Corrigendum: The sole DNA ligase in Entamoeba histolytica is a high-fidelity DNA ligase involved in DNA damage repair.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2018.00214.].

The Sole DNA Ligase in Entamoeba histolytica Is a High-Fidelity DNA Ligase Involved in DNA Damage Repair.

The protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica is exposed to reactive oxygen and nitric oxide species that have the potential to damage its genome. E. histolytica harbors enzymes involved in DNA repair pathways like Base and Nucleotide Excision Repair. The majority of DNA repairs pathways converge in their final step in which a DNA ligase seals the DNA nicks. In contrast to other eukaryotes, the genome of E. histolytica encodes only one DNA ligase (EhDNAligI), suggesting that this ligase is involved in both DNA replication and DNA repair. Therefore, the aim of this work was to characterize EhDNAligI, its ligation fidelity and its ability to ligate opposite DNA mismatches and oxidative DNA lesions, and to study its expression changes and localization during and after recovery from UV and H2O2 treatment. We found that EhDNAligI is a high-fidelity DNA ligase on canonical substrates and is able to discriminate erroneous base-pairing opposite DNA lesions. EhDNAligI expression decreases after DNA damage induced by UV and H2O2 treatments, but it was upregulated during recovery time. Upon oxidative DNA damage, EhDNAligI relocates into the nucleus where it co-localizes with EhPCNA and the 8-oxoG adduct. The appearance and disappearance of 8-oxoG during and after both treatments suggest that DNA damaged was efficiently repaired because the mainly NER and BER components are expressed in this parasite and some of them were modulated after DNA insults. All these data disclose the relevance of EhDNAligI as a specialized and unique ligase in E. histolytica that may be involved in DNA repair of the 8-oxoG lesions.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen restores the enzymatic activity of a DNA ligase I deficient in DNA binding.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) coordinates multienzymatic reactions by interacting with a variety of protein partners. Family I DNA ligases are multidomain proteins involved in sealing of DNA nicks during Okazaki fragment maturation and DNA repair. The interaction of DNA ligases with the interdomain connector loop (IDCL) of PCNA through its PCNA-interacting peptide (PIP box) is well studied but the role of the interacting surface between both proteins is not well characterized. In this work, we used a minimal DNA ligase I and two N-terminal deletions to establish that DNA binding and nick-sealing stimulation of DNA ligase I by PCNA are not solely dependent on the PIP box-IDCL interaction. We found that a truncated DNA ligase I with a deleted PIP box is stimulated by PCNA. Furthermore, the activity of a DNA ligase defective in DNA binding is rescued upon PCNA addition. As the rate constants for single-turnover ligation for the full-length and truncated DNA ligases are not affected by PCNA, our data suggest that PCNA stimulation is achieved by increasing the affinity for nicked DNA substrate and not by increasing catalytic efficiency. Surprisingly C-terminal mutants of PCNA are not able to stimulate nick-sealing activity of Entamoeba histolytica DNA ligase I. Our data support the notion that the C-terminal region of PCNA may be involved in promoting an allosteric transition in E. histolytica DNA ligase I from a spread-shaped to a ring-shaped structure. This study suggests that the ring-shaped PCNA is a binding platform able to stabilize coevolved protein-protein interactions, in this case an interaction with DNA ligase I.

Structural insights from a novel invertebrate triosephosphate isomerase from Litopenaeus vannamei.

Triosephosphate isomerase (TIM; EC 5.3.1.1) is a key enzyme involved in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. Glycolysis is one of the most regulated metabolic pathways, however little is known about the structural mechanisms for its regulation in non-model organisms, like crustaceans. To understand the structure and function of this enzyme in invertebrates, we obtained the crystal structure of triosephosphate isomerase from the marine Pacific whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei, LvTIM) in complex with its inhibitor 2-phosphogyceric acid (2-PG) at 1.7Å resolution. LvTIM assembles as a homodimer with residues 166-176 covering the active site and residue Glu166 interacting with the inhibitor. We found that LvTIM is the least stable TIM characterized to date, with the lowest range of melting temperatures, and with the lowest activation enthalpy associated with the thermal unfolding process reported. In TIMs dimer stabilization is maintained by an interaction of loop 3 by a set of hydrophobic contacts between subunits. Within these contacts, the side chain of a hydrophobic residue of one subunit fits into a cavity created by a set of hydrophobic residues in the neighboring subunit, via a "ball and socket" interaction. LvTIM presents a Cys47 at the "ball" inter-subunit contact indicating that the character of this residue is responsible for the decrease in dimer stability. Mutational studies show that this residue plays a role in dimer stability but is not a solely determinant for dimer formation.

A transposon-derived DNA polymerase from Entamoeba histolytica displays intrinsic strand displacement, processivity and lesion bypass.

Entamoeba histolytica encodes four family B2 DNA polymerases that vary in amino acid length from 813 to 1279. These DNA polymerases contain a N-terminal domain with no homology to other proteins and a C-terminal domain with high amino acid identity to archetypical family B2 DNA polymerases. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that these family B2 DNA polymerases are grouped with DNA polymerases from transposable elements dubbed Polintons or Mavericks. In this work, we report the cloning and biochemical characterization of the smallest family B2 DNA polymerase from E. histolytica. To facilitate its characterization we subcloned its 660 amino acids C-terminal region that comprises the complete exonuclease and DNA polymerization domains, dubbed throughout this work as EhDNApolB2. We found that EhDNApolB2 displays remarkable strand displacement, processivity and efficiently bypasses the DNA lesions: 8-oxo guanosine and abasic site.Family B2 DNA polymerases from T. vaginalis, G. lambia and E. histolytica contain a Terminal Region Protein 2 (TPR2) motif twice the length of the TPR2 from φ29 DNA polymerase. Deletion studies demonstrate that as in φ29 DNA polymerase, the TPR2 motif of EhDNApolB2 is solely responsible of strand displacement and processivity. Interestingly the TPR2 of EhDNApolB2 is also responsible for efficient abasic site bypass. These data suggests that the 21 extra amino acids of the TPR2 motif may shape the active site of EhDNApolB2 to efficiently incorporate and extended opposite an abasic site. Herein we demonstrate that an open reading frame derived from Politons-Mavericks in parasitic protozoa encode a functional enzyme and our findings support the notion that the introduction of novel motifs in DNA polymerases can confer specialized properties to a conserved scaffold.

Crystallization and X-ray diffraction studies of crustacean proliferating cell nuclear antigen.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), a member of the sliding clamp family of proteins, interacts specifically with DNA replication and repair proteins through a small peptide motif called the PCNA-interacting protein or PIP box. PCNA is recognized as one of the key proteins involved in DNA metabolism. In the present study, the recombinant PCNA from Litopenaeus vannamei (LvPCNA) was heterologously overexpressed and purified using metal ion-affinity chromatography. Crystals suitable for diffraction grew overnight using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. LvPCNA crystals belong to space group C2 with unit-cell parameters a=144.6, b=83.4, c=74.3 Å, ß=117.6°. One data set was processed to 3 Šresolution, with an overall Rmeas of 0.09 and a completeness of 93.3%. Initial phases were obtained by molecular replacement using a homology model of LvPCNA as the search model. Refinement and structural analysis are underway. This report is the first successful crystallographic analysis of a marine crustacean decapod shrimp (L. vannamei) proliferating cell nuclear antigen.

Structure and biochemical characterization of proliferating cellular nuclear antigen from a parasitic protozoon.

Proliferating cellular nuclear antigen (PCNA) is a toroidal-shaped protein that is involved in cell-cycle control, DNA replication and DNA repair. Parasitic protozoa are early-diverged eukaryotes that are responsible for neglected diseases. In this work, a PCNA from a parasitic protozoon was identified, cloned and biochemically characterized and its crystal structure was determined. Structural and biochemical studies demonstrate that PCNA from Entamoeba histolytica assembles as a homotrimer that is able to interact with and stimulate the activity of a PCNA-interacting peptide-motif protein from E. histolytica, EhDNAligI. The data indicate a conservation of the biochemical mechanisms of PCNA-mediated interactions between metazoa, yeast and parasitic protozoa.

Biochemical characterization of the DNA ligase I from Entamoeba histolytica.

DNA ligases play an essential role in DNA replication and repair. Herein, we report the cloning and biochemical characterization of DNA ligase I from the protozoan parasite Entamoeba histolytica (EhDNAligI). EhDNAligI is an ATP-dependent DNA ligase of 685 amino acids with 35% identity to human DNA ligase I. This report shows that heterologous expressed EhDNAligI is able to perform the three conserved steps of a DNA ligation reaction: adenylation, binding to a 5'-phosphorylated nicked DNA substrate and sealing of the nick. EhDNAligI is strongly inhibited by NaCl and displays optimal activity at pH 7.5. EhDNAligI uses Mn2+ or Mg2+ as metal cofactors and ATP as nucleotide cofactor. EhDNAligI has a nicked DNA binding constant of 6.6microM and follows Michaelis-Menten steady-state kinetics with a K(m) ATP of 64nM and a k(cat) of 2.4min(-1). Accordingly to its properties as a family I DNA ligase, EhDNAligI is able to ligate a RNA strand upstream of a nucleic acid nick, but not in the downstream or the template position. We propose that EhDNAligI is involved in sealing DNA nicks during lagging strand synthesis and may have a role in base excision repair in E. histolytica.