Flynn R. Hill

Proofreading exonuclease on a tether: the complex between the E. coli DNA polymerase III subunits α, ε, θ and β reveals a highly flexible arrangement of the proofreading domain

A complex of the three (αεθ) core subunits and the β2 sliding clamp is responsible for DNA synthesis by Pol III, the Escherichia coli chromosomal DNA replicase. The 1.7 Å crystal structure of a complex between the PHP domain of α (polymerase) and the C-terminal segment of ε (proofreading exonuclease) subunits shows that ε is attached to α at a site far from the polymerase active site. Both α and ε contain clamp-binding motifs (CBMs) that interact simultaneously with β2 in the polymerization mode of DNA replication by Pol III. Strengthening of both CBMs enables isolation of stable αεθ:β2 complexes. Nuclear magnetic resonance experiments with reconstituted αεθ:β2 demonstrate retention of high mobility of a segment of 22 residues in the linker that connects the exonuclease domain of ε with its α-binding segment. In spite of this, small-angle X-ray scattering data show that the isolated complex with strengthened CBMs has a compact, but still flexible, structure. Photo-crosslinking with p-benzoyl-L-phenylalanine incorporated at different sites in the α-PHP domain confirm the conformational variability of the tether. Structural models of the αεθ:β2 replicase complex with primer-template DNA combine all available structural data.

Activity and molecular dynamics relationship within the family of human cholinesterases.

The temperature dependence of the dynamics of recombinant human acetylcholinesterase (hAChE) and plasma human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE) is examined using elastic incoherent neutron scattering. These two enzymes belong to the same family and present 50% amino acid sequence identity. However, significantly higher flexibility and catalytic activity of hAChE when compared to the ones of hBChE are measured. At the same time, the average height of the potential barrier to the motions is increased in the hBChE, e.g. more thermal energy is needed to cross it in the latter case, which might be the origin of the increase in activation energy and the reduction in the catalytic rate of hBChE observed experimentally. These results suggest that the motions on the picosecond timescale may act as a lubricant for those associated with activity occurring on a slower millisecond timescale.

Energy landscapes of human acetylcholinesterase and its huperzine A-inhibited counterpart

Enzymes are animated by a hierarchy of motions occurring on time scales that span more than 15 orders of magnitude from femtoseconds (10(-15) s) to several minutes. As a consequence, an enzyme is characterized by a large number of conformations, so-called conformational substates that interconvert via molecular motions. The energy landscapes of these macromolecules are very complex, and many conformations are separated by only small energy barriers. Movements at this level are fast thermal atomic motions occurring on a time scale between 10(-7) and 10(-12) s, which are experimentally accessible by incoherent neutron scattering techniques. They correspond to local fluctuations within the molecule and are believed to act as coupling links for larger, conformational changes. Several questions related to this hierarchy of motions are a matter of very active research: which of the motions are involved in the biological functions of the macromolecule and are motions of different energy (and thus time) scale correlated? How does the distribution of motions change when an enzyme is inhibited? We report here on investigations of the enzyme human acetylcholinesterase, unliganded and in complex with the noncovalent inhibitor Huperzine A, by incoherent neutron scattering. Different time scales are explored to shed light on the interplay of enzyme activity, dynamics, and inhibition. Surprisingly the average molecular dynamics do not seem to be altered by the presence of the inhibitor used in this study within the considered time scales. The activation energy for the free and the inhibited form of the enzyme is moreover found to be almost identical despite changes of interactions inside the gorge, which leads to the active site of the enzyme.

A novel zinc-binding fold in the helicase interaction domain of the Bacillus subtilis DnaI helicase loader

The helicase loader protein DnaI (the Bacillus subtilis homologue of Escherichia coli DnaC) is required to load the hexameric helicase DnaC (the B. subtilis homologue of E. coli DnaB) onto DNA at the start of replication. While the C-terminal domain of DnaI belongs to the structurally well-characterized AAA+ family of ATPases, the structure of the N-terminal domain, DnaI-N, has no homology to a known structure. Three-dimensional structure determination by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy shows that DnaI presents a novel fold containing a structurally important zinc ion. Surface plasmon resonance experiments indicate that DnaI-N is largely responsible for binding of DnaI to the hexameric helicase from B. stearothermophilus, which is a close homologue of the corresponding much less stable B. subtilis helicase.

Single-molecule visualization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae leading-strand synthesis reveals dynamic interaction between MTC and the replisome

Significance Replication of genomic DNA is essential to all cells. The replisome, the multiprotein machine that performs DNA replication, contains many moving parts, the actions of which are poorly understood. Unraveling the dynamic behavior of these proteins requires novel application of single-molecule imaging techniques to eliminate averaging inherent in ensemble methods and to directly observe short-lived events. Here, we present single-molecule observations of an active Saccharomyces cerevisiae replisome using purified proteins. We find that a checkpoint complex (Mrc1–Tof1–Csm3), known to bind and to speed up the replisome, interacts only transiently with the replisome. This work represents a major step toward establishing the tools needed to understand the detailed kinetics of proteins within the complex eukaryotic replisome. The replisome, the multiprotein system responsible for genome duplication, is a highly dynamic complex displaying a large number of different enzyme activities. Recently, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae minimal replication reaction has been successfully reconstituted in vitro. This provided an opportunity to uncover the enzymatic activities of many of the components in a eukaryotic system. Their dynamic behavior and interactions in the context of the replisome, however, remain unclear. We use a tethered-bead assay to provide real-time visualization of leading-strand synthesis by the S. cerevisiae replisome at the single-molecule level. The minimal reconstituted leading-strand replisome requires 24 proteins, forming the CMG helicase, the Pol ε DNA polymerase, the RFC clamp loader, the PCNA sliding clamp, and the RPA single-stranded DNA binding protein. We observe rates and product lengths similar to those obtained from ensemble biochemical experiments. At the single-molecule level, we probe the behavior of two components of the replication progression complex and characterize their interaction with active leading-strand replisomes. The Minichromosome maintenance protein 10 (Mcm10), an important player in CMG activation, increases the number of productive replication events in our assay. Furthermore, we show that the fork protection complex Mrc1–Tof1–Csm3 (MTC) enhances the rate of the leading-strand replisome threefold. The introduction of periods of fast replication by MTC leads to an average rate enhancement of a factor of 2, similar to observations in cellular studies. We observe that the MTC complex acts in a dynamic fashion with the moving replisome, leading to alternating phases of slow and fast replication.

Detection of kinetic change points in piece-wise linear single molecule motion

Single-molecule approaches present a powerful way to obtain detailed kinetic information at the molecular level. However, the identification of small rate changes is often hindered by the considerable noise present in such single-molecule kinetic data. We present a general method to detect such kinetic change points in trajectories of motion of processive single molecules having Gaussian noise, with a minimum number of parameters and without the need of an assumed kinetic model beyond piece-wise linearity of motion. Kinetic change points are detected using a likelihood ratio test in which the probability of no change is compared to the probability of a change occurring, given the experimental noise. A predetermined confidence interval minimizes the occurrence of false detections. Applying the method recursively to all sub-regions of a single molecule trajectory ensures that all kinetic change points are located. The algorithm presented allows rigorous and quantitative determination of kinetic change points in noisy single molecule observations without the need for filtering or binning, which reduce temporal resolution and obscure dynamics. The statistical framework for the approach and implementation details are discussed. The detection power of the algorithm is assessed using simulations with both single kinetic changes and multiple kinetic changes that typically arise in observations of single-molecule DNA-replication reactions. Implementations of the algorithm are provided in ImageJ plugin format written in Java and in the Julia language for numeric computing, with accompanying Jupyter Notebooks to allow reproduction of the analysis presented here.

The more the merrier: high-throughput single-molecule techniques

The single-molecule approach seeks to understand molecular mechanisms by observing biomolecular processes at the level of individual molecules. These methods have led to a developing understanding that for many processes, a diversity of behaviours will be observed, representing a multitude of pathways. This realisation necessitates that an adequate number of observations are recorded to fully characterise this diversity. The requirement for large numbers of observations to adequately sample distributions, subpopulations, and rare events presents a significant challenge for single-molecule techniques, which by their nature do not typically provide very high throughput. This review will discuss many developing techniques which address this issue by combining nanolithographic approaches, such as zero-mode waveguides and DNA curtains, with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, and by drastically increasing throughput of force-based approaches such as magnetic tweezers and laminar-flow techniques. These methods not only allow the collection of large volumes of single-molecule data in single experiments, but have also made improvements to ease-of-use, accessibility, and automation of data analysis.