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Jeffrey P Bond

Publications and source records attributed to Jeffrey P Bond.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Mechanism of presynaptic filament stabilization by the bacteriophage T4 UvsY recombination mediator protein.

UvsY is the recombination mediator protein (RMP) of bacteriophage T4, which promotes homologous recombination by facilitating presynaptic filament assembly. The results of previous studies suggest that UvsY promotes the assembly of presynaptic filaments in part by stabilizing interactions between T4 UvsX recombinase and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). To test this hypothesis, we studied the interactions of UvsX and UvsY with a fluorescein-derivatized oligonucleotide. This assay distinguishes between bipartite UvsX- or UvsY-ssDNA and tripartite UvsX-UvsY-ssDNA complex formation via differential fluorescence quenching effects. Salt stabilities of the three complexes were measured at equilibrium in the presence and absence of various nucleotide ligands of the UvsX protein and also under steady-state conditions for UvsX-catalyzed ssDNA-dependent ATP hydrolysis. The results demonstrate that UvsY globally stabilizes UvsX-ssDNA complexes, consistent with an increase in the apparent equilibrium binding affinity, K(ss)omega, of the UvsX-ssDNA interactions. The UvsY-mediated affinity increase is observed at equilibrium in the presence of ADP, ATPgammaS, or in the absence of the nucleotide and also at steady-state in the presence of ATP. Intriguingly, the stabilizing effects of UvsY and ATPgammaS on UvsX-ssDNA interactions are synergistic, indicating nonredundant mechanisms for UvsX-ssDNA complex stabilization by RMP versus nucleoside triphosphate effectors. Experiments with UvsY missense mutants defective in ssDNA binding demonstrate that UvsY-ssDNA interactions are of major importance in stabilizing UvsX-ssDNA complexes, whereas UvsY-UvsX protein-protein interactions provide residual stabilization energy. Together, the data is consistent with a mechanism in which UvsY stabilizes presynaptic filaments by organizing the ssDNA lattice into a structure that is favorable for UvsX-ssDNA interactions.

Adenine Nucleotides↗

Engineering functional changes in Escherichia coli endonuclease III based on phylogenetic and structural analyses.

Escherichia coli endonuclease III (EcoNth) plays an important cellular role by removing premutagenic pyrimidine damages produced by reactive oxygen species. EcoNth is a bifunctional enzyme that has DNA glycosylase and apurinic/apyrimidinic lyase activities. Using a phylogeny of natural sequences, we selected to study EcoNth serine 39, aspartate 44, and arginine 184, which are presumed to be in the vicinity of the damaged base in the glycosylase-substrate complex. These three amino acids are highly conserved among Nth orthologs, although not among homologous glycosylases, such as MutY, that have different base specificities and no lyase activity. To examine the role of these amino acids in catalysis, we constructed three mutants of EcoNth, in which Ser39 was replaced with leucine (S39L), Asp44 was replaced with valine (D44V), and Arg184 was replaced with alanine (R184A), which are the corresponding residues in EcoMutY. We showed that EcoNth S39L does not have significant glycosylase activity for oxidized pyrimidines, although it maintained AP lyase activity. In contrast, EcoNth D44V retained glycosylase activity against oxidized pyrimidines, but the apparent rate constant for the lyase activity of EcoNth D44V was significantly lower than that of EcoNth, indicating that Asp44 in EcoNth is required for beta-elimination. Finally, EcoNth R184A maintained lyase activity but exhibited glycosylase specificity different from that of EcoNth. The functional consequences of each of these three substitutions can be rationalized in the context of high resolution protein structures. Thus phylogeny-based scanning mutagenesis has allowed us to identify novel roles for amino acids in the substrate binding pocket of EcoNth in base recognition and/or catalysis.

Arginine↗

The crystal structure of human endonuclease VIII-like 1 (NEIL1) reveals a zincless finger motif required for glycosylase activity.

In prokaryotes, two DNA glycosylases recognize and excise oxidized pyrimidines: endonuclease III (Nth) and endonuclease VIII (Nei). The oxidized purine 8-oxoguanine, on the other hand, is recognized by Fpg (also known as MutM), a glycosylase that belongs to the same family as Nei. The recent availability of the human genome sequence allowed the identification of three human homologs of Escherichia coli Nei. We report here the crystal structure of a human Nei-like (NEIL) enzyme, NEIL1. The structure of NEIL1 exhibits the same overall fold as E. coli Nei, albeit with an unexpected twist. Sequence alignments had predicted that NEIL1 would lack a zinc finger, and it was therefore expected to use a different DNA-binding motif instead. Our structure revealed that, to the contrary, NEIL1 contains a structural motif composed of two antiparallel beta-strands that mimics the antiparallel beta-hairpin zinc finger found in other Fpg/Nei family members but lacks the loops that harbor the zinc-binding residues and, therefore, does not coordinate zinc. This "zincless finger" appears to be required for NEIL1 activity, because mutating a very highly conserved arginine within this motif greatly reduces the glycosylase activity of the enzyme.

Crystallography↗

The CDKN2A database: Integrating allelic variants with evolution, structure, function, and disease association.

In this report, we introduce the CDKN2A Database, an online database of germline and somatic variants of the CDKN2A tumor suppressor gene recorded in human disease through the year 2002, annotated with evolutionary, structural, and functional information. The CDKN2A Database improves upon existing resources by: 1) including both somatic mutations and germline variants, thereby adding the perspective of somatic cell carcinogenesis to that of hereditary cancer predisposition; 2) including information that assists with the interpretation of allelic variants, such as other primary data (sequences, structures, alignments, functional measurements, and literature references) and annotations (extensive text, figures, and a tree-based phylogenetic classification); and 3) providing the information in a format that allows a user to either download the database or to easily manipulate it online. We describe the database structure, content, current uses, and potential implications (http://biodesktop.uvm.edu/perl/p16).

Alleles↗

A novel human DNA glycosylase that removes oxidative DNA damage and is homologous to Escherichia coli endonuclease VIII.

Prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes possess redundant activities that remove the plethora of oxidative DNA base damages produced during normal oxidative metabolism and which have been associated with cancer and aging. Thus far, only one oxidized pyrimidine-specific DNA glycosylase has been identified in humans, hNthl. Here, we report the identification of three new putative human DNA glycosylases that are phylogenetically members of the Fpg/Nei family primarily found in the bacterial kingdom. We have characterized one of these, hNEI1, and show it to be functionally homologous to bacterial Nei, that is, its principal substrates are oxidized pyrimidines, it undergoes a lyase reaction by, beta,delta-elimination and traps a Schiff base with a substrate containing thymine glycol (Tg). Furthermore, inactivation of active site residues shown to be important in Escherichia coli Nei inactivate the human enzyme. The hNEI1 gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 15 that is frequently deleted in human cancers.

Amino Acid Sequence↗