PMID: 22648417

Authors:

Wang W, Wu EY, Hellinga HW, Beese LS

Title:

Structural factors that determine selectivity of a high-fidelity DNA polymerase for deoxy-, dideoxy-, and ribo-nucleotides.

Journal:

J Biol Chem. 2012 May 30.

Abstract:

In addition to discriminating against base-pair mismatches, DNA polymerases exhibit a high degree of selectivity for deoxyribonucleotides over ribo- or dideoxy nucleotides. It has been proposed that a single active site residue (steric gate) blocks productive binding of nucleotides containing 2' hydroxyls. Although this steric gate plays a role in sugar moiety discrimination, its interactions do not account fully for the observed behavior of mutants. Here we present ten high-resolution crystal structures and enzyme kinetic analyses of Bacillus DNA polymerase I large fragment (BF) variants complexed with deoxy-, ribo-, dideoxy-nucleotides, and a DNA substrate. Taken together, these data present a more nuanced and general mechanism for nucleotide discrimination in which ensembles of intermediate conformations in the active site trap non-cognate substrates. It is known that the active site O-helix transitions from an open state in the absence of nucleotide substrates to a ternary complex closed state in which the reactive groups are aligned for catalysis. Substrate misalignment in the closed state plays a fundamental part in preventing non-cognate nucleotide misincorpation. The structures presented here show that additional O-helix conformations intermediate between the open and closed state extremes create an ensemble of binding sites that trap and misalign non-cognate nucleotides. Water-mediated interactions, absent in the fully closed state, play an important role in formation of these binding sites, and can be remodeled to accommodate different non-cognate substrates. This mechanism may extend also to base-pair discrimination.