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Czernecki D, Nourisson A, Legrand P, Delarue M. Reclassification of family A DNA polymerases reveals novel functional subfamilies and distinctive structural features. Nucleic Acids Res 2023; 51:4488-4507. [PMID: 37070157 PMCID: PMC10201439 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Revised: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Family A DNA polymerases (PolAs) form an important and well-studied class of extant polymerases participating in DNA replication and repair. Nonetheless, despite the characterization of multiple subfamilies in independent, dedicated works, their comprehensive classification thus far is missing. We therefore re-examine all presently available PolA sequences, converting their pairwise similarities into positions in Euclidean space, separating them into 19 major clusters. While 11 of them correspond to known subfamilies, eight had not been characterized before. For every group, we compile their general characteristics, examine their phylogenetic relationships and perform conservation analysis in the essential sequence motifs. While most subfamilies are linked to a particular domain of life (including phages), one subfamily appears in Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota. We also show that two new bacterial subfamilies contain functional enzymes. We use AlphaFold2 to generate high-confidence prediction models for all clusters lacking an experimentally determined structure. We identify new, conserved features involving structural alterations, ordered insertions and an apparent structural incorporation of a uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) domain. Finally, genetic and structural analyses of a subset of T7-like phages indicate a splitting of the 3'-5' exo and pol domains into two separate genes, observed in PolAs for the first time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dariusz Czernecki
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 3528, Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, 75015 Paris, France
- Sorbonne Université, Collège Doctoral, ED 515, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Antonin Nourisson
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 3528, Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, 75015 Paris, France
- Sorbonne Université, Collège Doctoral, ED 515, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Pierre Legrand
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 3528, Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, 75015 Paris, France
- Synchrotron SOLEIL, L’Orme des Merisiers, 91190 Saint-Aubin, France
| | - Marc Delarue
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 3528, Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, 75015 Paris, France
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Czernecki D, Hu H, Romoli F, Delarue M. Structural dynamics and determinants of 2-aminoadenine specificity in DNA polymerase DpoZ of vibriophage ϕVC8. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:11974-11985. [PMID: 34751404 PMCID: PMC8599892 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
All genetic information in cellular life is stored in DNA copolymers composed of four basic building blocks (ATGC-DNA). In contrast, a group of bacteriophages belonging to families Siphoviridae and Podoviridae has abandoned the usage of one of them, adenine (A), replacing it with 2-aminoadenine (Z). The resulting ZTGC-DNA is more stable than its ATGC-DNA counterpart, owing to the additional hydrogen bond present in the 2-aminoadenine:thymine (Z:T) base pair, while the additional amino group also confers resistance to the host endonucleases. Recently, two classes of replicative proteins found in ZTGC-DNA-containing phages were characterized and one of them, DpoZ from DNA polymerase A (PolA) family, was shown to possess significant Z-vs-A specificity. Here, we present the crystallographic structure of the apo form of DpoZ of vibriophage ϕVC8, composed of the 3′-5′ exonuclease and polymerase domains. We captured the enzyme in two conformations that involve the tip of the thumb subdomain and the exonuclease domain. We highlight insertions and mutations characteristic of ϕVC8 DpoZ and its close homologues. Through mutagenesis and functional assays we suggest that the preference of ϕVC8 DpoZ towards Z relies on a polymerase backtracking process, more efficient when the nascent base pair is A:T than when it is Z:T.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dariusz Czernecki
- Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, CNRS UMR 3528, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France.,Sorbonne Université, Collège Doctoral, ED 515, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Haidai Hu
- Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, CNRS UMR 3528, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Filippo Romoli
- Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, CNRS UMR 3528, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Marc Delarue
- Unit of Architecture and Dynamics of Biological Macromolecules, CNRS UMR 3528, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France
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Madru C, Tekpinar AD, Rosario S, Czernecki D, Brûlé S, Sauguet L, Delarue M. Fast and efficient purification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA dependent RNA polymerase complex expressed in Escherichia coli. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0250610. [PMID: 33914787 PMCID: PMC8084133 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
To stop the COVID-19 pandemic due to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which caused more than 2.5 million deaths to date, new antiviral molecules are urgently needed. The replication of SARS-CoV-2 requires the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), making RdRp an excellent target for antiviral agents. RdRp is a multi-subunit complex composed of 3 viral proteins named nsp7, nsp8 and nsp12 that ensure the ~30 kb RNA genome’s transcription and replication. The main strategies employed so far for the overproduction of RdRp consist of expressing and purifying the three subunits separately before assembling the complex in vitro. However, nsp12 shows limited solubility in bacterial expression systems and is often produced in insect cells. Here, we describe an alternative strategy to co-express the full SARS-CoV-2 RdRp in E. coli, using a single plasmid. Characterization of the purified recombinant SARS-CoV-2 RdRp shows that it forms a complex with the expected (nsp7)(nsp8)2(nsp12) stoichiometry. RNA polymerization activity was measured using primer-extension assays showing that the purified enzyme is functional. The purification protocol can be achieved in one single day, surpassing in speed all other published protocols. Our construct is ideally suited for screening RdRp and its variants against very large chemical compounds libraries and has been made available to the scientific community through the Addgene plasmid depository (Addgene ID: 165451).
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Affiliation(s)
- Clément Madru
- Unit of Structural Dynamics of Macromolecules, Institut Pasteur & CNRS UMR, Paris, France
| | - Ayten Dizkirici Tekpinar
- Unit of Structural Dynamics of Macromolecules, Institut Pasteur & CNRS UMR, Paris, France
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Van, Turkey
| | - Sandrine Rosario
- Unit of Structural Dynamics of Macromolecules, Institut Pasteur & CNRS UMR, Paris, France
| | - Dariusz Czernecki
- Unit of Structural Dynamics of Macromolecules, Institut Pasteur & CNRS UMR, Paris, France
- École Doctorale Complexité du Vivant, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
| | - Sébastien Brûlé
- Molecular Biophysics Platform, C2RT, Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR, Paris, France
| | - Ludovic Sauguet
- Unit of Structural Dynamics of Macromolecules, Institut Pasteur & CNRS UMR, Paris, France
- * E-mail: (LS); (MD)
| | - Marc Delarue
- Unit of Structural Dynamics of Macromolecules, Institut Pasteur & CNRS UMR, Paris, France
- * E-mail: (LS); (MD)
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Abdollahi N, Albani A, Anthony E, Baud A, Cardon M, Clerc R, Czernecki D, Conte R, David L, Delaune A, Djerroud S, Fourgoux P, Guiglielmoni N, Laurentie J, Lehmann N, Lochard C, Montagne R, Myrodia V, Opuu V, Parey E, Polit L, Privé S, Quignot C, Ruiz-Cuevas M, Sissoko M, Sompairac N, Vallerix A, Verrecchia V, Delarue M, Guérois R, Ponty Y, Sacquin-Mora S, Carbone A, Froidevaux C, Le Crom S, Lespinet O, Weigt M, Abboud S, Bernardes J, Bouvier G, Dequeker C, Ferré A, Fuchs P, Lelandais G, Poulain P, Richard H, Schweke H, Laine E, Lopes A. Meet-U: Educating through research immersion. PLoS Comput Biol 2018; 14:e1005992. [PMID: 29543809 PMCID: PMC5854232 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a new educational initiative called Meet-U that aims to train students for collaborative work in computational biology and to bridge the gap between education and research. Meet-U mimics the setup of collaborative research projects and takes advantage of the most popular tools for collaborative work and of cloud computing. Students are grouped in teams of 4–5 people and have to realize a project from A to Z that answers a challenging question in biology. Meet-U promotes "coopetition," as the students collaborate within and across the teams and are also in competition with each other to develop the best final product. Meet-U fosters interactions between different actors of education and research through the organization of a meeting day, open to everyone, where the students present their work to a jury of researchers and jury members give research seminars. This very unique combination of education and research is strongly motivating for the students and provides a formidable opportunity for a scientific community to unite and increase its visibility. We report on our experience with Meet-U in two French universities with master’s students in bioinformatics and modeling, with protein–protein docking as the subject of the course. Meet-U is easy to implement and can be straightforwardly transferred to other fields and/or universities. All the information and data are available at www.meet-u.org.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nika Abdollahi
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Alexandre Albani
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Eric Anthony
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Agnes Baud
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Mélissa Cardon
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Robert Clerc
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Dariusz Czernecki
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Romain Conte
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Laurent David
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Agathe Delaune
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Samia Djerroud
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Pauline Fourgoux
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Nadège Guiglielmoni
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Jeanne Laurentie
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Nathalie Lehmann
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Camille Lochard
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Rémi Montagne
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Vasiliki Myrodia
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Vaitea Opuu
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Elise Parey
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Lélia Polit
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Sylvain Privé
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Chloé Quignot
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Maria Ruiz-Cuevas
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Mariam Sissoko
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Sompairac
- Departments of Computer Science and of Life Sciences, Sorbonne Université (SU) / UPMC, Paris, France
| | - Audrey Vallerix
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Violaine Verrecchia
- Department of Biology and of Computer Science, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay (UPSay), Orsay, France
| | - Marc Delarue
- Unit of Structural Dynamics of Macromolecules, CNRS, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Raphael Guérois
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), IBITECS, CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UPSay, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France
| | - Yann Ponty
- AMIBio team, Laboratoire d’informatique de l’École polytechnique (LIX, UMR 7161) / Inria Saclay, UPSay, Palaiseau, France
| | - Sophie Sacquin-Mora
- Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, UPR 9080 CNRS Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris, France
| | - Alessandra Carbone
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), UMR 7238, Paris, France
- Institut Universitaire de France
| | | | - Stéphane Le Crom
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, Univ. Antilles, Univ. Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Evolution Paris Seine - Institut de Biologie Paris Seine (EPS - IBPS), Paris, France
| | - Olivier Lespinet
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UPSay, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France
| | - Martin Weigt
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), UMR 7238, Paris, France
| | - Samer Abboud
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UPSay, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France
| | - Juliana Bernardes
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), UMR 7238, Paris, France
| | - Guillaume Bouvier
- Department of Structural Biology and CheImistry (CNRS UMR3528) - Center of Bioinformatics, Biostatistics and Integrative Biology (CNRS USR3756) - Structural Bioinformatics Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
| | - Chloé Dequeker
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), UMR 7238, Paris, France
| | - Arnaud Ferré
- MaIAGE, INRA, UPSay, Jouy-en-Josas, France and LIMSI, CNRS, UPSay, Orsay, France
| | - Patrick Fuchs
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, Ecole Normale Supérieure - PLS Research University, Département de Chimie, CNRS, Laboratoire des Biomolécules, UMR 7203 - Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Gaëlle Lelandais
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UPSay, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France
| | - Pierre Poulain
- Mitochondria, Metals and Oxidative Stress Group, Institut Jacques Monod, UMR 7592, Univ. Paris Diderot, CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Hugues Richard
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), UMR 7238, Paris, France
| | - Hugo Schweke
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UPSay, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France
| | - Elodie Laine
- Sorbonne Université / UPMC, CNRS, IBPS, Laboratoire de Biologie Computationnelle et Quantitative (LCQB), UMR 7238, Paris, France
- * E-mail: (EL); (AL)
| | - Anne Lopes
- Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, UPSay, Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France
- * E-mail: (EL); (AL)
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