Sandbox20: Difference between revisions

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===Replication Termination Activity===
===Replication Termination Activity===


Tus binds to a conserved cytosine residue which is not base paired <scene name='Sandbox20/Tus/13'>as shown by clicking here</scene>. The interactions between residues of the Tus protein and this unpaired cytosine nucleotide are shown in more detail <scene name='Sandbox20/Tus/9'>by clicking here</scene>.
The displacement of a <scene name='Sandbox20/Tus/13'>single conserved cytosine</scene> nucleotide from the double helix determines the polarity of fork arrest. (Ref!) This is located at the edge of the non-permissive face, and defines the point at which helicase activity is halted. Upon interaction with Tus the cyotsine is no longer base-paired, and is instead associated with residues within a well-defined recognition pocket. The specific interactions which stabilise this are shown in this <scene name='Sandbox20/Tus/9'>model</scene>.  


Its ability to do this depends on the conserved glutamate residue E49.
Before the structure of the Tus-Ter complex was determined, mutation of Glu49 was shown to eliminate anti-helicase activity without affecting DNA binding. This could not be explained by the [[1ecr|original crystal structure]] as it is not located close enough to make direct contact with the conserved cytosine. However, the [[2ewj|more recent structure]] revealed that this is due the water-mediated hydrogen bond formed between it and the adenine residue adjacent to cytosine. It is therefore likely, that the interaction is necessary to compensate for the disrupted H-bonding in the nucleotide adjacent to the displaced cytosine, as shown in this <scene name='Sandbox20/Tus/18'>model</scene>.
"The crystal structure of the Tus-Ter lock shows that Glu49 of Tus makes a water-mediated hydrogen bond with the 50- phosphate of the displaced A(7) nucleotide residue, and it would thus be expected to be partially defective in formation of the locked species."
This is shown <scene name='Sandbox20/Tus/18'>by clicking here</scene>
 
E49K does not affect DNA binding but does affect anti-helicase activity in the ‘trapped’ complex E49 makes an indirect hydrogen bond to the phosphate of the ‘displaced’ nucleotide.

Proteopedia Page Contributors and Editors (what is this?)Proteopedia Page Contributors and Editors (what is this?)

Student, Craig T Martin, Michael Webster