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Endonuclease VIII (Nei) is a DNA glycosylase of the base excision repair pathway that recognizes and excises oxidized pyrimidines. We determined the crystal structures of a NEIL1 ortholog from the giant Mimivirus (MvNei1) unliganded and bound to DNA containing tetrahydrofuran (THF), which is the first structure of any Nei with an abasic site analog. The MvNei1 structures exhibit the same overall architecture as other enzymes of the Fpg/Nei family, which consists of two globular domains joined by a linker region. MvNei1 harbors a zincless finger, first described in human NEIL1, rather than the signature zinc finger generally found in the Fpg/Nei family. In contrast to Escherichia coli Nei, where a dramatic conformational change was observed upon binding DNA, the structure of MvNei1 bound to DNA does not reveal any substantial movement compared with the unliganded enzyme. A protein segment encompassing residues 217-245 in MvNei1 corresponds to the "missing loop" in E. coli Nei and the "␣F-␤10 loop" in E. coli Fpg, which has been reported to be involved in lesion recognition. Interestingly, the corresponding loop in MvNei1 is ordered in both the unliganded and furan-bound structures, unlike other Fpg/Nei enzymes where the loop is generally ordered in the unliganded enzyme or in complexes with a lesion, and disordered otherwise. In the MvNei1⅐tetrahydrofuran complex a tyrosine located at the tip of the putative lesion recognition loop stacks against the furan ring; the tyrosine is predicted to adopt a different conformation to accommodate a modified base.All organisms must cope with the generation of potentially lethal or mutagenic oxidative DNA base damage produced by endogenous free radicals. The enzymes that recognize and initiate the repair of these lesions are the DNA glycosylases, which are found ubiquitously in all three kingdoms of life (for reviews see Refs. 1-4). Some of these enzymes are bifunctional, i.e. they catalyze the hydrolysis of the N-glycosyl bond linking a base to a deoxyribose (glycosylase activity) and subsequently cleave the DNA 3Ј to the apurinic/apyrimidinic site (lyase activity), whereas others are monofunctional and only carry out the glycosylase reaction, generating abasic sites as products. Structural studies indicate that the DNA glycosylases that recognize oxidative DNA damages fall into two family groups: the helixhairpin-helix superfamily and the Fpg/Nei family (for reviews see Refs. 1, 5, 6). The helix-hairpin-helix superfamily includes a diverse group of enzymes with varying substrate specificities which nonetheless share a helix-hairpin-helix motif that consists of two ␣-helices connected by a hairpin loop, followed by a Gly/Pro-rich loop and a conserved catalytic aspartate residue (7). Glycosylase members of the second family, the Fpg/Nei family, share a two-domain architecture: The N-terminal domain consists of a two-layered ␤-sandwich with two ␣-helices, whereas the C-terminal domain contains four ␣-helices, of which two are involved in a conserved helix-two-turn-helix (H2TH)...

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Background: Nei is a DNA glycosylase of the base excision repair pathway. Results: We present two crystal structures of an Nei bound to thymine glycol or 5-hydroxyuracil. Conclusion: Mutational analysis of active site residues suggests that lesion recognition happens before the damaged base is everted into the active site. Significance: These are the first structures of any Nei in complex with a damaged base.

Summary Endonuclease VIII-like 3 (Neil3) is a DNA glycosylase of the base excision repair pathway which protects cells from oxidative DNA damage by excising a broad spectrum of cytotoxic and mutagenic base lesions. Interestingly Neil3 exhibits an unusual preference for DNA with single-stranded regions. Here we report the first crystal structure of a Neil3 enzyme. Although the glycosylase region of mouse Neil3 (MmuNeil3Δ324) exhibits the same overall fold as that of other Fpg/Nei proteins, it presents distinct structural features. First, MmuNeil3Δ324 lacks the “αF-β9/10 loop” that caps the flipped-out 8-oxoG in bacterial Fpg, which is consistent with its inability to cleave 8-oxoguanine. Secondly, Neil3 not only lacks two of the three void-filling residues that stabilize the opposite strand but it also harbors negatively-charged residues which create an unfavorable electrostatic environment for the phosphate backbone of that strand. These structural features provide insight into Neil3's substrate specificity and marked preference for ssDNA.