Bacillus subtilis RarA modulates replication restart

The ubiquitous RarA/Mgs1/WRNIP protein plays a crucial, but poorly understood role in genome maintenance. We show that Bacillus subtilis RarA, in the apo form, preferentially binds single-stranded (ss) over double-stranded (ds) DNA. SsbA bound to ss-DNA loads RarA, and for such recruitment the amphi...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Carrasco, Begoña, Seco Martín, Elena María, López-Sanz, María, Alonso, Juan Carlos, Ayora, Silvia
Format: article
Publication Date:2018
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/343175
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/343175
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:replicación de DNA
Estabilidad genómica
Bacillus subtilis
Bioquímica
Bacteria
Biología Molecular
Description
Summary:The ubiquitous RarA/Mgs1/WRNIP protein plays a crucial, but poorly understood role in genome maintenance. We show that Bacillus subtilis RarA, in the apo form, preferentially binds single-stranded (ss) over double-stranded (ds) DNA. SsbA bound to ss-DNA loads RarA, and for such recruitment the amphipathic C-terminal domain of SsbA is required. RarA is a DNA-dependent ATPase strongly stimulated by ssDNA–dsDNA junctions and SsbA, or by dsDNA ends. RarA, which may interact with PriA, does not stimulate PriA DNA unwinding. In a reconstituted PriA-dependent DNA replication system, RarA inhibited initiation, but not chain elongation. The RarA effect was not observed in the absence of SsbA, or when the host-encoded preprimosome and the DNA helicase are replaced by proteins from the SPP1 phage with similar function. We propose that RarA assembles at blocked forks tomaintain genome integrity. Through its interaction with SsbA and with a preprimosomal component, RarAmight impede the assembly of the replicative helicase, to prevent that recombination intermediates contribute to pathological DNA replication restart.