UvrC Protein Research Articles

Mycobacteria excise DNA damage in 12- or 13-nucleotide-long oligomers by prokaryotic-type dual incisions and performs transcription-coupled repair

In nucleotide excision repair, bulky DNA lesions such as UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers are removed from the genome by concerted dual incisions bracketing the lesion, followed by gap filling and ligation. So far, two dual-incision patterns have been discovered: the prokaryotic type, which removes the damage in 11-13-nucleotide-long oligomers, and the eukaryotic type, which removes the damage in 24-32-nucleotide-long oligomers. However, a recent study reported that the UvrC protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis removes damage in a manner analogous to yeast and humans in a 25-mer oligonucleotide arising from incisions at 15 nt from the 3´ end and 9 nt from the 5´ end flanking the damage. To test this model, we used the in vivo excision assay and the excision repair sequencing genome-wide repair mapping method developed in our laboratory to determine the repair pattern and genome-wide repair map of Mycobacterium smegmatis We find that M. smegmatis, which possesses homologs of the Escherichia coli uvrA, uvrB, and uvrC genes, removes cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers from the genome in a manner identical to the prokaryotic pattern by incising 7 nt 5´ and 3 or 4 nt 3´ to the photoproduct, and performs transcription-coupled repair in a manner similar to E. coli.

Homology Modeling, Molecular Docking and DNA Binding Studies of Nucleotide Excision Repair UvrC Protein from M. tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a Gram positive, acid-fast bacteria belonging to genus Mycobacterium, is the leading causative agent of most cases of tuberculosis. The pathogenicity of the bacteria is enhanced by its developed DNA repair mechanism which consists of machineries such as nucleotide excision repair. Nucleotide excision repair consists of excinuclease protein UvrABC endonuclease, multi-enzymatic complex which carries out repair of damaged DNA in sequential manner. UvrC protein is a part of this complex and thus helps to repair the damaged DNA of M. tuberculosis. Hence, structural bioinformatics study of UvrC protein from M. tuberculosis was carried out using homology modeling and molecular docking techniques. Assessment of the reliability of the homology model was carried out by predicting its secondary structure along with its model validation. The predicted structure was docked with the ATP and the interacting amino acid residues of UvrC protein with the ATP were found to be TRP539, PHE89, GLU536, ILE402 and ARG575. The binding of UvrC protein with the DNA showed two different domains. The residues from domain I of the protein VAL526, THR524 and LEU521 interact with the DNA whereas, amino acids interacting from the domain II of the UvrC protein included ARG597, GLU595, GLY594 and GLY592 residues. This predicted model could be useful to design new inhibitors of UvrC enzyme to prevent pathogenesis of Mycobacterium and so the tuberculosis.

The presence of two UvrB subunits in the UvrAB complex ensures damage detection in both DNA strands.

It is generally accepted that the damage recognition complex of nucleotide excision repair in Escherichia coli consists of two UvrA and one UvrB molecule, and that in the preincision complex UvrB binds to the damage as a monomer. Using scanning force microscopy, we show here that the damage recognition complex consists of two UvrA and two UvrB subunits, with the DNA wrapped around one of the UvrB monomers. Upon binding the damage and release of the UvrA subunits, UvrB remains a dimer in the preincision complex. After association with the UvrC protein, one of the UvrB monomers is released. We propose a model in which the presence of two UvrB subunits ensures damage recognition in both DNA strands. Upon binding of the UvrA(2)B(2) complex to a putative damaged site, the DNA wraps around one of the UvrB monomers, which will subsequently probe one of the DNA strands for the presence of a lesion. When no damage is found, the DNA will wrap around the second UvrB subunit, which will check the other strand for aberrations.

A cut above: discovery of an alternative excision repair pathway in bacteria.

Among the most highly conserved biochemical pathways in free living organisms are those involved in DNA repair (1). The ubiquitous pathway of nucleotide excision repair (NER) is responsible for the removal of environmentally induced DNA damage, such as the DNA lesions resulting from sunlight exposure or chemical carcinogens. Mutations or deficiencies in specific NER genes can lead to premature aging and cancer in humans (2, 3). The study of DNA repair in the bacterium Escherichia coli has helped us to understand the corresponding repair pathways in humans (4). NER can be viewed in four basic steps: (i) damage recognition and lesion verification; (ii) incision; (iii) excision; (iv) repair synthesis and ligation, as proposed nearly four decades ago. Damage recognition and verification are achieved by a protein machine that utilizes several components to sense a distortion in the double-helical duplex DNA. In E. coli the UvrA and UvrB proteins carry out these functions. If a putative lesion is identified by UvrA, the repair complex enlists the strand-opening activity of UvrB that helps to verify that the distortion is, in fact, due to a damaged nucleotide. It is believed that the beta-hairpin domain of UvrB is inserted into the DNA helix both to verify the damaged nucleotide and to establish which strand has been damaged (5–9). In both bacterial and eukaryotic species, strand opening and processing of the damage serves to further change the conformation of the DNA to help recruit nucleases to the lesion site to produce two endonucleolytic incisions in the phosphodiester backbone of the damaged strand, one on each side of the altered nucleotide(s). In E. coli, Bacillus caldotenax (9), and presumably in all other free living bacterial species, UvrB recruits the UvrC protein, which contains two functional endonuclease domains. The N-terminal part of this …

Two Forms of UvrC Protein with Different Double-stranded DNA Binding Affinities

Using phosphocellulose followed by single-stranded DNA-cellulose chromatography for purification of UvrC proteins from overproducing cells, we found that UvrC elutes at two peaks: 0.4 m KCl (UvrCI) and 0.6 m KCl (UvrCII). Both forms of UvrC have a major peptide band (>95%) of the same molecular weight and identical N-terminal amino acid sequences, which are consistent with the initiation codon being at the unusual GTG site. Both forms of UvrC are active in incising UV-irradiated, supercoiled phiX-174 replicative form I DNA in the presence of UvrA and UvrB proteins; however, the specific activity of UvrCII is one-fourth that of UvrCI. The molecular weight of UvrCII is four times that of UvrCI on the basis of results of size exclusion chromatography and glutaraldehyde cross-linking reactions, indicating that UvrCII is a tetramer of UvrCI. Functionally, these two forms of UvrC proteins can be distinguished under reaction conditions in which the protein/nucleotide molar ratio is >0.06 by using UV-irradiated, (32)P-labeled DNA fragments as substrates; under these conditions UvrCII is inactive in incision, but UvrCI remains active. The activity of UvrCII in incising UV-irradiated, (32)P- labeled DNA fragments can be restored by adding unirradiated competitive DNA, and the increased level of incision corresponds to a decreased level of UvrCII binding to the substrate DNA. The sites of incision at the 5' and 3' sides of a UV-induced pyrimidine dimer are the same for UvrCI and UvrCII. Nitrocellulose filter binding and gel retardation assays show that UvrCII binds to both UV-irradiated and unirradiated double-stranded DNA with the same affinity (K(a), 9 x 10(8)/m) and in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas UvrCI does not. These two forms of UvrC were also produced by the endogenous uvrC operon. We propose that UvrCII-DNA binding may interfere with Uvr(A)(2)B-DNA damage complex formation. However, because of its low copy number and low binding affinity to DNA, UvrCII may not interfere with Uvr(A)(2)B-DNA damage complex formation in vivo, but instead through double-stranded DNA binding UvrCII may become concentrated at genomic areas and therefore may facilitate nucleotide excision repair.

A physical interaction of UvrD with nucleotide excision repair protein UvrB.

The dual-incision nature of the reaction of UV-irradiated DNA catalyzed by the UvrABC complex potentially leads to excision of a damaged fragment. However, neither fragment release under nondenaturing conditions nor the UvrBC proteins are turned over. The addition of the UvrD protein to the incised DNA-UvrBC complex results in excision of the incised damaged strand and in the turnover of the UvrC protein. In an effort to better understand the involvement of UvrD in the excision step, immunoprecipitation was used to detect interacting proteins with UvrD in the DNA repair. In this communication, it is shown that UvrA and UvrB are precipitated with UvrD in solution but the UvrAB complex is not. In the incision complex, UvrB could be precipitated and the preincubation of UvrD with UvrB revealed an inhibitory effect on the turnover of the incision complex. These data imply that UvrB in the incision complex seems to recruit UvrD to the 3' incised site of the incised strand by protein-protein interaction and to allow initiation of unwinding by UvrD from the resulting nick in a 3' to 5' direction.

A Physical Interaction of UvrD with Nucleotide Excision Repair Protein UvrB

The dual-incision nature of the reaction of UV-irradiated DNA catalyzed by the UvrABC complex potentially leads to excision of a damaged fragment. However, neither fragment release under nondenaturing conditions nor the UvrBC proteins are turned over. The addition of the UvrD protein to the incised DNA-UvrBC complex results in excision of the incised damaged strand and in the turnover of the UvrC protein. In an effort to better understand the involvement of UvrD in the excision step, immunoprecipitation was used to detect interacting proteins with UvrD in the DNA repair. In this communication, it is shown that UvrA and UvrB are precipitated with UvrD in solution but the UvrAB complex is not. In the incision complex, UvrB could be precipitated and the preincubation of UvrD with UvrB revealed an inhibitory effect on the turnover of the incision complex. These data imply that UvrB in the incision complex seems to recruit UvrD to the 3′ incised site of the incised strand by protein-protein interaction and to allow initiation of unwinding by UvrD from the resulting nick in a 3′ to 5′ direction.

Distribution and Repair of Bipyrimidine Photoproducts in Solar UV-irradiated Mammalian Cells: POSSIBLE ROLE OF DEWAR PHOTOPRODUCTS IN SOLAR MUTAGENESIS

Distribution and Repair of Bipyrimidine Photoproducts in Solar UV-irradiated Mammalian Cells: POSSIBLE ROLE OF DEWAR PHOTOPRODUCTS IN SOLAR MUTAGENESIS

Catalytic Sites for 3′ and 5′ Incision of Escherichia coli Nucleotide Excision Repair Are Both Located in UvrC

Nucleotide excision repair in Escherichia coli is a multistep process in which DNA damage is removed by incision of the DNA on both sides of the damage, followed by removal of the oligonucleotide containing the lesion. The two incision reactions take place in a complex of damaged DNA with UvrB and UvrC. It has been shown (Lin, J. -J., and Sancar, A. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 17688-17692) that the catalytic site for incision on the 5' side of the damage is located in the UvrC protein. Here we show that the catalytic site for incision on the 3' side is in this protein as well, because substitution R42A abolishes 3' incision, whereas formation of the UvrBC-DNA complex and the 5' incision reaction are unaffected. Arg(42) is part of a region that is homologous to the catalytic domain of the homing endonuclease I-TevI. We propose that the UvrC protein consists of two functional parts, with the N-terminal half for the 3' incision reaction and the C-terminal half containing all the determinants for the 5' incision reaction.

The C-terminal Region of the UvrB Protein of Escherichia coli Contains an Important Determinant for UvrC Binding to the Preincision Complex but Not the Catalytic Site for 3′-Incision

The UvrABC endonuclease from Escherichia coli repairs damage in the DNA by dual incision of the damaged strand on both sides of the lesion. The incisions are in an ordered fashion, first on the 3'-side and next on the 5'-side of the damage, and they are the result of binding of UvrC to the UvrB-DNA preincision complex. In this paper, we show that at least the C-terminal 24 amino acids of UvrB are involved in interaction with UvrC and that this binding is important for the 3'-incision. The C-terminal region of UvrB, which shows homology with a domain of the UvrC protein, is part of a region that is predicted to be able to form a coiled-coil. We therefore propose that UvrB and UvrC interact through the formation of such a structure. The C-terminal region of UvrB only interacts with UvrC when present in the preincision complex, indicating that the conformational change in UvrB accompanying the formation of this complex exposes the UvrC binding domain. Binding of UvrC to the C-terminal region of UvrB is not important for the 5'-incision, suggesting that for this incision a different interaction of UvrC with the UvrB-DNA complex is required. Truncated UvrB mutants that lack up to 99 amino acids from the C terminus still give rise to significant incision (1-2%), indicating that this C-terminal region of UvrB does not participate in the formation of the active site for 3'-incision. This region, however, contains the residue (Glu-640) that was proposed to be involved in 3'-catalysis, since a mutation of the residue (E640A) fails to promote 3'-incision (Lin, J.J., Phillips, A.M., Hearst, J.E., and Sancar, A. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 17693-17700). We have isolated a mutant UvrB with the same E640A substitution, but this protein shows normal UvrC binding and incision in vitro and also results in normal survival after UV irradiation in vivo. As a consequence of these results, it is still an open question as to whether the catalytic site for 3'-incision is located in UvrB, in UvrC, or is formed by both proteins.

Flow Linear Dichroism and Electron Microscopic Analysis of Protein-DNA Complexes of a Mutant UvrB Protein that Binds to but cannot Kink DNA

(A)BC excinuclease of Escherichia coli is the enzymatic activity resulting from sequential and partially overlapping actions of UvrA, UvrB, and UvrC protein. UvrA is a molecular matchmaker which promotes the formation of a stable UvrB-damaged DNA complex in which the DNA is linked by about 130°. The UvrB-DNA complex is then recognized by UvrC and two incisions are made in the DNA by the joint actions of UvrC and UvrB. A mutant of UvrB (D478A) can be loaded onto the DNA but it does not interact with UvrC to cause a nick 3′ to the lesion. Based on the lack of a DNase-1-hypersensitive site in the footprint of the mutant, it was proposed that the lack of incision was due to the inability of the mutant UvrB to kink the DNA. In the current study we have investigated the interaction of the mutant UvrB with DNA using two biophysical methods, flow linear dichroism and electron microscopy. Both methods reveal that the mutant UvrB is unable to bend DNA.

A comparison of the rates of reaction and function of UVRB in UVRABC- and UVRAB-mediated anthramycin-N2-guanine-DNA repair.

The repair of anthramycin-DNA adducts by the UVR proteins in Escherichia coli follows two pathways: the adducts may be incised by the combined actions of UVRA, UVRB, and UVRC, or alternatively, the anthramycin may be removed by UVRA and UVRB in the absence of UVRC and with no DNA strand incision. To assess the competition between these two competing pathways, the rate of UVRABC-mediated excision repair of anthramycin-N2-guanine DNA adducts and the rate of UVRAB-mediated removal of the adduct were measured with single end-labeled DNAs under identical reaction conditions. UVR protein concentrations of 15 nM UVRA, 100 nM UVRB, and 10 nM UVRC protein were chosen to mimic in vivo concentrations. With these UVR protein concentrations and anthramycin-DNA concentrations of 1-2 nM the incision reaction and the release reactions are described by first-order kinetics. The rate of the UVRABC reaction, measured as the increase in incised fragments, was six to seven times faster than the rate of the UVRAB reaction, measured as the decrease in incised fragments. The UVRABC incision rate on anthramycin-modified linear DNA was four to five times the incision rate measured on the same DNA irradiated with ultraviolet light. We also investigated the role of the ATPase function of UVRB in UVRAB-mediated anthramycin removal. We found that a UVRB analogue with alanine at arginine 51, which retains near wild type ATPase activity, supported removal of anthramycin in the presence of UVRA, whereas a UVRB analogue with alanine at lysine 45, which abolishes the ATPase activity, did not. UVRB*, a specific proteolytic cleavage product of UVRB which retains the ATPase activity, did support removal of anthramycin in the presence of UVRA.

The C-terminal half of UvrC protein is sufficient to reconstitute (A)BC excinuclease.

The UvrC protein is one of three subunits of the Escherichia coli repair enzyme (A)BC excinuclease. This subunit is thought to have at least one of the active sites for nucleophilic attack on the phosphodiester bonds of damaged DNA. To localize the active site, mutant UvrC proteins were constructed by linker-scanning and deletion mutagenesis. In vivo studies revealed that the C-terminal 314 amino acids of the 610-amino acid UvrC protein were sufficient to confer UV resistance to cells lacking the uvrC gene. The portion of the uvrC gene encoding the C-terminal half of the protein was fused to the 3' end of the E. coli malE gene (which encodes maltose binding protein), and the fusion protein MBP-C314C was purified and characterized. The fusion protein, in combination with UvrA and UvrB subunits, reconstituted the excinuclease activity that incised the eighth phosphodiester bond 5' and the fourth phosphodiester bond 3' to a psoralen-thymine adduct. These results suggest that the C-terminal 314 amino acids of UvrC constitute a functional domain capable of interacting with the UvrB-damaged DNA complex and of inducing the two phosphodiester bond incisions characteristic of (A)BC excinuclease.

The C-terminal half of UvrC protein is sufficient to reconstitute (A)BC excinuclease.

The C-terminal half of UvrC protein is sufficient to reconstitute (A)BC excinuclease.

Reconstitution of nucleotide excision nuclease with UvrA and UvrB proteins from Escherichia coli and UvrC protein from Bacillus subtilis.

Recently, an open reading frame which has a deduced amino acid sequence that shows 38% homology to Escherichia coli UvrC protein was found upstream of the aspartokinase II gene (ask) in Bacillus subtilis (Chen, N.-Y., Zhang, J.-J., and Paulus, H. (1989) J. Gen. Microbiol. 135, 2931-2940). We found that plasmids containing this open reading frame complement the uvrC mutations in E. coli. We joined the open reading frame to a tac promoter to amplify the gene product in E. coli and purified the protein to near homogeneity. The apparent molecular weight of the gene product is 69,000, which is consistent with the calculated molecular weight of 69,378 fro the deduced gene product of the open reading frame. The purified gene product causes the nicking of DNA at the 8th phosphodiester bond 5' and the 5th phosphodiester bond 3' to a thymine dimer when mixed with E. coli UvrA and UvrB proteins and a DNA substrate containing a uniquely located thymine dimer. We conclude that the gene product of the open reading frame is the B. subtilis UvrC protein. Our results suggest that the B. subtilis nucleotide excision repair system is quite similar to that of E. coli. Furthermore, complementation of the UvrA and UvrB proteins from a Gram-negative bacterium with the UvrC protein of Gram-positive B. subtilis indicates a significant evolutionary conservation of the nucleotide excision repair system.

The UvrABC endonuclease system of Escherichia coli — A view from Baltimore

Nucleotide excision is initiated by the UvrABC endonuclease system in which the initial DNA interaction is with UvrA which was dimerized in the presence of ATP. Nucleoprotein formation most likely takes place on undamaged regions of DNA by (UvrA)2 which has been dimerized in the presence of ATP. Topological unwinding of DNA, driven by ATP binding, is increased by the presence of UvrB to approximately a single helical turn. The Uvr(A)2B complex translocates to a damaged site by the combined Uvr(A)2B helicase in which the driving force is provided by the UvrB-associated ATPase. The dual incision reaction is initiated by the binding of the UvrC protein to the Uvr(A)2B-nucleoprotein complex. The proteins in this post-incision nucleoprotein complex do not turn over and require the presence of the UvrD protein and DNA polymerase I under polymerizing conditions. The final integrity of the DNA strands is restored with polynucleotide ligase.

The (A)BC excinuclease of Escherichia coli has only the UvrB and UvrC subunits in the incision complex.

The uvrA, uvrB, and uvrC genes control excision repair in Escherichia coli. Cells with mutations in any of these three genes cannot repair DNA by nucleotide excision. When the purified gene products--the UvrA, UvrB, and UvrC proteins--are mixed together, an excision nuclease is formed that incises on both sides of the damaged nucleotide in an ATP-dependent reaction; it has been presumed that the excision nuclease was an ABC complex containing all three Uvr proteins. To determine the stoichiometry of the subunits in the enzyme, we conducted hydrodynamic studies with mixtures of the subunits with or without DNA substrate. We found that without DNA the UvrA subunit is a dimer and that when UvrB protein is also present, a (UvrA)2(UvrB)1 complex forms. Without DNA no detectable interaction of either the UvrA or UvrB subunits or the (UvrA)2(UvrB)1 complex with the UvrC subunit occurs. Unexpectedly, with UV-irradiated DNA, the UvrA/UvrB ratio in isolated DNA-protein complexes is variable, and the ratio becomes infinitesimally low as the UvrA concentration in the reaction mixture decreases. Under conditions of saturating UvrB protein approximately one UvrB molecule binds to DNA per damaged site in a reaction that requires catalytic amounts of UvrA subunit. Addition of UvrC protein to purified UvrB-DNA complexes results in rapid incision of the DNA, presumably catalyzed by an excision nuclease containing only UvrB and UvrC subunits.

A Transposon Insertion in the Escherichia coli uvrC Gene; UvrC Protein is Absolutely Required for the Incision Step in Excision Repair

The formation of single-stranded breaks in DNA following UV irradiation is assessed in uvrC34 mutants. By altering the SOS DNA-repair system, either by additional mutations or by using drugs affecting transcription or translation, it is shown that such single-stranded breaks require one or more DNA-damage-inducible functions. A UV-sensitive strain is characterized as carrying a Tn10 insertion into the uvrC gene. The absence of post-irradiation incision in this strain demonstrates that uvrC function is absolutely required in vivo for the incision stage of excision repair, and suggests that other uvrC mutants are 'leaky'.

Incision of damaged versus nondamaged DNA by the Escherichia coli UvrABC proteins.

Incision of damaged DNA by the Escherichia coli UvrABC endonuclease requires the UvrA, UvrB, and UvrC proteins as well as ATP hydrolysis. This incision reaction can be divided into three steps: site recognition, preincision complex formation, and incision. UvrAB is able to execute the first two steps in the reaction while the addition of UvrC is required for the incision of DNA. This incision reaction does not require ATP hydrolysis and results in the formation of a tight UvrABC post-incision complex and the generation of an oligomer of approximately 12 nucleotides. At high UvrABC concentrations the specificity of the incision for damaged DNA is decreased and significant incision of undamaged DNA occurs. Analogous to damage specific incision, this type of incision leads to generation of an oligonucleotide, but in this case the size is approximately 9 nucleotides in length. Further evidence shows that the combination of UvrB and UvrC proteins can generate a significant amount of a similar size product on undamaged DNA. In addition, the UvrC protein alone can generate a small amount of the same product. Immunological characterization of the weak nuclease activity seen with UvrC indicates that the activity is very tightly associated with the purified UvrC protein.

Regulation of the Escherichia coli excision repair gene uvrC. Overlap between the uvrC structural gene and the region coding for a 24 kD protein.

The UvrA, UvrB and UvrC proteins of E. coli are subunits of a DNA repair enzyme, the ABC exonuclease. In this paper we study the uvrC regulatory region. The uvrC structural gene is preceded by an open reading frame encoding a 24 kD protein. A uvrC promoter has been mapped within this gene. The transcription start of a second promoter located 5' of the 24 kD gene is mapped in vivo. We show that transcription from both promoters on the chromosome is not inducible by UV damage. The possible translation start codons of the UvrC and of the 24 kD protein are determined. Sequences encoding the N-terminal part of the UvrC protein overlap with sequences encoding the C-terminal part of the 24 kD protein. To examine a possible function of the 24 kD gene in repair, a 24 kD insertion mutant was created in the chromosome. The mutant however only slightly affects the UV sensitivity of the cell. Transcription of P3 alone provides sufficient UvrC protein for the normal repair of UV lesions.