TY - JOUR
T1 - Crystal structure of cryptochrome 3 from Arabidopsis thaliana and its implications for photolyase activity
AU - Huang, Yihua
AU - Baxter, Richard
AU - Smith, Barbara S.
AU - Partch, Carrie L.
AU - Colbert, Christopher L.
AU - Deisenhofer, Johann
PY - 2006/11/21
Y1 - 2006/11/21
N2 - Cryptochromes use near-UV/blue light to regulate a variety of growth and adaptive process. Recent biochemical studies demonstrate that the Cryptochrome-Drosophila, Arabidopsis, Synechocystis, Human (Cry-DASH) subfamily of cryptochromes have photolyase activity exclusively for single-stranded cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD)-containing DNA substrate [Selby C, Sancar A (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:17696-17700]. The crystal structure of cryptochrome 3 from Arabidopsis thaliana (At-Cry3), a member of the Cry-DASH proteins, at 2.1 Å resolution, reveals that both the light-harvesting cofactor 5,10-methenyl-tetrahydrofolylpolyglutamate (MTHF) and the catalytic cofactor flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) are noncovalently bound to the protein. The residues responsible for binding of MTHF in At-Cry3 are not conserved in Escherichia coli photolyase but are strongly conserved in the Cry-DASH subfamily of cryptochromes. The distance and orientation between MTHF and flavin adenine dinucleotide in At-Cry3 is similar to that of E. coli photolyase, in conjunction with the presence of electron transfer chain, suggesting the conservation of redox activity in At-Cry3. Two amino acid substitutions and the penetration of three charged side chains into the CPD-binding cavity in At-Cry3 alter the hydrophobic environment that is accommodating the hydrophobic sugar ring and thymine base moieties in class I CPD photolyases. These changes most likely make CPD binding less energetically favorable and, hence, insufficient to compete with pairing and stacking interactions between the CPD and the duplex DNA substrate. Thus, Cry-DASH subfamily proteins may be unable to stabilize CPD flipped out from the duplex DNA substrate but may be able to preserve the DNA repair activity toward single-stranded CPD-containing DNA substrate.
AB - Cryptochromes use near-UV/blue light to regulate a variety of growth and adaptive process. Recent biochemical studies demonstrate that the Cryptochrome-Drosophila, Arabidopsis, Synechocystis, Human (Cry-DASH) subfamily of cryptochromes have photolyase activity exclusively for single-stranded cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD)-containing DNA substrate [Selby C, Sancar A (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:17696-17700]. The crystal structure of cryptochrome 3 from Arabidopsis thaliana (At-Cry3), a member of the Cry-DASH proteins, at 2.1 Å resolution, reveals that both the light-harvesting cofactor 5,10-methenyl-tetrahydrofolylpolyglutamate (MTHF) and the catalytic cofactor flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) are noncovalently bound to the protein. The residues responsible for binding of MTHF in At-Cry3 are not conserved in Escherichia coli photolyase but are strongly conserved in the Cry-DASH subfamily of cryptochromes. The distance and orientation between MTHF and flavin adenine dinucleotide in At-Cry3 is similar to that of E. coli photolyase, in conjunction with the presence of electron transfer chain, suggesting the conservation of redox activity in At-Cry3. Two amino acid substitutions and the penetration of three charged side chains into the CPD-binding cavity in At-Cry3 alter the hydrophobic environment that is accommodating the hydrophobic sugar ring and thymine base moieties in class I CPD photolyases. These changes most likely make CPD binding less energetically favorable and, hence, insufficient to compete with pairing and stacking interactions between the CPD and the duplex DNA substrate. Thus, Cry-DASH subfamily proteins may be unable to stabilize CPD flipped out from the duplex DNA substrate but may be able to preserve the DNA repair activity toward single-stranded CPD-containing DNA substrate.
KW - Cryptochrome-DASH
KW - DNA repair
KW - Light-harvesting cofactor
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.0608554103
DO - 10.1073/pnas.0608554103
M3 - Article
C2 - 17101984
AN - SCOPUS:33845189961
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 103
SP - 17701
EP - 17706
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 47
ER -