Effects of accessory proteins on the bypass of a cis-syn thymine-thymine dimer by Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase eta

Biochemistry. 2007 Jul 31;46(30):8888-96. doi: 10.1021/bi700234t. Epub 2007 Jul 4.

Abstract

Among several hypotheses to explain how translesion synthesis (TLS) by DNA polymerase eta (pol eta) suppresses ultraviolet light-induced mutagenesis in vivo despite the fact that pol eta copies DNA with low fidelity, here we test whether replication accessory proteins enhance the fidelity of TLS by pol eta. We first show that the single-stranded DNA binding protein RPA, the sliding clamp PCNA, and the clamp loader RFC slightly increase the processivity of yeast pol eta and its ability to recycle to new template primers. However, these increases are small, and they are similar when copying an undamaged template and a template containing a cis-syn TT dimer. Consequently, the accessory proteins do not strongly stimulate the already robust TT dimer bypass efficiency of pol eta. We then perform a comprehensive analysis of yeast pol eta fidelity. We show that it is much less accurate than other yeast DNA polymerases and that the accessory proteins have little effect on fidelity when copying undamaged templates or when bypassing a TT dimer. Thus, although accessory proteins clearly participate in pol eta functions in vivo, they do not appear to help suppress UV mutagenesis by improving pol eta bypass fidelity per se.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Base Pairing
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / metabolism
  • DNA Damage
  • DNA Repair*
  • DNA Replication
  • DNA, Fungal / genetics
  • DNA, Fungal / metabolism*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / genetics
  • DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / metabolism*
  • Mutagenesis
  • Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / genetics
  • Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen / metabolism
  • Pyrimidine Dimers / genetics
  • Pyrimidine Dimers / metabolism*
  • Replication Protein A / genetics
  • Replication Protein A / metabolism
  • Replication Protein C / genetics
  • Replication Protein C / metabolism
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / enzymology*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / genetics
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / genetics
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / metabolism*
  • Templates, Genetic
  • Ultraviolet Rays

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • DNA, Fungal
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen
  • Pyrimidine Dimers
  • RFC1 protein, S cerevisiae
  • Replication Protein A
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
  • DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase
  • Rad30 protein
  • Replication Protein C