2023
Substrate-independent activation pathways of the CRISPR-Cas9 HNH nuclease
Wang J, Maschietto F, Qiu T, Arantes P, Skeens E, Palermo G, Lisi G, Batista V. Substrate-independent activation pathways of the CRISPR-Cas9 HNH nuclease. Biophysical Journal 2023, 122: 4635-4644. PMID: 37936350, PMCID: PMC10754686, DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.11.005.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsHNH domainHNH nucleaseHigh fidelity enzymesInduced-fit mechanismActivation pathwayActive stateMolecular dynamics trajectoriesCognate substratesConformation 2Conformational selectionObligate stepAla mutantBackbone amidesΑ-helixSide chainsSingle LysEssential roleNucleasePathwayDynamics trajectoriesResiduesConformationMutantsInterconversion pathwaysCRISPR
2022
Structural Basis for Reduced Dynamics of Three Engineered HNH Endonuclease Lys-to-Ala Mutants for the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)-Associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) Enzyme
Wang J, Skeens E, Arantes PR, Maschietto F, Allen B, Kyro GW, Lisi GP, Palermo G, Batista VS. Structural Basis for Reduced Dynamics of Three Engineered HNH Endonuclease Lys-to-Ala Mutants for the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)-Associated 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) Enzyme. Biochemistry 2022, 61: 785-794. PMID: 35420793, PMCID: PMC9069930, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.2c00127.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsShort palindromic repeatsSubstrate specificityPalindromic repeatsAla mutantWT enzymeRNA-binding domainAssociated 9 (Cas9) systemForeign DNA sequencesDNA strandsWild-type enzymeDouble-strand breaksEnhanced substrate specificityHNH active siteDynamics of proteinsType II immunityCas9 proteinDNA substratesDNA sequencesStructural basisMutantsAla substitutionDistinct conformationsSingle LysCatalytic siteEnzyme