title: Vinylphosphonate internucleotide linkages inhibit the activity of PcrA DNA helicase.
abstract: During the past 5 years a great deal of structural and biochemical information has given us a detailed insight into the molecular mechanism of action of the PcrA DNA helicase and challenged previous notions about the molecular mechanism of action of helicases in general. Despite this wealth of information the mechanisms of the interaction of helicases with their DNA substrates and their unidirectional translocation along ssDNA are poorly understood. In this study, we synthesized a chemically modified DNA substrate with reduced backbone rotational flexibility and minimal steric hindrance and studied its effect on the activity of the monomeric 3'-5' DNA helicase, PcrA. Our results show that a single modification on the backbone of the translocating strand is sufficient to inhibit the activity of PcrA helicase, suggesting that rotational flexibility of the backbone is important for efficient unwinding.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Bertram
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: Panos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Soultanas
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes / Q000737:chemistry; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*; D063065:Organophosphonates / Q000737:chemistry*; D014753:Vinyl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D009841:Oligonucleotides; D063065:Organophosphonates; D014753:Vinyl Compounds; C084217:pcrA protein, Bacteria; C433467:vinylphosphonic acid; D004247:DNA; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D004265:DNA Helicases