasmids >10-fold faster than negatively supercoiled molecules. In contrast, topoisomerase IIbeta, which is not required for DNA replication, displays no such preference. In addition to its high rates of relaxation, topoisomerase IIalpha maintains lower levels of DNA cleavage complexes with positively supercoiled molecules. These properties suggest that human topoisomerase IIalpha has the potential to alleviate torsional stress ahead of replication forks in an efficient and safe manner.