title: Crystal structure of mammalian poly(A) polymerase in complex with an analog of ATP.
abstract: In eukaryotes, polyadenylation of pre-mRNA plays an essential role in the initiation step of protein synthesis, as well as in the export and stability of mRNAs. Poly(A) polymerase, the enzyme at the heart of the polyadenylation machinery, is a template-independent RNA polymerase which specifically incorporates ATP at the 3' end of mRNA. We have solved the crystal structure of bovine poly(A) polymerase bound to an ATP analog at 2.5 A resolution. The structure revealed expected and unexpected similarities to other proteins. As expected, the catalytic domain of poly(A) polymerase shares substantial structural homology with other nucleotidyl transferases such as DNA polymerase beta and kanamycin transferase. The C-terminal domain unexpectedly folds into a compact domain reminiscent of the RNA-recognition motif fold. The three invariant aspartates of the catalytic triad ligate two of the three active site metals. One of these metals also contacts the adenine ring. Furthermore, conserved, catalytically important residues contact the nucleotide. These contacts, taken together with metal coordination of the adenine base, provide a structural basis for ATP selection by poly(A) polymerase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 70, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doublié
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000737:chemistry; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D002417:Cattle; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D019951:DNA Polymerase beta / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry; D011062:Polynucleotide Adenylyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry*; D011485:Protein Binding; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D012313:RNA; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases; C024251:kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase; D011062:Polynucleotide Adenylyltransferase; D019951:DNA Polymerase beta; D000225:Adenine