New clues in the allosteric activation of DNA cleavage by SgrAI: structures of SgrAI bound to cleaved primary-site DNA and uncleaved secondary-site DNA

SgrAI is a type II restriction endonuclease that cuts an unusually long recognition sequence and exhibits allosteric self-activation with expansion of DNA-sequence specificity. The three-dimensional crystal structures of SgrAI bound to cleaved primary-site DNA and Mg²⁺ and bound to secondary-site DNA with either Mg²⁺ or Ca²⁺ are presented. All three structures show a conformation of enzyme and DNA similar to the previously determined dimeric structure of SgrAI bound to uncleaved primary-site DNA and Ca²⁺ [Dunten et al. (2008), Nucleic Acids Res. 36, 5405-5416], with the exception of the cleaved bond and a slight shifting of the DNA in the SgrAI/cleaved primary-site DNA/Mg²⁺ structure. In addition, a new metal ion binding site is located in one of the two active sites in this structure, which is consistent with proposals for the existence of a metal-ion site near the 3'-O leaving group.