Summary information and primary citation

PDB-id
3ubt; SNAP-derived features in text and JSON formats; DNAproDB
Class
transferase-DNA
Method
X-ray (2.502 Å)
Summary
Crystal structure of c71s mutant of DNA cytosine-5 methyltransferase m.haeiii bound to DNA
Reference
Didovyk A, Verdine GL (2012): "Structural origins of DNA target selection and nucleobase extrusion by a DNA Cytosine methyltransferase." J.Biol.Chem., 287, 40099-40105. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.413054.
Abstract
Epigenetic methylation of cytosine residues in DNA is an essential element of genome maintenance and function in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans. DNA 5-cytosine methyltransferase enzymes (DCMTases) catalyze cytosine methylation via reaction intermediates in which the DNA is drastically remodeled, with the target cytosine residue extruded from the DNA helix and plunged into the active site pocket of the enzyme. We have determined a crystal structure of M.HaeIII DCMTase in complex with its DNA substrate at a previously unobserved state, prior to extrusion of the target cytosine and frameshifting of the DNA recognition sequence. The structure reveals that M.HaeIII selects the target cytosine and destabilizes its base-pairing through a precise, focused, and coordinated assault on the duplex DNA, which isolates the target cytosine from its nearest neighbors and thereby facilitates its extrusion from DNA.

Cartoon-block schematics in six views (download the tarball)

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