Mechanisms by Which Human DNA Primase Chooses To Polymerize a Nucleoside Triphosphate

Journal of Biological Chemistry

Suwa³

et al. 2016

100

DNA replication in almost all organisms depends on the activity of DNA primase, a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase that synthesizes short RNA primers of defined size for DNA polymerases. Eukaryotic and archaeal primases are heterodimers consisting of small catalytic and large accessory subunits, both of which are necessary for the activity. The mode of interaction of primase subunits with substrates during the various steps of primer synthesis that results in the counting of primer length is not clear. Here we show that the C-terminal domain of the large subunit (p58 C ) plays a major role in template-primer binding and also defines the elements of the DNA template and the RNA primer that interact with p58 C . The specific mode of interaction with a template-primer involving the terminal 5-triphosphate of RNA and the 3-overhang of DNA results in a stable complex between p58 C and the DNA/RNA duplex. Our results explain how p58 C participates in RNA synthesis and primer length counting and also indicate that the binding site for initiating NTP is located on p58 C . These findings provide notable insight into the mechanism of primase function and are applicable for DNA primases from other species.The four-subunit primase-polymerase ␣ (Prim-Pol␣) 3 complex possessing DNA primase and DNA polymerase active sites is important for genome replication in eukaryotes (1, 2). PrimPol␣ synthesizes the chimeric RNA-DNA primers for replicative DNA polymerases ⑀ and ␦ (3, 4). In humans, the primase heterodimer contains a small catalytic subunit (p49; also known as p48, PRIM1, Pri1, and PriS) and a large regulatory subunit (p58; also known as PRIM2, Pri2, and PriL). Pol␣ is composed of a large catalytic subunit (p180) and a small accessory subunit (p70). p58 and p70 are connected with p180 through the interaction with a small C-terminal domain (p180 C ) that defines the tight coordination of the RNA-and DNA-polymerizing activities (5-7).Eukaryotic primases have a minimal specific recognition site on DNA and only require a pyrimidine to template the 5Ј-terminal nucleotide of the primer (8, 9). RNA primer synthesis begins with a rate-limiting initiation step that includes binding of the DNA template and two NTPs followed by dinucleotide synthesis (10). Subsequently, primase elongates the generated dinucleotide to the unit-length primer (8 -10-mer) and terminates synthesis. This unique counting ability of DNA primases, which results in RNA primers that are optimal for extension by Pol␣, has a complex mechanism that is currently unclear. Recent structural data revealed that the primase active site located on p49 uses the common mechanism of nucleic acids synthesis, where the catalytic aspartates coordinate two divalent ions and the triphosphate moiety of the incoming NTP (11,12).The large subunit of human primase is composed of two separate domains connected with a long linker, which indicates a significant conformational flexibility of this subunit (13). The N-terminal domain (p58 N ) provides a platform for interactions with p49 and P...

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Insight into the Human DNA Primase Interaction with Template-Primer

Baranovskiy¹,

Journal of Biological Chemistry

Suwa³

et al. 2016

100

“…The lack of interaction between the human primase and the emerging RNA strand (Fig. 8C) explains the significant ability of DNA primases to perform translesion synthesis (52)(53)(54)(55). The data presented here have wide-ranging therapeutic implications, because they provide new perspectives for the design of specific primosome inhibitors ultimately aimed at arresting the onset of replication in targeted cancer cells.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Mechanism of Concerted RNA-DNA Primer Synthesis by the Human Primosome

Baranovskiy

Babayeva

Journal of Biological Chemistry

et al. 2016

116

228

The human primosome, a 340-kilodalton complex of primase and DNA polymerase ␣ (Pol␣), synthesizes chimeric RNA-DNA primers to be extended by replicative DNA polymerases ␦ and ⑀. The intricate mechanism of concerted primer synthesis by two catalytic centers was an enigma for over three decades. Here we report the crystal structures of two key complexes, the human primosome and the C-terminal domain of the primase large subunit (p58 C ) with bound DNA/RNA duplex. These structures, along with analysis of primase/polymerase activities, provide a plausible mechanism for all transactions of the primosome including initiation, elongation, accurate counting of RNA primer length, primer transfer to Pol␣, and concerted autoregulation of alternate activation/inhibition of the catalytic centers. Our findings reveal a central role of p58 C in the coordinated actions of two catalytic domains in the primosome and ultimately could impact the design of anticancer drugs.In eukaryotes, the primosome, a tight complex of DNA primase and DNA polymerase ␣ (Pol␣), 4 synthesizes primers for both leading and lagging strands in a highly coordinated fashion (1, 2). The primosome is indispensable for initiation of replication and has a large impact on genome stability (3-6). RNA primer synthesis by primase involves three steps: initiation, elongation, and termination (7,8). During the rate-limiting initiation step, primase binds the DNA template and two ribonucleotide triphosphates (NTPs) and catalyzes the formation of a dinucleotide (9, 10). Further synthesis of the RNA primer is much faster but restricted, because of the intrinsic property of primases to count the primer length and terminate synthesis after incorporation of 8 -10 nucleotides (7). Next, the mature so-called "unit length" RNA primer is intramolecularly translocated to Pol␣ for the subsequent extension by dNTPs, and the primase became inhibited by an unknown mechanism (9,11,12). Orchestration of all these steps requires changes in primosome conformation (13).Human Pol␣ (Fig. 1A) is comprised of a large catalytic subunit (p180) and a smaller accessory subunit (p70), connected by the C-terminal domain of p180 (p180 C ) containing two conserved zinc-binding modules, Zn1 and Zn2 (14 -16). p70 consists of an N-terminal (p70 N ), a phosphodiesterase, and oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide-binding (OB) domains (14, 17). The globular p70 N is attached to the phosphodiesterase via a flexible linker (amino acid residues 79 -156) (14, 18) and participates in interactions with other DNA replication proteins (19). The catalytic core of p180 (p180core) and p180 C -p70 are connected by a 15-residue linker (1251-1265) (13). Human primase consists of catalytic (p49) and regulatory (p58) subunits (20). p58 has two distinct domains, N-terminal (p58 N ) and C-terminal (p58 C ), connected with an 18-residue linker (253-270) (21). p58 N interacts with p49 and connects primase with Pol␣ (22, 23), and an iron-sulfur cluster containing p58 C plays an important role in substrate binding and primase acti...

“…The general process of DNA replication initiation involves several key steps: loading of helicase at replication origins, unwinding of DNA by helicase, the synthesis of RNA primer by primase, elongation of primer by DNA polymerase α, and then the replacement of DNA polymerase α with polymerase δ or polymerase ε for extending DNA strands (22,23). SIX1 could modulate the expression of the genes that mainly affect the initiation of DNA replication as shown by out data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The synthesis of RNA primer by primase and the following elongation of the primer by DNA polymerase α are required for DNA replication in eukaryotes (23). The primase consists of two subunits, p49 (PRIM1) and p58 (PRIM2), both of which were upregulated by SIX1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sine oculis homeobox homolog 1 promotes DNA replication and cell proliferation in cervical cancer

Liu

International Journal of Oncology

et al. 2014

Abstract. Malignant proliferation is the fundamental trait of tumor cells. The initiation of DNA replication represents a key process for cell proliferation, and has a marked impact on tumorigenesis and progression. Here we report that Sine oculis homeobox homolog 1 (SIX1) functions as a master regulator in DNA replication of cervical cancer cells. The expression of SIX1 was induced by the E7 oncoprotein of human papillomaviruses in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancer. The increase of SIX1 expression resulted in the upregulation of multiple genes related to the initiation of DNA replication, including the genes coding for the proteins in minichromosome maintenance complex (MCM2, MCM3, MCM6), DNA polymerase α-primase complex (POLA1, PRIM1, PRIM2), clamp loader (RFC3, RFC4, RFC5), DNA polymerase δ complex (POLD3) and DNA polymerase ε complex (POLE2). In line with this, the increase of SIX1 expression enhanced DNA synthesis, accelerated G1 to S phase progression, and promoted the proliferation of cervical cancer cells and the growth of cervical cancer. Consistently, knockdown of SIX1 could hamper DNA synthesis, slow down G1 to S phase progression, and suppress tumor cell proliferation and tumor growth. Importantly, SIX1 could more efficiently promote anchorage-independent cell growth. These results suggest that the increase of SIX1 expression could promote tumorigenesis, progression and invasive growth of cervical cancer by promoting DNA replication, and that targeting SIX1 may have significant therapeutic value in cervical cancer treatment.