Special Proteins Help to Open Up the dna Double Helix in Front of the Replication Fork

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For DNA synthesis to proceed, the DNA double helix must be opened up ahead of the replication fork so that the incoming deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates can form base pairs with the template strand. However, the DNA double helix is very stable under normal conditions; the base pairs are locked in place so strongly that temperatures approaching that of boiling water are required to separate the two strands in a test tube. For this reason, DNA polymerases and DNA primases can copy a DNA double helix only when the template strand has already been exposed by separating it from its complementary strand. Additional replication proteins are needed to help in opening the double helix and thus provide the appropriate single-stranded DNA template for the DNA polymerase to copy. Two types of protein contribute to this process—DNA helicases and single-strand DNA-binding proteins.

DNA helicases were first isolated as proteins that hydrolyze ATP when they are bound to single strands of DNA. As described in Chapter 3, the hydrolysis of ATP can change the shape of a protein molecule in a cyclical manner that allows the protein to perform mechanical work. DNA helicases use this principle to propel themselves rapidly along a DNA single strand. When they encounter a region of double helix, they continue to move along their strand, thereby prying apart the helix at rates of up to 1000 nucleotide pairs per second (Figures 5-15 and 5-16).

Figure 5-15

An assay used to test for DNA helicase enzymes. A short DNA fragment is annealed to a long DNA single strand to form a region of DNA double helix. The double helix is melted as the helicase runs along the DNA single strand, releasing the short DNA fragment (more...)

Figure 5-16

The structure of a DNA helicase. (A) A schematic diagram of the protein as a hexameric ring. (B) Schematic diagram showing a DNA replication fork and helicase to scale. (C) Detailed structure of the bacteriophage T7 replicative helicase, as determined (more...)

The unwinding of the template DNA helix at a replication fork could in principle be catalyzed by two DNA helicases acting in concert—one running along the leading strand template and one along the lagging strand template. Since the two strands have opposite polarities, these helicases would need to move in opposite directions along a DNA single strand and therefore would be different enzymes. Both types of DNA helicase exist. In the best understood replication systems, a helicase on the lagging-strand template appears to have the predominant role, for reasons that will become clear shortly.

Single-strand DNA-binding (SSB) proteins, also called helix-destabilizing proteins, bind tightly and cooperatively to exposed single-stranded DNA strands without covering the bases, which therefore remain available for templating. These proteins are unable to open a long DNA helix directly, but they aid helicases by stabilizing the unwound, single-stranded conformation. In addition, their cooperative binding coats and straightens out the regions of single-stranded DNA on the lagging-strand template, thereby preventing the formation of the short hairpin helices that readily form in single-strand DNA (Figures 5-17 and 5-18). These hairpin helices can impede the DNA synthesis catalyzed by DNA polymerase.

Figure 5-17

The effect of single-strand DNA-binding proteins (SSB proteins) on the structure of single-stranded DNA. Because each protein molecule prefers to bind next to a previously bound molecule, long rows of this protein form on a DNA single strand. This cooperative (more...)

Figure 5-18

The structure of the single-strand binding protein from humans bound to DNA. (A) A front view of the two DNA binding domains of RPA protein, which cover a total of eight nucleotides. Note that the DNA bases remain exposed in this protein–DNA complex. (more...)