High-Resolution Structure of the E.Coli Recq Helicase Catalytic Core
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The EMBO Journal Vol. 22 No. 19 pp. 4910±4921, 2003 High-resolution structure of the E.coli RecQ helicase catalytic core Douglas A.Bernstein, Morgan C.Zittel and repair replication forks that have stalled at sites of DNA James L.Keck1 damage (Courcelle et al., 1997; Courcelle and Hanawalt, 1999; Courcelle et al., 1999; 2003). In addition, E.coli Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, 550 Medical Science Center, 1300 University Avenue, University of Wisconsin Medical School, RecQ helps suppress illegitimate recombination in cells Madison, WI 53706-1532, USA (Hanada et al., 1997). Although the precise cellular substrates on which RecQ proteins act remain a mystery, 1Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] several reactions catalyzed by E.coli RecQ have been reconstituted in vitro, including ATP-dependent DNA RecQ family helicases catalyze critical genome main- unwinding (Umezu et al., 1990), recombination initiation tenance reactions in bacterial and eukaryotic cells, with RecA and single-stranded (ss) DNA binding protein playing key roles in several DNA metabolic processes. (SSB) (Harmon and Kowalczykowski, 1998), and plasmid Mutations in recQ genes are linked to genome instabil- DNA catenation with topoisomerase III (Topo III) and ity and human disease. To de®ne the physical basis of SSB (Harmon et al., 1999). Coordinated activities with RecQ enzyme function, we have determined a 1.8 AÊ recombinases and topoisomerases, as well as DNA resolution crystal structure of the catalytic core of unwinding functions, are conserved in a number of Escherichia coli RecQ in its unbound form and a 2.5 AÊ eukaryotic RecQ proteins (reviewed in Wu and Hickson, resolution structure of the core bound to the ATP 2001), implying a functional homology among RecQ analog ATPgS. The RecQ core comprises four family members. conserved subdomains; two of these combine to Three diseases (Bloom's, Werner's, and Rothmund± form its helicase region, while the others form unex- Thompson syndromes) can be attributed to mutations of pected Zn2+-binding and winged-helix motifs. The human genes that encode homologs of E.coli RecQ (BLM, structures reveal the molecular basis of missense Ellis et al., 1995; WRN,Yuet al., 1996; RECQ4, Kitao mutations that cause Bloom's syndrome, a human et al., 1999). While each of these syndromes has distinct RecQ-associated disease. Finally, based on ®ndings clinical manifestations, they all share a predisposition to from the structures, we propose a mechanism for cancer. A common feature of these disorders is pro- RecQ activity that could explain its functional coordi- nounced genomic instability, which is characterized by nation with topoisomerase III. heightened levels of homologous recombination and/or Keywords: helicase/RecQ/structure/winged helix/Zn2+ chromosomal deletions (reviewed in Karow et al., 2000). binding Several disease-linked nonsense and frame-shift mutations in WRN, BLM, and RECQ4, as well as all known BLM missense mutations associated with Bloom's syndrome, map to regions that are conserved across the RecQ family Introduction of enzymes. RecQ DNA helicases are ubiquitous enzymes in bacteria Three regions conserved among bacterial and eukar- and eukaryotes that carry out important functions in yotic RecQ proteins have been identi®ed by sequence genome biology (Cobb et al., 2002; Wu and Hickson, analysis: helicase, RecQ-conserved (RecQ-Ct), and 2002). Like other DNA helicases, RecQ proteins are ATP- Helicase-and-RNaseD-C-terminal (HRDC) domains dependent molecular motors that unwind double-stranded (Figure 1A; Morozov et al., 1997). The helicase and (ds) DNA. Members of the RecQ family differ from other RecQ-Ct regions are the best conserved regions among helicases, however, in their unusual breadth of activities, RecQ proteins, with some RecQs lacking an identi®able including roles in DNA replication, recombination, and HRDC domain altogether. The RecQ family helicase repair. With their central activities in genome mainten- region contains sequence motifs that are broadly con- ance, it is not surprising that mutation of many known served among DNA unwinding enzymes (Gorbalenya and recQ genes leads to genome instability and, in the case of Koonin, 1993). These motifs link the energy of nucleoside three human recQ genes, to disease. Despite the import- triphosphate binding and hydrolysis to DNA unwinding. ance of RecQ proteins, the structural basis of their function The structure and function of the RecQ-Ct region is more has remained poorly de®ned. poorly understood since it appears to be unique to RecQ The founding RecQ family member was discovered in proteins. However, evidence indicates that this region is Escherichia coli where it functions in the RecF recombi- essential for RecQ function. Two disease-causing BLM nation pathway (Nakayama et al., 1984; Umezu et al., missense mutations map to the enzyme's RecQ-Ct region 1990). This pathway participates in homologous recombi- (Ellis et al., 1995; Foucault et al., 1997) and abolish BLM nation and repair of ultraviolet light-induced DNA damage ATPase and helicase activities in vitro (Bahr et al., 1998). (Kowalczykowski et al., 1994). RecQ and other proteins in Mutation and deletion analyses in the Saccharomyces the RecF pathway appear to catalyze reactions that help cerevisiae RecQ homolog (Sgs1) have also shown that this 4910 ã European Molecular Biology Organization Catalytic core of E.coli RecQ helicase Fig. 1. Structure of the E.coli RecQ catalytic core. (A) Schematic diagram of E.coli RecQ. Three conserved regions, helicase, RecQ-conserved (RecQ- Ct), and Helicase-and-RNaseD-C-terminal (HRDC) (Morozov et al., 1997), are labeled. The catalytic core of E.coli RecQ (RecQDC) includes only the helicase and RecQ-Ct regions, and comprises four apparent subdomains in the structure: residues 1±208 in red, 209±340 in blue, 341±406 in yellow, and 407±516 in green. (B) Sequence and secondary structure of RecQDC. Helices (boxes) and b-strands (arrows) are shown above the sequence and labeled sequentially. Color coding is the same as in (A). Conserved helicase motifs (motif 0, Bernstein and Keck, 2003; and motifs I-VI, Gorbalenya and Koonin, 1993) are labeled and enclosed in boxes. Residues that are invariant among 65 bacterial RecQ proteins are underlined, and residues that are invariant or highly conserved with a subset of eukaryotic RecQ proteins (human WRN, BLM, and S.cerevisiae Sgs1) are highlighted in purple or light-blue boxes, respectively. (C) Orthogonal views of a ribbon diagram of the crystal structure of RecQDC, color-coded as in (A). A bound Zn2+ ion is shown as a magenta sphere. 4911 D.A.Bernstein, M.C.Zittel and J.L.Keck region is essential for in vivo function (Mullen et al., 2000; (Janscak et al., 2003). Thus the question of the active Onoda et al., 2000; Ui et al., 2001). Together, the helicase oligomeric state of RecQ proteins remains unresolved. and RecQ-Ct regions form the core, conserved sequence To examine the physical basis of RecQ function, we that de®nes the RecQ family of enzymes. have determined two high-resolution X-ray crystal struc- Domain mapping experiments with E.coli RecQ have tures of the conserved catalytic core of E.coli RecQ. The demonstrated that the conserved helicase and RecQ-Ct core domain comprises four apparent subdomains; two of regions fold together to form a single 59 kDa structural the subdomains combine to form the helicase region and domain (RecQDC) (Bernstein and Keck, 2003). The the remaining two join to form the RecQ-Ct region of isolated RecQDC domain is active as a DNA-dependent RecQ. The RecQ-Ct subdomains include one that folds as ATPase and can unwind DNA with essentially the same a platform of helices that binds a Zn2+ ion using four speci®c activity as full-length E.coli RecQ, indicating that conserved cysteine residues and another that forms an it is the catalytic core of the enzyme (Bernstein and Keck, unexpected winged-helix (WH) subdomain. The WH 2003). The 9 kDa HRDC domain appears to modulate motif shares signi®cant structural similarity with other DNA binding activity of the catalytic core but is not DNA binding proteins, thus identifying a likely DNA necessary for enzyme function in vitro (Bernstein and binding site in E.coli RecQ. Based on the structures, we Keck, 2003). Similarly, an S.cerevisiae Sgs1 variant that propose a mechanism of action that could explain the lacks its C-terminal HRDC domain can complement the coordination of RecQ proteins with Topo III. Furthermore, increased DNA damage sensitivity phenotype of sgs1D our structures reveal the molecular basis of missense cells (Mullen et al., 2000; Mullen et al., 2001), implying mutations that cause Bloom's syndrome. Together, these that the HRDC domain is dispensable for at least some structures reveal the ®rst high-resolution images of the activities in vivo. In addition, a recent study has shown that enzymatic core conserved among RecQ family members. a catalytic core fragment of the human BLM protein that includes just its helicase and RecQ-Ct regions is active Results and discussion in vitro (Janscak et al., 2003). These ®ndings demonstrate that the evolutionarily conserved domain shared among Structure determination of the RecQDC domain RecQ proteins also forms the structural and catalytic core We ®rst attempted to crystallize full-length E.coli RecQ of the RecQ enzyme family. protein, but extensive crystallization trials yielded no Beyond low-resolution domain mapping, a number of crystals. This result could have been due to ¯exibility that other studies have revealed important structural features of has been observed between the catalytic core and HRDC RecQ helicases. First, sequence analysis places RecQ domains of E.coli RecQ (Bernstein and Keck, 2003) family members in the Superfamily 2 (SF2) group of leading to structural heterogeneity that would hinder enzymes (Gorbalenya and Koonin, 1993). While structur- crystallization.