Rigden DJ, Setlow P, Setlow B, Bagyan I, Stein RA, Jedrzejas MJ. PrfA protein of Bacillus species: prediction and demonstration of endonuclease activity on DNA.
Protein Sci 2002;
11:2370-81. [PMID:
12237459 PMCID:
PMC2373696 DOI:
10.1110/ps.0216802]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The prfA gene product of Gram-positive bacteria is unusual in being implicated in several cellular processes; cell wall synthesis, chromosome segregation, and DNA recombination and repair. However, no homology of PrfA with other proteins has been evident. Here we report a structural relationship between PrfA and the restriction enzyme PvuII, and thereby produce models that predict that PrfA binds DNA. Indeed, wild-type Bacillus stearothermophilus PrfA, but not a catalytic site mutant, nicked one strand of supercoiled plasmid templates leaving 5'-phosphate and 3'-hydroxyl termini. This activity, much lower on linear or relaxed circular double-stranded DNA or on single-stranded DNA, is consistent with a role for this protein in chromosome segregation, DNA recombination, or DNA repair.
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