DNA Replication
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP, Curator
LPBI
Decades Old DNA Replication Models Called into Question
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A series of electron micrographs show the barrel-shaped helicase, which is the enzyme that separates the two DNA strands, along with other components of the replisome, including polymerase-epsilon (green).[Brookhaven National Laboratory]
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It may be time to update biology texts to reflect newly published data from a collaborative team of scientists at Rockefeller University, Stony Brook University, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. Using cutting-edge electron microscopy (EM) techniques, the investigators gathered the first ever images of the fully assembled replisome, providing new insight into the molecular mechanisms of replication.
“Our finding goes against decades of textbook drawings of what people thought the replisome should look like,” remarked co-senior author Michael O’Donnell, Ph.D., professor and head of Rockefeller’s Laboratory of DNA Replication. “However, it’s a recurring theme in science that nature does not always turn out to work the way you thought it did.”
“Our finding goes against decades of textbook drawings of what people thought the replisome should look like,” remarked co-senior author Michael O’Donnell, Ph.D., professor and head of Rockefeller’s Laboratory of DNA Replication. “However, it’s a recurring theme in science that nature does not always turn out to work the way you thought it did.”
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Previously (left), the replisome’s two polymerases (green) were assumed to be below the helicase (tan), the enzyme that splits the DNA strands. The new images reveal one polymerase is located at the front of the helicase, causing one strand to loop backward as it is copied (right). [Brookhaven National Laboratory]
The researcher’s findings focused on the replisome found in eukaryotic organisms, a category that includes a broad swath of living things, including humans and other multicellular organisms. Over the past several decades, there has been an array of data describing the individual components comprising the complex nature of replisome. Yet, until now no pictures existed to show just how everything fit together.
“This work is a continuation of our long-standing research using electron microscopy to understand the mechanism of DNA replication, an essential function for every living cell,” explained co-senior author Huilin Li, Ph.D., biologist with joint appointments at Brookhaven Lab and Stony Brook University. “These new images show the fully assembled and fully activated ‘helicase’ protein complex—which encircles and separates the two strands of the DNA double helix as it passes through a central pore in the structure—and how the helicase coordinates with the two ‘polymerase’ enzymes that duplicate each strand to copy the genome.”
The image and implications from this study were described in a paper entitled “The architecture of a eukaryotic replisome,” published recently through Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
Traditional models of DNA replication show the helicase enzyme moving along the DNA, separating the two strands of the double helix, with two polymerases located at the back where the DNA strand is split. In this configuration, the polymerases would add nucleotides to the side-by-side split ends as they move out of the helicase to form two new complete double helix DNA strands. However, the images that the researchers collected of intact replisomes revealed that only one of the polymerases is located at the back of the helicase. The other is on the front side of the helicase, where the helicase first encounters the double-stranded helix. This means that while one of the two split DNA strands is acted on by the polymerase at the back end, the other has to thread itself back through or around the helicase to reach the front-side polymerase before having its new complementary strand assembled.
“DNA replication is one of the most fundamental processes of life, so it is every biochemist’s dream to see what a replisome looks like,” stated lead author Jingchuan Sun, EM biologist in Dr. Li’s laboratory. “Our lab has expertise and a decade of experience using electron microscopy to study DNA replication, which has prepared us well to tackle the highly mobile therefore very challenging replisome structure. Working together with the O’Donnell lab, which has done beautiful, functional studies on the yeast replisome, our two groups brought perfectly complementary expertise to this project.”
The positioning of one polymerase at the front of the helicase suggests that it may have an unforeseen function—the possibilities of which the collaborative group of scientists is continuing to study. Whatever the function the offset polymerase ends up having, Drs. Li and O’Donnell hope that it will not only provide them better insight into the replication machinery but that they may uncover useful information that can be exploited for disease intervention.
“Clearly, further studies will be required to understand the functional implications of the unexpected replisome architecture reported here,” the scientists concluded.
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Fifth Histone Found to Recruit Proteins for DNA Repair
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen say they have located a previously unknown function for histones, which allows for an improved understanding of how cells protect and repair DNA damages. This new discovery may be of great importance to the treatment of diseases caused by cellular changes such as cancer and immune deficiency syndrome.
The study (“Histone H1 couples initiation and amplification of ubiquitin signaling after DNA damage”) is published in Nature.
“I believe that there’s a lot of work ahead. It’s like opening a door onto a previously undiscovered territory filled with lots of exciting knowledge. The histones are incredibly important to many of the cells’ processes as well as their overall wellbeing,” said Niels Mailand, Ph.D., from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the Faculty of Health and Medical Science.
Histones enable the tight packaging of DNA strands within cells. The strands are two meters in length and the cells usually about 100,000 times smaller. Generally speaking, there are five types of histones. Four of them are core histones and they are placed like beads on the DNA strands, which are curled up like a ball of wool within the cells. The role of the histones is already well described in research, and in addition to enabling the packaging of the DNA strands they also play a central part in practically every process related to the DNA-code, including repairing possibly damaged DNA.
The four core histones have tails and, among other things, they signal damage to the DNA and thus attract the proteins that help repair the damage. Between the histone “yarn balls” we find the fifth histone, Histone H1, but up until now its function has not been thoroughly examined.
Using a mass spectrometer, Dr. Mailand and his team have discovered that, surprisingly, the H1 histone also helps summon repair proteins.
“In international research, the primary focus has been on the core histones and their functionality, whereas little attention has been paid to the H1 histone, simply because we weren’t aware that it too influenced the repair process. Having discovered this function in the H1 constitutes an important piece of the puzzle of how cells protect their DNA, and it opens a door onto hitherto unknown and highly interesting territory,” noted Dr. Mailand.
He expects the discovery to lead to increased research into Histone H1 worldwide, which will lead to increased knowledge of cells’ abilities to repair possible damage to their DNA and thus increase our knowledge of the basis for diseases caused by cellular changes. It will also generate more knowledge about the treatment of these diseases.
“By mapping the function of the H1 histone, we will also learn more about the repair of DNA damages on a molecular level. In order to provide the most efficient treatment, we need to know how the cells prevent and repair these damages,” point out Dr. Mailand.
Cover All the Bases for Oligonucleotide Analysis
Synthetic oligonucleotides have emerged as promising therapeutic agents for the treatment of a variety of diseases, including viral infections and cancer. Researchers are looking at several classes of nucleic acids, such as antisense oligonucleotides, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and aptamers, for therapeutic applications.
However, various impurities – product-related, in the starting materials, and arising from incomplete capping of coupling reactions – must be identified and removed and postsynthesis processing must be monitored. Thus, a key challenge in the development and manufacture of oligonucleotide therapeutics is to establish analytical methods that are capable of separating and identifying impurities.
Exploring Better Options for Oligonucleotide LC Separations
Table 1. Options for oligonucleotide LC separations
Ion-pair, reversed-phase separation of the trityl-on oligos and is relatively simple to perform. This method separates the full-length target oligo, which still has the dMT group attached, from the deprotected failure sequences. The analytical information obtained is limited, so this is generally considered a purification method.
An alternate method, ion-exchange separations of the trityl-off, deprotected oligos uses the negative charge on the backbone of the oligo to facilitate the separation. Resolution is good for the shorter oligos but decreases with increasing chain length. Aqueous eluents are used but oligos are highly charged, and high concentrations of salt are needed to achieve elution from the column, making the technique unsuitable for use with LC/MS.
Finally, ion-pair, reversed-phase separation of the trityl-off, deprotected oligos makes use of organic solvents and mobile phase additives such as TEAA (triethylammonium acetate) or TEA-HFIP (triethylamine and hexafluoroisopropanol) to ion-pair with the negatively charged phosphodiester backbone of the oligonucleotide. High-performance columns deliver excellent resolution. What’s more, methods with volatile mobile phase constituents such as TEA-HFIP are suitable for use with LC/MS, providing useful information to help characterize oligonucleotide structures and sequences.
In Table 1 we summarize some of the options for oligonucleotide analysis by liquid chromatography.
Designed for ion-pair, reversed-phase separation of the trityl-off, deprotected oligos using either TEAA or TEA-HFIP mobile phases –Agilent AdvanceBio Oligonucleotide columns meet these challenges.
more…. http://www.genengnews.com/gen-articles/cover-all-the-bases-for-oligonucleotide-analysis/5594/
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