title: Control of transcriptional fidelity by active center tuning as derived from RNA polymerase endonuclease reaction.
abstract: Precise transcription by cellular RNA polymerase requires the efficient removal of noncognate nucleotide residues that are occasionally incorporated. Mis-incorporation causes the transcription elongation complex to backtrack, releasing a single strand 3'-RNA segment bearing a noncognate residue, which is hydrolyzed by the active center that carries two Mg(2+) ions. However, in most x-ray structures only one Mg(2+) is present. This Mg(2+) is tightly bound to the active center aspartates, creating an inactive stable state. The first residue of the single strand RNA segment in the backtracked transcription elongation complex strongly promotes transcript hydrolytic cleavage by establishing a network of interactions that force a shift of stably bound Mg(2+) to release some of its aspartate coordination valences for binding to the second Mg(2+) thus enabling catalysis. Such a rearrangement that we call active center tuning (ACT) occurs when all recognition contacts of the active center-bound RNA segment are established and verified by tolerance to stress. Transcription factor Gre builds on the ACT mechanism in the same reaction by increasing the retention of the second Mg(2+) and by activating the attacking water, causing 3000-4000-fold reaction acceleration and strongly reinforcing proofreading. The unified mechanism for RNA synthesis and degradation by RNA polymerase predicts that ACT also executes NTP selection thereby contributing to high transcription fidelity.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Institute Center, New Jersey Medical School, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA.
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sosunova
authors.forename: Vasily
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sosunov
authors.forename: Vitaly
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Epshtein
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nikiforov
authors.forename: Arkady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mustaev
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000737:chemistry*; D004720:Endonucleases / Q000737:chemistry*; D008274:Magnesium / Q000737:chemistry; D012313:RNA / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013824:Thermus / Q000201:enzymology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D012313:RNA; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; D004720:Endonucleases; D008274:Magnesium