The structure of DNA-bound human topoisomerase II alpha: conformational mechanisms for coordinating inter-subunit interactions with DNA cleavage.

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Wendorff TJ, Schmidt BH, Heslop P, Austin CA, Berger JM

The structure of DNA-bound human topoisomerase II alpha: conformational mechanisms for coordinating inter-subunit interactions with DNA cleavage.

J Mol Biol. 2012 Dec 7;424(3-4):109-24. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2012.07.014. Epub 2012 Jul 25.

PubMed ID
22841979 [ View in PubMed
]
Abstract

Type II topoisomerases are required for the management of DNA superhelicity and chromosome segregation, and serve as frontline targets for a variety of small-molecule therapeutics. To better understand how these enzymes act in both contexts, we determined the 2.9-A-resolution structure of the DNA cleavage core of human topoisomerase IIalpha (TOP2A) bound to a doubly nicked, 30-bp duplex oligonucleotide. In accord with prior biochemical and structural studies, TOP2A significantly bends its DNA substrate using a bipartite, nucleolytic center formed at an N-terminal dimerization interface of the cleavage core. However, the protein also adopts a global conformation in which the second of its two inter-protomer contact points, one at the C-terminus, has separated. This finding, together with comparative structural analyses, reveals that the principal site of DNA engagement undergoes highly quantized conformational transitions between distinct binding, cleavage, and drug-inhibited states that correlate with the control of subunit-subunit interactions. Additional consideration of our TOP2A model in light of an etoposide-inhibited complex of human topoisomerase IIbeta (TOP2B) suggests possible modification points for developing paralog-specific inhibitors to overcome the tendency of topoisomerase II-targeting chemotherapeutics to generate secondary malignancies.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Polypeptides
NameUniProt ID
DNA topoisomerase 2-alphaP11388Details