Skip Navigation



Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access published online on August 24, 2007
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkm613
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Print PDF (7155K) Freely available
Right arrow Screen PDF (424K) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
35/17/5809    most recent
gkm613v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Commercial Re-use Guidelines
for Open Access NAR Content
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Boulé, J.-B.
Right arrow Articles by Zakian, V. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Boulé, J.-B.
Right arrow Articles by Zakian, V. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2007 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Nucleic Acid Enzymes

The yeast Pif1p DNA helicase preferentially unwinds RNA–DNA substrates

Jean-Baptiste Boulé* and Virginia A. Zakian

Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1 609 258 2723; Fax: +1 609 258 1701; Email: jboule{at}princeton.edu

Received March 29, 2007. Revised July 24, 2007. Accepted July 26, 2007.

Pif1p is the prototypical member of the PIF1 family of DNA helicases, a subfamily of SFI helicases conserved from yeast to humans. Baker's yeast Pif1p is involved in the maintenance of mitochondrial, ribosomal and telomeric DNA and may also have a general role in chromosomal replication by affecting Okazaki fragment maturation. Here we investigate the substrate preferences for Pif1p. The enzyme was preferentially active on RNA–DNA hybrids, as seen by faster unwinding rates on RNA–DNA hybrids compared to DNA–DNA hybrids. When using forked substrates, which have been shown previously to stimulate the enzyme, Pif1p demonstrated a preference for RNA–DNA hybrids. This preferential unwinding could not be correlated to preferential binding of Pif1p to the substrates that were the most readily unwound. Although the addition of the single-strand DNA-binding protein replication protein A (RPA) stimulated the helicase reaction on all substrates, it did not diminish the preference of Pif1p for RNA–DNA substrates. Thus, forked RNA–DNA substrates are the favored substrates for Pif1p in vitro. We discuss these findings in terms of the known biological roles of the enzyme.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 GeneticsHome page
M. Chang, B. Luke, C. Kraft, Z. Li, M. Peter, J. Lingner, and R. Rothstein
Telomerase Is Essential to Alleviate Pif1-Induced Replication Stress at Telomeres
Genetics, November 1, 2009; 183(3): 779 - 791.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
L. Ungar, N. Yosef, Y. Sela, R. Sharan, E. Ruppin, and M. Kupiec
A genome-wide screen for essential yeast genes that affect telomere length maintenance
Nucleic Acids Res., July 1, 2009; 37(12): 3840 - 3849.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
R. Stamenova, P. H. Maxwell, A. E. Kenny, and M. J. Curcio
Rrm3 Protects the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Genome From Instability at Nascent Sites of Retrotransposition
Genetics, July 1, 2009; 182(3): 711 - 723.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol. Cell. Biol.Home page
S. F. Pinter, S. D. Aubert, and V. A. Zakian
The Schizosaccharomyces pombe Pfh1p DNA Helicase Is Essential for the Maintenance of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA
Mol. Cell. Biol., November 1, 2008; 28(21): 6594 - 6608.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Nucleic Acids ResHome page
Y. Gu, Y. Masuda, and K. Kamiya
Biochemical analysis of human PIF1 helicase and functions of its N-terminal domain
Nucleic Acids Res., November 1, 2008; 36(19): 6295 - 6308.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Biol. Chem.Home page
J. D. Bartos, L. J. Willmott, S. K. Binz, M. S. Wold, and R. A. Bambara
Catalysis of Strand Annealing by Replication Protein A Derives from Its Strand Melting Properties
J. Biol. Chem., August 1, 2008; 283(31): 21758 - 21768.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.