3jbx | pdb_00003jbx
Cryo-electron microscopy structure of RAG Signal End Complex (C2 symmetry)
Structural highlights
Function[RAG1_DANRE] Catalytic component of the RAG complex, a multiprotein complex that mediates the DNA cleavage phase during V(D)J recombination. V(D)J recombination assembles a diverse repertoire of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor genes in developing B and T lymphocytes through rearrangement of different V (variable), in some cases D (diversity), and J (joining) gene segments. In the RAG complex, RAG1 mediates the DNA-binding to the conserved recombination signal sequences (RSS) and catalyzes the DNA cleavage activities by introducing a double-strand break between the RSS and the adjacent coding segment. RAG2 is not a catalytic component but is required for all known catalytic activities. DNA cleavage occurs in 2 steps: a first nick is introduced in the top strand immediately upstream of the heptamer, generating a 3'-hydroxyl group that can attack the phosphodiester bond on the opposite strand in a direct transesterification reaction, thereby creating 4 DNA ends: 2 hairpin coding ends and 2 blunt, 5'-phosphorylated ends. In addition to its endonuclease activity, RAG1 also acts as a E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase that mediates monoubiquitination of histone H3. Histone H3 monoubiquitination is required for the joining step of V(D)J recombination (By similarity). Publication Abstract from PubMedDiverse repertoires of antigen-receptor genes that result from combinatorial splicing of coding segments by V(D)J recombination are hallmarks of vertebrate immunity. The (RAG1-RAG2)2 recombinase (RAG) recognizes recombination signal sequences (RSSs) containing a heptamer, a spacer of 12 or 23 base pairs, and a nonamer (12-RSS or 23-RSS) and introduces precise breaks at RSS-coding segment junctions. RAG forms synaptic complexes only with one 12-RSS and one 23-RSS, a dogma known as the 12/23 rule that governs the recombination fidelity. We report cryo-electron microscopy structures of synaptic RAG complexes at up to 3.4 A resolution, which reveal a closed conformation with base flipping and base-specific recognition of RSSs. Distortion at RSS-coding segment junctions and base flipping in coding segments uncover the two-metal-ion catalytic mechanism. Induced asymmetry involving tilting of the nonamer-binding domain dimer of RAG1 upon binding of HMGB1-bent 12-RSS or 23-RSS underlies the molecular mechanism for the 12/23 rule. Molecular Mechanism of V(D)J Recombination from Synaptic RAG1-RAG2 Complex Structures.,Ru H, Chambers MG, Fu TM, Tong AB, Liao M, Wu H Cell. 2015 Nov 19;163(5):1138-52. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.055. Epub 2015 Nov , 5. PMID:26548953[1] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. See AlsoReferences
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