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DNA topoisomerase V is a relative of eukaryotic topoisomerase I from a hyperthermophilic prokaryote

Nature volume 364, pages 735–737 (1993)Cite this article

Abstract

THE DNA topoisomerases are ubiquitous enzymes that fulfil vital roles in the replication, transcription and recombination of DNA by carrying out DNA-strand passage reactions1–7. Here we characterize a prokaryotic counterpart to the eukaryotic topoisomerase I in the hyperthermophilic methanogen Methanopyrus handleri8–10. The new enzyme, called topoisomerase V, has the following properties in common with eukaryotic topoisomerase I, which distinguish it from all other known prokaryotic topoisomerases: (1) its activity is Mg2+-independent; (2) it relaxes both negatively and positively supercoiled DNA; (3) it makes a covalent complex with the 3' end of the broken DNA strand; and (4) it is recognized by antibody raised against human topoisomerase I. Eukaryotic-like enzymes have been discovered in some hyperthermophilic prokaryotes, namely the eocytes11 and the extremely thermophilic archaebacteria12, and hyperthermophilic homologues of eukaryotic DNA polymerase-α, transcription factor IIB and DNA ligase13–15 have all been reported. Thus our findings support the idea that some essential parts of the eukaryotic transcription–translation and replication machineries were in place before the emergence of eukaryotes, and that the closest living relatives of eukaryotes may be hyperthermophiles.

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Author notes

  1. Alexe I. Slesarev: respectively. Correspondence should be addressed to A.I.S. at UCLA.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Biology Institute and Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90024, USA

    Alexe I. Slesarev & James A. Lake

  2. Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Universität Regensburg, Universitatstrasse 31, 8400, Regensburg, Germany

    Karl O. Stetter

  3. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Building 5, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892–0002, USA

    Martin Gellert, Regis Krah & Sergei A. Kozyavkin

  4. the Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 123182, Russia

    Alexe I. Slesarev & Sergei A. Kozyavkin

  5. the R. E. Kavetsky Institute of Oncology and Radiobiol-ogy, the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kyiv, 252127, Ukraine

    Alexe I. Slesarev & Sergei A. Kozyavkin

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  1. Alexe I. Slesarev
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Slesarev, A., Stetter, K., Lake, J. et al. DNA topoisomerase V is a relative of eukaryotic topoisomerase I from a hyperthermophilic prokaryote. Nature 364, 735–737 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/364735a0

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