The DinB•RecA complex of Escherichia coli mediates an efficient and high-fidelity response to ubiquitous alkylation lesions.

Alkylation DNA lesions are ubiquitous, and result from normal cellular metabolism as well as from treatment with methylating agents and chemotherapeutics. DNA damage tolerance by translesion synthesis DNA polymerases has an important role in cellular resistance to alkylating agents. However, it is not yet known whether Escherichia coli (E. coli) DNA Pol IV (DinB) alkylation lesion bypass efficiency and fidelity in vitro are similar to those inferred by genetic analyses. We hypothesized that DinB-mediated bypass of 3-deaza-3-methyladenine, a stable analog of 3-methyladenine, the primary replication fork-stalling alkylation lesion, would be of high fidelity. We performed here the first kinetic analyses of E. coli DinB•RecA binary complexes. Whether alone or in a binary complex, DinB inserted the correct deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) opposite either lesion-containing or undamaged template; the incorporation of other dNTPs was largely inefficient. DinB prefers undamaged DNA, but the DinB•RecA binary complex increases its catalytic efficiency on lesion-containing template, perhaps as part of a regulatory mechanism to better respond to alkylation damage. Notably, we find that a DinB derivative with enhanced affinity for RecA, either alone or in a binary complex, is less efficient and has a lower fidelity than DinB or DinB•RecA. This finding contrasts our previous genetic analyses. Therefore, mutagenesis resulting from alkylation lesions is likely limited in cells by the activity of DinB•RecA. These two highly conserved proteins play an important role in maintaining genomic stability when cells are faced with ubiquitous DNA damage. Kinetic analyses are important to gain insights into the mechanism(s) regulating TLS DNA polymerases.