title: Mammalian DNA polymerase beta: characterization of a 16-kDa transdomain fragment containing the nucleic acid-binding activities of the native enzyme.
abstract: The 39-kDa DNA polymerase beta (beta-Pol) molecule can be readily converted into two constituent domains by mild proteolysis; these domains are represented in an 8-kDa N-terminal fragment and a 31-kDa C-terminal fragment [Kumar et al. (1990a) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 2124-2131]. Intact beta-Pol is a sequence-nonspecific nucleic acid-interactive protein that binds both double-stranded (ds) and single-stranded (ss) polynucleotides. These two activities appear to be contributed by separate portions of the enzyme, since the 31-kDa domain binds ds DNA but not ss DNA, and conversely, the 8-kDa domain binds ss DNA but not ds DNA [Casas-Finet et al. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 19618-19625]. Truncation of the 31-kDa domain at the N-terminus with chymotrypsin, to produce a 27-kDa fragment (residues 140-334), eliminated all DNA-binding activity. This suggested that the ds DNA-binding capacity of the 31-kDa domain may be carried in the N-terminal segment of the 31-kDa domain. We used CNBr to prepare a 16-kDa fragment (residues 18-154) that spans the ss DNA-binding region of the 8-kDa domain along with the N-terminal portion of the 31-kDa domain. The purified 16-kDa fragment was found to have both ss and ds polynucleotide-binding capacity. Thermodynamic binding properties for these activities are similar to those of the intact enzyme.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland Baltimore County 21228.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Casas-Finet
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Karpel
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D004256:DNA Polymerase I / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D011119:Polynucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051381:Rats; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011119:Polynucleotides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004256:DNA Polymerase I