RESUMO
As genetic material DNA is wonderful, but as a macromolecule it is unruly, voluminous and fragile. Without the action of DNA replicases, topoisomerases, helicases, translocases and recombinases, the genome would collapse into a topologically entangled random coil that would be useless to the cell. We discuss the organization, movement and energetics of these proteins that are crucial to the preservation of a molecule that has such beautiful biological but challenging physical properties.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/metabolismo , DNA/metabolismo , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/química , Modelos Genéticos , Peso Molecular , Conformação de Ácido NucleicoRESUMO
Smc2/4 forms the core of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae condensin, which promotes metaphase chromosome compaction. To understand how condensin manipulates DNA, we used two in vitro assays to study the role of SMC (structural maintenance of chromosome) proteins and ATP in reconfiguring the path of DNA. The first assay evaluated the topology of knots formed in the presence of topoisomerase II. Unexpectedly, both wild-type Smc2/4 and an ATPase mutant promoted (+) chiral knotting of nicked plasmids, revealing that ATP hydrolysis and the non-SMC condensins are not required to compact DNA chirally. The second assay measured Smc2/4-dependent changes in linking number (Lk). Smc2/4 did not induce (+) supercoiling, but instead induced broadening of topoisomer distributions in a cooperative manner without altering Lk(0). To explain chiral knotting in substrates devoid of chiral supercoiling, we propose that Smc2/4 directs chiral DNA compaction by constraining the duplex to retrace its own path. In this highly cooperative process, both (+) and (-) loops are sequestered (about one per kb), leaving net writhe and twist unchanged while broadening Lk. We have developed a quantitative theory to account for these results. Additionally, we have shown at higher molar stoichiometries that Smc2/4 prevents relaxation by topoisomerase I and nick closure by DNA ligase, indicating that Smc2/4 can saturate DNA. By electron microscopy of Smc2/4-DNA complexes, we observed primarily two protein-laden bound species: long flexible filaments and uniform rings or "doughnuts." Close packing of Smc2/4 on DNA explains the substrate protection we observed. Our results support the hypothesis that SMC proteins bind multiple DNA duplexes.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Transporte/fisiologia , Proteínas Cromossômicas não Histona/fisiologia , DNA/química , Proteínas Nucleares/fisiologia , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae/fisiologia , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/fisiologia , Adenosina Trifosfatases/química , Trifosfato de Adenosina/química , Proteínas de Transporte/química , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular , Proteínas Cromossômicas não Histona/química , Cromossomos/ultraestrutura , DNA Ligases/química , DNA Topoisomerases Tipo II/química , DNA Super-Helicoidal/química , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/química , Hidrólise , Complexos Multiproteicos/química , Mutação , Proteínas Nucleares/química , Conformação de Ácido Nucleico , Plasmídeos/metabolismo , Ligação Proteica , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genética , Proteínas de Saccharomyces cerevisiae/química , Temperatura , Fatores de Tempo , Triticum/metabolismoRESUMO
To better understand the contributions that the structural maintenance of chromosome proteins (SMCs) make to condensin activity, we have tested a number of biochemical, biophysical, and DNA-associated attributes of the Smc2p-Smc4p pair from budding yeast. Smc2p and Smc4p form a stable heterodimer, the "Smc2/4 complex," which upon analysis by sedimentation equilibrium appears to reversibly self-associate to form heterotetramers. Individually, neither Smc2p nor Smc4p hydrolyzes ATP; however, ATPase activity is recovered by equal molar mixing of both purified proteins. Hydrolysis activity is unaffected by the presence of DNA. Smc2/4 binds both linearized and circular plasmids, and the binding appears to be independent of adenylate nucleotide. High mole ratios of Smc2/4 to plasmid promote a geometric change in circular DNA that can be trapped as knots by type II topoisomerases but not as supercoils by a type I topoisomerase. Binding titration analyses reveal that two Smc2/4-DNA-bound states exist, one disrupted by and one resistant to salt challenge. Competition-displacement experiments show that Smc2/4-DNA-bound species formed at even high protein to DNA mole ratios remain reversible. Surprisingly, only linear and supercoiled DNA, not nicked-circular DNA, can completely displace Smc2/4 prebound to a labeled, nicked-circular DNA. To explain this geometry-dependent competition, we present two models of DNA binding by SMCs in which two DNA duplexes are captured within the inter-coil space of an Smc2/4 heterodimer. Based on these models, we propose a DNA displacement mechanism to explain how differences in geometry could affect the competitive potential of DNA.
