The DNA polymerase from the bacteriophage T4 is part of a multienzyme complex required for the synthesis of DNA. As a first step in understanding the contributions of individual proteins to the dynamic properties of the complex, e.g., turnover, processivity, and fidelity of replication, the minimal kinetic schemes for the polymerase and exonuclease activities of the gene 43 protein have been determined by pre-steady-state kinetic methods and fit by computer simulation. A DNA primer/template (13/20-mer) was used as substrate; duplexes that contained more single-strand DNA resulted in nonproductive binding of the polymerase. The reaction sequence features an ordered addition of 13/20-mer followed by dATP to the T4 enzyme (dissociation constants of 70 nM and 20 microM) followed by rapid conversion (400 s-1) of the T4.13/20-mer.dATP complex to the T4.14/20-mer.PPi product species. A slow step (2 s-1) following PPi release limits a single turnover, although this step is bypassed in multiple incorporations (13/20-mer-->17/20-mer) which occur at rates > 400 s-1. Competition between correct versus incorrect nucleotides relative to the template strand indicates that the dissociation constants for the incorrect nucleotides are at millimolar values, thus providing evidence that the T4 polymerase, like the T7 but unlike the Klenow fragment polymerases, discriminates by factors > 10(3) against misincorporation in the nucleotide binding step. The exonuclease activity of the T4 enzyme requires an activation step, i.e., T4.DNA-->T4.(DNA)*, whose rate constants reflect whether the 3'-terminus of the primer is matched or mismatched; for matched 13/20-mer the constant is 1 s-1, and for mismatched 13T/20-mer, 5 s-1. Evidence is presented from crossover experiments that this step may represent a melting of the terminus of the duplex, which is followed by rapid exonucleolytic cleavage (100s-1). In the presence of the correct dNTP, primer extension is the rate-limiting step rather than a step involving travel of the duplex between separated exonuclease and polymerase sites. Since the rate constant for 13/20-mer or 13T/20-mer dissociation from the enzyme is 6 or 8 s-1 and competes with that for activation, the exonucleolytic editing by the enzyme alone in a single pass is somewhat inefficient (5 s-1/(8 s-1+5 s-1)), ca. 40%. Consequently, a major role for the accessory proteins may be to slow the rate of enzyme.substrate dissociation, thereby increasing overall fidelity and processivity.

Expression of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) protease in cultured cells leads to apoptosis, preceded by cleavage of bcl-2, a key negative regulator of cell death. In contrast, a high level of bcl-2 protects cells in vitro and in vivo from the viral protease and prevents cell death following HIV infection of human lymphocytes, while reducing the yields of viral structural proteins, infectivity, and tumor necrosis factor a. We present a model for HIV replication in which the viral protease depletes the infected cells of bcl-2, leading to oxidative stress-dependent activation of NFKB, a cellular factor required for HIV transcription, and ultimately to cell death. Purified bcl-2 is cleaved by HIV protease between phenylalanine 112 and alanine 113. The results suggest a new option for HIV gene therapy; bcl-2 muteins that have noncleavable alterations surrounding the HIV protease cleavage site.

Bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase has a proofreading 3' -+ 5' exonuclease that plays an important role in maintaining the accuracy of DNA replication. We have constructed a T4 DNA polymerase deficient in this exonuclease by converting Asp-219 to Ala. The exonuclease activity of the mutant T4 DNA polymerase has been reduced by a factor of at least 107, but it retains a polymerase activity whose kinetic parameters, k at, Kd DNA, and Kd dATP, are very (17-20). We wished to construct a mutation in T4 DNA polymerase that would remove this exonuclease activity, without altering the polymerase activity, in order to evaluate the role of the exonuclease in maintaining the fidelity of DNA replication and to facilitate kinetic studies of the mechanism by which T4 DNA polymerase alone catalyzes DNA synthesis. Previous studies from one of our laboratories (21) to define a minimal kinetic scheme for T4 DNA polymerase (Scheme I) were complicated by the vigorous exonuclease activity of this enzyme. Exonucleasedeficient enzymes of T7 DNA polymerase (22, 23) and E. coli DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment) (24) have played integral roles in the delineation of their kinetic mechanisms.The active site for exonuclease must be toward the N terminus ofT4 polymerase, since the protein made by the B22 amber mutant, missing the C-terminal 20% of the intact protein, retains an altered exonuclease but lacks the polymerase activity of the wild-type enzyme (25). Analysis of the crystal structure of the Klenow fragment of E. coli polymerase I and the enzymatic activities of its mutants indicate that Asp-424 is involved in coordination of a metal ion and is essential for exonucleolytic cleavage (26-29). Amino acid sequence comparisons (6) have suggested that Asp-219 in T4 DNA polymerase is in an analogous position. In this report, we describe the construction and initial characterization of a T4 DNA polymerase mutant with alanine replacing Asp-219. We show that this polymerase mutant has no measurable exonuclease, but retains a polymerase activity whose kinetic parameters are very close to those of the wild type. Bacteriophage T4 with the mutant polymerase gene have a markedly increased mutation frequency.MATERIALS AND METHODS

The fluorescent properties and their sensitivity to the surrounding environment of the nucleotide analog 2-aminopurine (2-AP) have been well documented. In this paper we describe the use of 2-AP as a direct spectroscopic probe of the mechanism of nucleotide incorporation by Escherichia coli Pol I Klenow fragment (KF) and bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase. The nucleotidyl transfer reaction may be monitored in real time by following the fluorescence of 2-AP, allowing the detection of transient intermediates along the reaction pathway that are inaccessible through traditional radioactive assays. Previous studies with Klenow fragment [Kuchta, R. D., Mizrahi, V., Benkovic, P. A., Johnson, K. A., & Benkovic, S. J. (1987) Biochemistry 26, 8410-8417] have revealed the presence of a nonchemical step prior to chemistry and have identified this conformational change as the rate-limiting step of correct nucleotide incorporation. During correct incorporation, phosphodiester bond formation occurs at a rate greater than the conformational change and has not been measured. However, during misinsertion, the rate of the chemical step becomes partially rate limiting and it becomes possible to detect both steps. We have successfully decoupled the chemical and conformational change steps for nucleotide insertion by KF using the misincorporation reaction, and we present direct spectroscopic evidence for an activated KF'-DNA-dNTP species following the conformational change step which features hydrogen bonding between the incoming and template bases. In addition, we have utilized these same experiments to demonstrate the existence of a similar nonchemical step in the mechanism of dNTP incorporation by bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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