title: A protein related to eucaryal and bacterial DNA-motor proteins in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius.
abstract: We have isolated a new gene encoding a putative 103-kDa protein from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. Analysis of the deduced amino-acid sequence shows an extended central domain, predicted to form coiled-coil structures, and two terminal domains that display purine NTPase motifs. These features are reminiscent of mechanochemical motor proteins which use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to move specific cellular components. Comparative analysis of the amino-acid sequence of the terminal domains and predicted structural organization of this putative purine NTPase show that it is related both to eucaryal proteins from the "SMC family" involved in the condensation of chromosomes and to several bacterial and eucaryal proteins involved in DNA recombination/repair. Further analyses revealed that these proteins are all members of the so called "UvrA-related NTP-binding proteins superfamily" and form a large subgroup of motor-like NTPases involved in different DNA processing mechanisms. The presence of such protein in Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya suggests an early origin of DNA-motor proteins that could have emerged and diversified by domain shuffling.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire des Extrêmophiles, Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, CNRS, URA 1354. Bat. 409. Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay cedex, France. elie@igmors.u-psud.fr
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Elie
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Baucher
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fondrat
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Forterre
mesh_terms: D017766:Acid Anhydride Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase; D011487:Protein Conformation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D016944:Sulfolobus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D017766:Acid Anhydride Hydrolases; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase