Guanosine triphosphate acts as a cofactor to promote assembly of initial P-element transposase-DNA synaptic complexes.
P transposable elements in Drosophila are members of a larger class of mobile elements that move using a cut-and-paste mechanism. P-element transposase uses guanosine triphosphate (GTP) as a cofactor for transposition. Here, we use atomic force microscopy (AFM) to visualize protein-DNA complexes formed during the initial stages of P-element transposition. These studies reveal that GTP acts to promote assembly of the first detectable noncovalent precleavage synaptic complex. This initial complex then randomly and independently cleaves each P-element end. These data show that GTP acts to promote protein-DNA assembly, and may explain why P-element excision often leads to unidirectional deletions.
Tang
Mei
M
Division of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Center for Integrative Genomics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Cecconi
Ciro
C
Kim
Helen
H
Bustamante
Carlos
C
Rio
Donald C
DC
D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000502:physiology*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000378:metabolism; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D019895:Transposases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate; D004247:DNA; D019895:Transposases