DnaT and PriB are replication restart primosomal proteins required for re-initiating chromosomal DNA replication in bacteria. Although the interaction of DnaT with PriB has been proposed, which region of DnaT is involved in PriB binding and self-trimerization remains unknown. In this study, we identified the N-terminal domain in DnaT (aa 1-83) that is important in PriB binding and self-trimerization but not in single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding. DnaT and the deletion mutant DnaT42-179 protein can bind to PriB according to native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Western blot analysis, and pull-down assay, whereas DnaT84-179 cannot bind to PriB. In contrast to DnaT, DnaT26-179, and DnaT42-179 proteins, which form distinct complexes with ssDNA of different lengths, DnaT84-179 forms only a single complex with ssDNA. Analysis of DnaT84-179 protein by gel filtration chromatography showed a stable monomer in solution rather than a trimer, such as DnaT, DnaT26-179, and DnaT42-179 proteins. These results constitute a pioneering study of the domain definition of DnaT. Further research can directly focus on determining how DnaT binds to the PriA-PriB-DNA tricomplex in replication restart by the hand-off mechanism.
Keywords: DNA replication restart; DnaT; EDTA; EMSA; IPTG; PriB; Primosome; SDS–PAGE; Single-stranded DNA; aa; amino acid residues; electrophoretic mobility shift analysis; ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid; isopropyl thiogalactoside; nt; nucleotides; single-stranded DNA; sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; ssDNA.
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