A single amino acid governs enhanced activity of DinB DNA polymerases on damaged templates

摘要

Translesion synthesis (TLS) by Y-family DNA polymerases is a chief mechanism of DNA damage tolerance(1). Such TLS can be accurate or error-prone, as it is for bypass of a cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer by DNA polymerase h (XP-V or Rad30) or bypass of a (6-4) TT photoproduct by DNA polymerase V (UmuD'C-2), respectively(2,3). Although DinB is the only Y-family DNA polymerase conserved among all domains of life, the biological rationale for this striking conservation has remained enigmatic(4). Here we report that the Escherichia coli dinB gene is required for resistance to some DNA-damaging agents that form adducts at the N-2-position of deoxyguanosine (dG). We show that DinB (DNA polymerase IV) catalyses accurate TLS over one such N-2-dG adduct (N-2-furfuryl-dG), and that DinB and its mammalian orthologue, DNA polymerase kappa, insert deoxycytidine (dC) opposite N-2-furfuryl-dG with 10-15-fold greater catalytic proficiency than opposite undamaged dG. We also show that mutating a single amino acid, the 'steric gate' residue of DinB (Phe13 --> Val) and that of its archaeal homologue Dbh (Phe12 --> Ala), separates the abilities of these enzymes to perform TLS over N-2-dG adducts from their abilities to replicate an undamaged template. We propose that DinB and its orthologues are specialized to catalyse relatively accurate TLS over some N-2-dG adducts that are ubiquitous in nature, that lesion bypass occurs more efficiently than synthesis on undamaged DNA, and that this specificity may be achieved at least in part through a lesion-induced conformational change.