Cleavage Mechanism of Human Mus81–Eme1 Acting on Holliday-Junction Structures
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Cleavage mechanism of human Mus81–Eme1 acting on Holliday-junction structures Ewan R. Taylor* and Clare H. McGowan*†‡ Departments of *Molecular Biology and †Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037 Edited by Stephen J. Elledge, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, and approved January 10, 2008 (received for review October 29, 2007) Recombination-mediated repair plays a central role in maintaining Results genomic integrity during DNA replication. The human Mus81–Eme1 Recombinant Human Mus81–Eme1. Truncation analysis of both endonuclease is involved in recombination repair, but the exact Mus81 and Eme1 was used to define the minimal domains structures it acts on in vivo are not known. Using kinetic and enzy- required for endonuclease function [see supplementary infor- matic analysis of highly purified recombinant enzyme, we find mation (SI) Fig. 5]. Versions of each protein containing amino that Mus81–Eme1 catalyzes coordinate bilateral cleavage of acids 260–551 for Mus81 and amino acids 244–571 for Eme1 model Holliday-junction structures. Using a self-limiting, cruciform- were expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant truncated containing substrate, we demonstrate that bilateral cleavage occurs complex, which we named EcME, was well expressed, largely sequentially within the lifetime of the enzyme–substrate complex. soluble, and, as detailed below, active. The complex was purified Coordinate bilateral cleavage is promoted by the highly cooperative to apparent homogeneity through affinity chromatography, ion nature of the enzyme and results in symmetrical cleavage of a exchange, and gel filtration steps (Fig. 1a). cruciform structure, thus, Mus81–Eme1 can ensure coordinate, bilat- eral cleavage of Holliday junction-like structures. Endonuclease Properties of a Minimal Mus81–Eme1 Complex. The activity of the recombinant enzyme was initially tested on three nuclease ͉ recombination repair model substrates, X12, nX12, and 3Ј flap, and each junction was radiolabeled on the 5Ј end of one oligonucleotide (Fig. 1b). The oligo nucleotide sequences are identical to those used previously (4, BIOCHEMISTRY he maintenance of genomic integrity requires multiple coordi- 16, 23). The X12 substrate has four 25-bp duplex DNA arms, with nated repair processes during DNA replication. Fork-stalling, T a 12-bp homologous core that allows branch migration of the recombination repair, and replication restart create a variety of junction. The nX12 substrate is identical to X12, except that it branched structures that are substrates for endonucleases. The contains a nick at the cross-over point. The 3Ј flap substrate Mus81–Eme1 endonuclease was first identified in budding yeast as contains 50 bp of duplex DNA, a central nick, and 25 bases of a mutant that causes sensitivity to replication-associated genotoxic single-stranded DNA. EcME is able to convert all three substrates stress (1). Fission yeast strains null for either Mus81 or Eme1 are to linear duplex product (Fig. 1b). The kinetic parameters of the exquisitely sensitive to replication stress and are inviable during EcME complex on these substrates were calculated by using meiosis (2, 3). Based on enzyme activity, damage sensitivity, and the nonlinear regression analysis of the reaction velocities obtained rescue of meiotic segregation defects by the prokaryotic resolvase, from experiments in which substrate concentration was varied (SI Ϫ1 RusA, a role in resolving Holliday junctions was proposed for Table 1 and SI Fig. 6). EcME has the highest kcat,0.18s , when Mus81–Eme1 in fission yeast (3). This function is supported by acting on an nX12 substrate. The enzyme functioned catalytically more recent data showing that the accumulation of X structures in in this reaction and converted 95 moles of substrate per mole of Mus81 delete cells in response to replication pausing and at sites of enzymein10min(SI Table 2). Consistent with previous observa- meiotic recombination (4, 5). tions using full-length Mus81–Eme1 (4, 24), EcME processed an Ϫ1 Mus81-null mice are viable, fertile, and have no obvious devel- intact X12 junction less efficiently, with a kcat of 0.0047 s . opmental defects (6, 7). Both mouse and human Mus81- and Nevertheless, at the highest concentration tested, EcME converted Eme1-null cell lines are exquisitely sensitive to interstrand crosslink Ͼ95% of the intact X12 substrate into linear duplex product (Fig. agents including mitomycin C (6–9). Mus81–Eme1 is recruited to 1b). The reduced catalytic efficiency of EcME on an intact X12 was sites of UV irradiation specifically during DNA replication (10). To driven both by a higher Km and a lower catalytic rate. The date, no meiotic defects have been reported in null Mus81 mice or observation that Mus81–Eme1 favors cleavage of nX12 over an X12 Drosophila, however, a role in generating interference-independent suggests that the initial cut on an X12 substrate is rate-limiting, and Ϸ crossovers has been reported for budding yeast and Arabidopsis (6, that it is followed by an 35-fold faster second cut. A nick- 7, 11–13). Also, Mus81 deficiency is lethal when combined with the counternick mechanism, in which a rate-limiting initial cut is disruption of the BLM helicase homologues in budding yeast, followed by a kinetically favored second-strand cleavage reaction, fission yeast, Drosophila, and Arabidopsis, suggesting a conserved has been used to explain the mechanism of action of a number of junction-resolving enzymes (4, 25–28). The kinetic parameters of role for Mus81–Eme1 in recombination repair and possibly Holli- Ј day-junction processing (2, 11, 14, 15). Data from several eukaryotic EcME on a 3 flap suggests that the complex binds this substrate organisms have shown that Mus81–Eme1 has activity on a number relatively poorly, but, once bound, the enzyme has a relatively robust rate of catalysis, with a k of 0.12 sϪ1. of branched DNA structures: Potential in vivo substrates are cat speculated to include forks, flaps, D-loops, and Holliday junctions (3, 4, 16–22). Author contributions: E.R.T. and C.H.M. designed research; E.R.T. performed research; In this study, we use highly purified recombinant Mus81–Eme1 E.R.T. and C.H.M. analyzed data; and E.R.T. and C.H.M. wrote the paper. to test the enzymatic properties and investigate the mechanism of The authors declare no conflict of interest. cleavage of model Holliday junctions. We define the catalytic core This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. of the enzyme complex. By using a plasmid-based substrate, we ‡To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]. demonstrate that Mus81–Eme1 uses a highly cooperative, coordi- This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/ nated mechanism that ensures bilateral, symmetrical cleavage of 0710291105/DC1. Holliday-junction structures. © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0710291105 PNAS ͉ March 11, 2008 ͉ vol. 105 ͉ no. 10 ͉ 3757–3762 Downloaded by guest on September 28, 2021 rations is explained by structural predications suggesting that these amino acids do not directly coordinate the catalytic cation and thus play a supporting rather than essential role in catalysis (29). The analogous mutation, D599A, in PfHef results in a similar dimin- ished, but not absent, nuclease activity (29). Substrate Specificity of Endogenous Mus81–Eme1 Endonuclease Ac- tivity. To test whether the truncations of Mus81 and Eme1 affect substrate preference, we compared the activity of EcME to full- length Mus81–Eme1 purified from baculovirus infected insect cells by anti-FLAG immunoprecipitation (Sf Mus81–Eme1). EcME has the same relative substrate preference as the recombinant full- length version of the protein, nX12 Ͼ 3Ј flap ϾϾ X12 (Fig. 1c), confirming that the truncations do not profoundly alter the sub- strate preference of the recombinant EcME enzyme. The activity profile of endogenous Mus81–Eme1 from a human cell line (HeLa) was also compared with that of recombinant full-length Mus81– Eme1 from insect cells (Fig. 1c). As with both recombinant versions of the complex, endogenous Mus81–Eme1 converted all three substrates into linear duplex (Fig. 1d). Notably, endogenous Mus81–Eme1 complex has a higher X12/nX12 activity ratio when compared with the recombinant protein. By comparing the amount of product generated at subsaturating levels of Mus81–Eme1 (i.e., 10% of immune precipitate), we find that the endogenous enzyme is only 3-fold less efficient on X12 than nX12 (Fig. 1d), whereas the recombinant insect cell-expressed enzyme is 10-fold less efficient (Fig. 1c). The endogenous enzyme had the same relative rate of Fig. 1. Endonuclease activities of recombinant human Mus81–Eme1. (a) activity when immune-precipitated with either monoclonal mouse Recombinant human Mus81–Eme1 purified from E. coli (EcME). Purified prep- arations were separated by SDS/PAGE and visualized by Coomassie staining. or polyclonal rabbit anti-Mus81 antibodies (data not shown). (b) Endonuclease activity of EcME on multiple substrates. The X12, nX12, and Gaskell et al. (31) recently concluded that full-length, recombi- 3Ј flap substrates, [200 pM], with 0.02, 0.2, 2, or 20 nM EcME for 20 min. nant, fission yeast Mus81–Eme1 has the same intact X versus nicked Products were separated by native PAGE. Substrates and DNA products are as X activity ratio as the endogenous protein. However, this compar- indicated. Each substrate is illustrated above the gels, and the 5Ј 32P radiolabel ison was based on assays done in two different laboratories (4, 31). is indicated by a circle. (c) Endonuclease activity of Myc.Mus81–Eme1.FLAG In this study, we compared the activity of recombinant full-length purified from Sf9 cells (Sf Mus81–Eme1). The indicated substrates [200 pM] human Mus81–Eme1 to the endogenous complex under identical were incubated with purified SfMus81–Eme1 for 20 min, with either 10%, assay conditions.