학술논문

Sustained active site rigidity during synthesis by human DNA polymerase μ
Document Type
Report
Author abstract
Source
Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. March 1, 2014, Vol. 21 Issue 3, p253, 10 p.
Subject
United States
Language
English
ISSN
1545-9993
Abstract
Mammalian family-X polymerases (Pols) β, λ, μ and terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase (TdT) perform short gap-filling synthesis during repair of single- or double-stranded DNA breaks (1). To fulfill this function, they are [...]
DNA polymerase m (Pol μ) is the only template-dependent human DNA polymerase capable of repairing double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs) with unpaired 3' ends in nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ). To probe this function, we structurally characterized Pol μ's catalytic cycle for single-nucleotide incorporation. These structures indicate that, unlike other template-dependent DNA polymerases, Pol μ shows no large-scale conformational changes in protein subdomains, amino acid side chains or DNA upon dNTP binding or catalysis. Instead, the only major conformational change is seen earlier in the catalytic cycle, when the flexible loop 1 region repositions upon DNA binding. Pol μ variants with changes in loop 1 have altered catalytic properties and are partially defective in NHEJ. The results indicate that specific loop 1 residues contribute to Pol μ's unique ability to catalyze template-dependent NHEJ of DSBs with unpaired 3' ends.