Enzymatic Cleavage of 3'-Esterified Nucleotides Enables a Long, Continuous DNA Synthesis.

The reversible dye-terminator (RDT)-based DNA sequencing-by-synthesis (SBS) chemistry has driven the advancement of the next-generation sequencing technologies for the past two decades. The RDT-based SBS chemistry relies on the DNA polymerase reaction to incorporate the RDT nucleotide (NT) for extracting DNA sequence information. The main drawback of this chemistry is the "DNA scar" issue since the removal of dye molecule from the RDT-NT after each sequencing reaction cycle leaves an extra chemical residue in the newly synthesized DNA. To circumvent this problem, we designed a novel class of reversible (2-aminoethoxy)-3-propionyl (Aep)-dNTPs by esterifying the 3'-hydroxyl group (3'-OH) of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) and examined the NT-incorporation activities by A-family DNA polymerases. Using the large fragment of both Bacillus stearothermophilus (BF) and E. coli DNA polymerase I (KF) as model enzymes, we further showed that both proteins efficiently and faithfully incorporated the 3'-Aep-dNMP. Additionally, we analyzed the post-incorporation product of N + 1 primer and confirmed that the 3'-protecting group of 3'-Aep-dNMP was converted back to a normal 3'-OH after it was incorporated into the growing DNA chain by BF. By applying all four 3'-Aep-dNTPs and BF for an in vitro DNA synthesis reaction, we demonstrated that the enzyme-mediated deprotection of inserted 3'-Aep-dNMP permits a long, continuous, and scar-free DNA synthesis.

Thermococcus sp. 9°N DNA polymerase exhibits 3'-esterase activity that can be harnessed for DNA sequencing.

It was reported in 1995 that T7 and Taq DNA polymerases possess 3'-esterase activity, but without follow-up studies. Here we report that the 3'-esterase activity is intrinsic to the Thermococcus sp. 9°N DNA polymerase, and that it can be developed into a continuous method for DNA sequencing with dNTP analogs carrying a 3'-ester with a fluorophore. We first show that 3'-esterified dNTP can be incorporated into a template-primer DNA, and solve the crystal structures of the reaction intermediates and products. Then we show that the reaction can occur continuously, modulated by active site residues Tyr409 and Asp542. Finally, we use 5'-FAM-labeled primer and esterified dNTP with a dye to show that the reaction can proceed to ca. 450 base pairs, and that the intermediates of many individual steps can be identified. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a 3'-editing based DNA sequencing method that could find practical applications after further optimization.

Thiols screened by the neocarzinostatin protein for preserving or detoxifying its bound enediyne antibiotic.

Neocarzinostatin is an antibiotic chromoprotein produced by Streptomyces carzinostaticus. Its enediyne-containing chromophore exhibits high DNA cleavage activity and belongs to one of the most potent categories of antitumor agents. The labile chromophore is readily inactivated by environmental thiols including the most abundant glutathione. How the microorganism preserves the secreted antibiotic and at the same time is immune to its toxicity are of interest. Site-directed mutagenesis studies of the neocarzinostatin protein have shown that residues D33 and D99 play primary and secondary roles, respectively, in preserving neocarzinostatin from acidic glutathione whereas D79 and other residues around the opening of the binding cleft have an insignificant effect. Biothiol analyses revealed that cells of S. carzinostaticus produced no glutathione, but instead neutral mycothiol, which is known to serve functions analogous to glutathione. Mycothiol was the only neutral-charged thiol produced by the organism; all other identified biothiols carried at least partial negative charges. When the bacteria were cultured under conditions that stimulated the biosynthesis of neocarzinostatin, the yield of mycothiol increased significantly, which suggests mycothiol-dependent cellular detoxification. Treating neocarzinostatin samples with the cell extract that retained active sulfhydryls led to efficient drug inactivation, which indicates that mycothiol is allowed to approach the protein-bound chromophore. The anionic side-chains of D33 and D99 in the neocarzinostatin protein played two critical roles in a single thiol-screening operation: Preserving the antibiotic for defense and survival by rejecting the ubiquitous glutathione through charge-charge repulsion in the outer-cell environment and detoxifying the toxin in the inner-cell body for self-resistance by accepting the cell-produced neutral mycothiol.

Role of steric effects in protein-directed enediyne cycloaromatization of neocarzinostatin.

The antibiotic neocarzinostatin comprises a carrier protein with a well-defined cavity for accommodating an active enediyne chromophore. The protein has two disulfides, one (Cys(37)-Cys(47)) lies on the cavity bottom and the other (Cys(88)-Cys(93)) in a constrained short loop. When the chromophore is not bound to the protein, a thiol-induced cycloaromatization of the enediyne into a tetrahydroindacene derivative is responsible for the potent antitumor activity. When it is protein-bound, the protein diverts the cycloaromatization pathway to form a distinct hydroxyisochromene-type product. How the protein directs the enediyne chemistry is an interesting puzzle, and various suggestions have been proposed in the past. We screened more than fifty thiols and manipulated conditions to locate reaction features and search for factors that could influence the protein directing strength. Thiol- and oxygen-concentration-dependence studies suggested that disulfides, which maintain the steric rigidity of the protein, could play a key role in diverting the cycloaromatization pathway. For direct proofs, we made mutations at each of the two disulfides by replacing sulfur atoms with oxygen. Circular dichroism and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy studies suggested that the mutations changed neither the protein conformation nor the ligand interactions. Analyses of the thiol-induced cycloaromatization revealed that rupture of Cys(37)-Cys(47) made the protein almost completely lose its chemical directing ability, whereas rupture of Cys(88)-Cys(93) had only a minor influence. The results demonstrated that the steric rigidity of the binding cavity, but not necessary the whole protein, played an important role in the protein-directed mechanism.