Crystal structure of the chi:psi sub-assembly of the Escherichia coli DNA polymerase clamp-loader complex

Eur J Biochem. 2004 Jan;271(2):439-49. doi: 10.1046/j.1432-1033.2003.03944.x.

Abstract

The chi (chi) and psi (psi) subunits of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase III form a heterodimer that is associated with the ATP-dependent clamp-loader machinery. In E. coli, the chi:psi heterodimer serves as a bridge between the clamp-loader complex and the single-stranded DNA-binding protein. We determined the crystal structure of the chi:psi heterodimer at 2.1 A resolution. Although neither chi (147 residues) nor psi (137 residues) bind to nucleotides, the fold of each protein is similar to the folds of mononucleotide-(chi) or dinucleotide-(psi) binding proteins, without marked similarity to the structures of the clamp-loader subunits. Genes encoding chi and psi proteins are found to be readily identifiable in several bacterial genomes and sequence alignments showed that residues at the chi:psi interface are highly conserved in both proteins, suggesting that the heterodimeric interaction is of functional significance. The conservation of surface-exposed residues is restricted to the interfacial region and to just two other regions in the chi:psi complex. One of the conserved regions was found to be located on chi, distal to the psi interaction region, and we identified this as the binding site for a C-terminal segment of the single-stranded DNA-binding protein. The other region of sequence conservation is localized to an N-terminal segment of psi (26 residues) that is disordered in the crystal structure. We speculate that psi is linked to the clamp-loader complex by this flexible, but conserved, N-terminal segment, and that the chi:psi unit is linked to the single-stranded DNA-binding protein via the distal surface of chi. The base of the clamp-loader complex has an open C-shaped structure, and the shape of the chi:psi complex is suggestive of a loose docking within the crevice formed by the open faces of the delta and delta' subunits of the clamp-loader.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine Triphosphate / metabolism*
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Crystallization
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • DNA Polymerase III / chemistry*
  • DNA Polymerase III / metabolism
  • DNA Replication*
  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Dimerization
  • Escherichia coli / enzymology*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Folding*
  • Protein Subunits
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Protein Subunits
  • Adenosine Triphosphate
  • DNA Polymerase III