Global conformational changes induced by the removal of the carboxyl group of D456 in the cleavage scaffold of nickase BspD6I: Structural and electrostatic analysis

Abstract

The three-dimensional structure of the D456A mutant of the nicking endonuclease Nt.BspD6I was determined. According to the concept of the cleavage scaffold, the replacement of D456 by A456, which resulted in complete (100%) loss of nickase activity, was shown to be a trigger of structural changes in the cleavage-scaffold region. Besides, the displacement of Е482 and the rotation of Н449 toward the N-terminal domain initiate conformational changes in the D1 recognition subdomain of the N-terminal domain with the result that the centers of mass of the С- and N-terminal domains are brought into close proximity to each other. Electrostatic calculations showed that changes in the free energy and electrostatic interactions for the mutant nickase are distributed predominantly in the N-terminal domain and that these changes are not attenuated in a radial fashion away from the mutation site but have a distinct direction.