Renaturation Of Complementary DNA Strands Research Articles

Annealing of complementary DNA strands above the melting point of the duplex promoted by an archaeal protein

One enigma in the biology of hyperthermophilic microorganisms, living near or above 100°C, is how their genomes can be stable and, at the same time, plastic at temperatures above the melting point. The non-specific DNA-binding protein Sso7d of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus is known to protect DNA from thermal denaturation. We report here that Sso7d promotes the renaturation of complementary DNA strands at temperatures above the melting point of the duplex. This novel annealing activity is strictly homology-dependent, and even one mismatch in a stretch of 17 complementary bases severely reduces its efficiency. Since pairing of homologous single strands is a key step in all fundamental processes involving nucleic acids, such as transcription, replication, recombination, and repair, Sso7d is a candidate component of the protein machinery devoted to the coupling of DNA stability to metabolic flexibility at high temperature.

Casein kinase 2 inhibits the renaturation of complementary DNA strands mediated by p53 protein

Considerable effort is currently being devoted to understand the functions of protein p53, a major regulator of cell proliferation. The protein p53 has been reported to catalyse the annealing of complementary DNA or RNA strands. We report that this activity is inhibited in the presence of the serine/threonine protein kinase CK2. It is shown that this inhibition can be explained by the occurrence of a high-affinity molecular association between p53 and CK2. The molecular complex involves an interaction between the C-terminal domain of p53 and the beta subunit of the oligomeric kinase. Accordingly, the isolated alpha subunit of the kinase was without effect. In addition, after phosphorylation by CK2, phosphorylated p53 lost its DNA annealing activity. Because the C-terminal domain of p53 is both involved in the association with CK2 and phosphorylated by it, our results suggest that either protein-protein interaction or phosphorylation of this domain might control the base pairing of complementary sequences promoted by p53 in processes related to DNA replication and repair.

DNA strand exchange and selective DNA annealing promoted by the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nucleocapsid protein

Nucleocapsid protein (NC) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. The protein displayed a variety of activities on DNA structure, all reflecting an ability to promote transition between double-helical and single-stranded conformations. We found that, in addition to its previously described ability to accelerate renaturation of complementary DNA strands, the HIV-1 NC protein could substantially lower the melting temperature of duplex DNA and could promote strand exchange between double-stranded and single-stranded DNA molecules. Moreover, in the presence of HIV-1 NC, annealing of a single-stranded DNA molecule to a complementary DNA strand that would yield a more stable double-stranded product was favored over annealing to alternative complementary DNA strands that would form less stable duplex products (selective annealing). NC thus appears to lower the kinetic barrier so that double-strand <==> single-strand equilibrium is rapidly reached to favor the lowest free-energy nucleic acid conformation. This activity of NC may be important for correct folding of viral genomic RNA and may have practical applications.

Renaturation of complementary DNA strands by herpes simplex virus type 1 ICP8.

ICP8, the major single-stranded DNA-binding protein of herpes simplex virus type 1, promotes renaturation of complementary single strands of DNA. This reaction is ATP independent but requires Mg2+. The activity is maximal at pH 7.6 and 80 mM NaCl. The major product of the reaction is double-stranded DNA, and no evidence of large DNA networks is seen. The reaction occurs at subsaturating concentrations of ICP8 but reaches maximal levels with saturating concentrations of ICP8. Finally, the renaturation reaction is second order with respect to DNA concentration. The ability of ICP8 to promote the renaturation of complementary single strands suggests a role for ICP8 in the high level of recombination seen in cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1.

Renaturation of DNA catalysed by yeast DNA repair and recombination protein RAD1O

The RAD10 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is required for the incision step of excision repair of ultraviolet-damaged DNA, and it functions in mitotic recombination. RAD10 has homology to the human excision repair gene ERCC-1. Here we describe the purification of the protein encoded by RAD10 and show that it is a DNA-binding protein with a strong preference for single-stranded DNA. We also show that RAD10 promotes the renaturation of complementary DNA strands.

Rapid renaturation of complementary DNA strands mediated by cationic detergents: a role for high-probability binding domains in enhancing the kinetics of molecular assembly processes.

The rate of renaturation for complementary DNA strands can be enhanced greater than 10(4)-fold by the addition of simple cationic detergents, and the reaction is qualitatively and quantitatively very similar to that found with purified heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 protein. Under optimal conditions, renaturation rates are greater than 2000-fold faster than reactions run in 1 M NaCl at 68 degrees C. The reaction is second-order with respect to DNA concentration, and reaction rates approach or equal the rate with which complementary strands are expected to encounter each other in solution. Renaturation can even be observed well above the expected melting temperature of the duplex DNA, demonstrating that some cationic detergents have DNA double-helix-stabilizing properties. The reaction is also extremely rapid in the presence of up to a 10(6)-fold excess of noncomplementary sequences, establishing that renaturation is specific and relatively independent of heterologous DNA. This finding also implies that up to several thousand potential target sequences can be sampled per strand per second. Such reagents may be useful for procedures that require rapid nucleic acid renaturation, and these results suggest ways to identify and design other compounds that increase the kinetics of association reactions. Moreover, this work provides further support for a model relating the existence of flexible, weakly interacting, repeating domains to their function in rapid molecular assembly processes in vitro and in vivo.

Renaturation of complementary DNA strands mediated by purified mammalian heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 protein: implications for a mechanism for rapid molecular assembly.

Purified heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) A1 protein, which is found in vivo associated with heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA), promotes the rapid renaturation of nucleic acid strands. Maximal renaturation activity requires the glycine-rich carboxyl-terminal one-third of the protein, although the amino-terminal two-thirds also has activity. The A1-mediated reaction is second-order with respect to complementary DNA concentration, and the renaturation rate constant at 37 degrees C with A1 is about 3000-fold greater than in the absence of the protein. At 60 degrees C, the A1-mediated renaturation rate is even faster, and is about 300-fold greater than protein-free reactions carried out at 68 degrees C in 1 M NaCl. Provided that sufficient A1 protein is present to coat all strands in solution, the presence of nonhomologous, single-stranded DNA does not significantly inhibit the reaction. Moreover, renaturation of short strands to their complement contained in very long strands is nearly as efficient as between two short strands. These results indicate that A1 may be useful for procedures that rely on nucleic acid renaturation. We propose that A1 promotes rapid renaturation primarily by reducing the entropic barrier of bimolecular strand association through relatively transient interactions between A1-coated strands. Such interactions, mediated by flexible repeating domains, may act generally to increase the association kinetics of highly specific molecular assemblies in processes such as RNA maturation, transcription, translation, and transport.

Kinetic modeling of the RecA protein promoted renaturation of complementary DNA strands

Quantitative agarose gel assays reveal that the recA protein promoted renaturation of complementary DNA strands (phi X DNA) proceeds in two stages. The first stage results in the formation of unit-length duplex DNA as well as a distribution of other products ("initial products"). In the second stage, the initial products are converted to complex multipaired DNA structures ("network DNA"). In the presence of ATP, the initial products are formed within 2 min and are then rapidly converted to network DNA. In the absence of ATP, the initial products are formed nearly as fast as with ATP present, but they are converted to network DNA at a much lower rate. The time-dependent formation of initial products and network DNA from complementary single strands for both the ATP-stimulated and ATP-independent reactions can be modeled by using a simple two-step sequential kinetic scheme. This model indicates that the primary effect of ATP in the recA protein promoted renaturation reaction is not on the initial pairing step (which leads to the formation of initial products) but rather is to increase the rate at which subsequent pairing events can occur.

ATP-independent renaturation of complementary DNA strands by the mutant recA1 protein from Escherichia coli.

In an effort to clarify the requirement for ATP in the recA protein-promoted renaturation of complementary DNA strands, we have analyzed the mutant recA1 protein which lacks single-stranded DNA-dependent ATPase activity at pH 7.5. Like the wild type, the recA1 protein binds to single-stranded DNA with a stoichiometry of one monomer per approximately four nucleotides. However, unlike the wild type, the mutant protein is dissociated from single-stranded DNA in the presence of ATP or ADP. The ATP analogue adenosine 5'-O-3' (thiotriphosphate) appears to stabilize the binding of recA1 protein to single-stranded DNA but does not elicit the stoichiometry of 1 monomer/8 nucleotides or the formation of highly condensed protein-DNA networks that are characteristic of the wild type recA protein in the presence of this analogue. The recA1 protein does not catalyze DNA renaturation in the presence of ATP, consistent with the dissociation of recA1 protein from single-stranded DNA under these conditions. However, it does promote a pattern of Mg2+-dependent renaturation identical to that found for wild type recA protein.

On the mechanism of renaturation of complementary DNA strands by the recA protein of Escherichia coli.

The renaturation of complementary DNA strands by the recA protein of Escherichia coli has been found to exhibit the following features. (i) Optimal renaturation occurs at recA protein levels below that required to saturate the DNA strands; saturating amounts of recA protein significantly reduce the rate of reaction. (ii) The reaction proceeds in the absence of a nucleotide cofactor but is markedly stimulated by ATP in the presence of 10 mM Mg2+. A similar stimulation occurs in the absence of ATP when the Mg2+ concentration is increased from 10 mM to 30-40 mM. (iii) Both the ATP-stimulated and the Mg2+-stimulated reactions follow apparent first-order kinetics. These results, taken together with the known effects of ATP and Mg2+ on the state of aggregation of recA protein, suggest that the association of recA monomers may play an important role in recA protein-promoted DNA renaturation.