Mje. Giraudpanis et Dmj. Lilley, T4 ENDONUCLEASE-VII - IMPORTANCE OF A HISTIDINE-ASPARTATE CLUSTER WITHIN THE ZINC-BINDING DOMAIN, The Journal of biological chemistry, 271(51), 1996, pp. 33148-33155
The DNA junction-resolving enzyme endonuclease VII of bacteriophage T4
contains a zinc binding region toward the N-terminal end of the prima
ry sequence. In the center of this 39-amino acid section (between resi
dues 38 and 44) lies the sequence HLDHDHE, termed the His-acid cluster
. Closely related sequences are found in three other proteins that hav
e similar zinc-binding motifs. We have analyzed the function of these
residues by a site-directed mutagenesis approach, modifying single ami
no acids and studying the properties of the resulting N-terminal prote
in A fusions. No sequence changes within the His acid cluster led to a
change in zinc content of the protein, indicating that these residues
are not involved in the coordination of zinc. We found that the N-ter
minal aspartate residue (Asp-40) and the two histidine residues (His-4
1 and His-43) within the cluster are essential for junction-cleavage a
ctivity of the proteins. However, all sequence variations within this
region generate proteins that retain their ability to bind to four-way
DNA junctions (with minor changes in binding affinity in some cases)
and to distort their global structure in the same manner as active enz
ymes. We conclude that the process of cleavage can be uncoupled from t
hose of binding to and distortion of the junction. It is probable that
some amino acid side chains of the His-acid cluster participate in th
e phosphodiester cleavage mechanism of endonuclease VII. The essential
aspartate residue might be required for coordination of catalytic met
al ions.