A "moving metal mechanism" for substrate cleavage by the DNA repair endonuclease APE-1

Numan Oezguen, Catherine H. Schein, Srinivasa R. Peddi, Trevor D. Power, Tadahide Izumi, Werner Braun

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

56 Scopus citations

Abstract

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (APE-1) is essential for base excision repair (BER) of damaged DNA. Here molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of APE1 complexed with cleaved and uncleaved damaged DNA were used to determine the role and position of the metal ion(s) in the active site before and after DNA cleavage. The simulations started from an energy minimized wild-type structure of the metal-free APE1/damaged-DNA complex (1DE8). A grid search with one Mg2+ ion located two low energy clusters of Mg2+ consistent with the experimentally determined metal ion positions. At the start of the longer MD simulations, Mg2+ ions were placed at different positions as seen in the crystal structures and the movement of the ion was followed over the course of the trajectory. Our analysis suggests a "moving metal mechanism" in which one Mg2+ ion moves from the B- (more buried) to the A-site during substrate cleavage. The anticipated inversion of the phosphate oxygens occurs during the in-line cleavage reaction. Experimental results, which show competition between Ca2+ and Mg2+ for catalyzing the reaction, and high concentrations of Mg2+ are inihibitory, indicate that both sites cannot be simultaneously occupied for maximal activity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)313-323
Number of pages11
JournalProteins: Structure, Function and Genetics
Volume68
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2007

Keywords

  • BER-pathway
  • Divalent metal ion
  • Molecular dynamic simulation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Structural Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology

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