Summary information and primary citation
- PDB-id
-
8fok;
DSSR-derived features in text and
JSON formats
- Class
- DNA binding protein
- Method
- cryo-EM (3.56 Å)
- Summary
- cryo-EM structure of s. cerevisiae DNA polymerase
alpha-primase complex in the DNA elongation state
- Reference
-
Yuan Z, Georgescu R, Li H, O'Donnell ME (2023): "Molecular
choreography of primer synthesis by the eukaryotic Pol
alpha-primase." Nat Commun,
14, 3697. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39441-1.
- Abstract
- The eukaryotic polymerase α (Pol α) synthesizes an
RNA-DNA hybrid primer of 20-30 nucleotides. Pol α is
composed of Pol1, Pol12, Primase 1 (Pri1), and Pri2. Pol1
and Pri1 contain the DNA polymerase and RNA primase
activities, respectively. It has been unclear how Pol α
hands over an RNA primer from Pri1 to Pol1 for DNA primer
extension, and how the primer length is defined. Here we
report the cryo-EM analysis of yeast Pol α in the apo,
primer initiation, primer elongation, RNA primer hand-off
from Pri1 to Pol1, and DNA extension states, revealing a
series of very large movements. We reveal a critical point
at which Pol1-core moves to take over the 3'-end of the RNA
from Pri1. DNA extension is limited by a spiral motion of
Pol1-core. Since both Pri1 and Pol1-core are flexibly
attached to a stable platform, primer growth produces
stress that limits the primer length.
