Following replicative DNA synthesis by time-resolved X-ray crystallography

Nicholas Chim, Roman A. Meza, Anh M. Trinh, Kefan Yang and John C. Chaput ()
Additional contact information
Nicholas Chim: University of California
Roman A. Meza: University of California
Anh M. Trinh: University of California
Kefan Yang: University of California
John C. Chaput: University of California

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The mechanism of DNA synthesis has been inferred from static structures, but the absence of temporal information raises longstanding questions about the order of events in one of life’s most central processes. Here we follow the reaction pathway of a replicative DNA polymerase using time-resolved X-ray crystallography to elucidate the order and transition between intermediates. In contrast to the canonical model, the structural changes observed in the time-lapsed images reveal a catalytic cycle in which translocation precedes catalysis. The translocation step appears to follow a push-pull mechanism where the O-O1 loop of the finger subdomain acts as a pawl to facilitate unidirectional movement along the template with conserved tyrosine residues 714 and 719 functioning as tandem gatekeepers of DNA synthesis. The structures capture the precise order of critical events that may be a general feature of enzymatic catalysis among replicative DNA polymerases.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22937-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22937-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22937-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().