Abstract

The resection of DNA strand with a 5´ end at double-strand breaks is an essential step in recombinational DNA repair. RecJ is the only 5´ nuclease involved in the RecF recombination pathway. Here, we report the crystal structures of Deinococcus radiodurans RecJ in complex with deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP), ssDNA and the C-terminal region of single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB-Ct). A terminal 5´-phosphate-binding pocket determines the 5´-3´ polarity of the deoxy-exonuclease of RecJ; a helical gateway at the entrance to the active site admits ssDNA only; and the continuous stacking interactions between protein and nine nucleotides ensure the processive end resection. The active site of RecJ contains two divalent cations that coordinate the nucleophilic water. The C-terminal domain of RecJ binds the SSB-Ct, which explains how RecJ and SSB work together to efficiently process broken DNA ends for homologous recombination.

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  1. Kaiying Cheng

    Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Hong Xu

    Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Xuanyi Chen

    Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Liangyan Wang

    Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Bing Tian

    Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Ye Zhao

    Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
    For correspondence
    yezhao@zju.edu.cn
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Yuejin Hua

    Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Nuclear-Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Copyright

© 2016, Cheng et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Kaiying Cheng
  2. Hong Xu
  3. Xuanyi Chen
  4. Liangyan Wang
  5. Bing Tian
  6. Ye Zhao
  7. Yuejin Hua
(2016)
Structural basis for DNA 5´-end resection by RecJ
eLife 5:e14294.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14294

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14294