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1: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Sep 27;102(39):13795-800. Epub 2005 Sep 16.Click here to read Click here to read Links
Comment in:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Oct 18;102(42):14939-40.

Open clamp structure in the clamp-loading complex visualized by electron microscopic image analysis.

Miyata T, Suzuki H, Oyama T, Mayanagi K, Ishino Y, Morikawa K.

Department of Structural Biology, Biomolecular Engineering Research Institute, 6-2-3 Furuedai, Suita, Osaka 565-0874, Japan.

Ring-shaped sliding clamps and clamp loader ATPases are essential factors for rapid and accurate DNA replication. The clamp ring is opened and resealed at the primer-template junctions by the ATP-fueled clamp loader function. The processivity of the DNA polymerase is conferred by its attachment to the clamp loaded onto the DNA. In eukarya and archaea, the replication factor C (RFC) and the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) play crucial roles as the clamp loader and the clamp, respectively. Here, we report the electron microscopic structure of an archaeal RFC-PCNA-DNA complex at 12-A resolution. This complex exhibits excellent fitting of each atomic structure of RFC, PCNA, and the primed DNA. The PCNA ring retains an open conformation by extensive interactions with RFC, with a distorted spring washer-like conformation. The complex appears to represent the intermediate, where the PCNA ring is kept open before ATP hydrolysis by RFC.

PMID: 16169902 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC1236569