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Different Residues on the Surface of the Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus MCM Helicase Interact with Single- and Double-Stranded DNA

The minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex is thought to function as the replicative helicase in archaea, separating the two strands of chromosomal DNA during replication. The catalytic activity resides within the C-terminal region of the MCM protein, while the N-terminal portion plays an importan...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sakakibara, Nozomi, Kasiviswanathan, Rajesh, Kelman, Zvi
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2997501/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21151660
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/505693
Descripción
Sumario:The minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex is thought to function as the replicative helicase in archaea, separating the two strands of chromosomal DNA during replication. The catalytic activity resides within the C-terminal region of the MCM protein, while the N-terminal portion plays an important role in DNA binding and protein multimerization. An alignment of MCM homologues from several archaeal species revealed a number of conserved amino acids. Here several of the conserved residues located on the surface of the helicase have been mutated and their roles in MCM functions determined. It was found that some mutations result in increased affinity for ssDNA while the affinity for dsDNA is decreased. Other mutants exhibit the opposite effect. Thus, the data suggest that these conserved surface residues may participate in MCM-DNA interactions.