View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Structural Synergy and Molecular Crosstalk between Bacterial Helicase Loaders and Replication Initiators Melissa L. Mott,1 Jan P. Erzberger,2 Mary M. Coons,1 and James M. Berger1,* 1Quantitative Biosciences Institute, Molecular and Cell Biology Department, 374D Stanley Hall, #3220, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA 2Inst. f. Molekularbiologie u. Biophysik, ETH Zurich, Schafmattstr. 20, HPK H 13, CH-8093 Zu¨ rich, Switzerland *Correspondence:
[email protected] DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2008.09.058 SUMMARY (Davey et al., 2002b; Duderstadt and Berger, 2008; Lee and Bell, 2000; Neuwald et al., 1999). The loading of oligomeric helicases onto replication In E. coli, the AAA+ proteins DnaC and DnaA help transform origins marks an essential step in replisome assem- a single origin of replication (oriC) into a proper substrate for bly. In cells, dedicated AAA+ ATPases regulate load- replisome assembly. Initiation begins with the assembly of the ing, however, the mechanism by which these factors DnaA initiator onto a series of 9 base-pair (bp) sequences known recruit and deposit helicases has remained unclear. as DnaA-boxes (Fuller et al., 1984; Matsui et al., 1985). Oligomer- To better understand this process, we determined ization of DnaA in the presence of ATP permits the engagement of secondary binding sites (I-sites and ATP-DnaA boxes), generat- the structure of the ATPase region of the bacterial ˚ ing a large nucleoprotein complex that stimulates the unwinding helicase loader DnaC from Aquifex aeolicus to 2.7 A of a nearby AT-rich DNA Unwinding Element (DUE) (Bramhill and resolution.