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Title: Identification of Intrinsic Order and Disorder in the DNA Repair Protein XPA

Journal Article · · Protein Science, 10(3):560-571
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1110/ps.29401· OSTI ID:1012901

The damage recognition protein XPA is required to recognize a wide variety of bulky lesions during nucleotide excision repair (NER). Independent NMR solution structures of a human XPA protein (hXPA) fragment comprising approximately one-third of the full-length protein, the minimal DNA-binding domain (MBD), revealed that ~30% of the molecule was structurally disordered. To better characterize structural features of XPA, we performed time-resolved trypsin proteolysis on active, full-length recombinant Xenopus XPA protein (xXPA). The resulting proteolytic fragments were analyzed by electrospray ionization interface coupled to a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (ESI-FTICR) mass spectrometry, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), and selected N-terminal sequence determinations. The mass spectrum of the full-length xXPA was consistent with the predicted sequence, 30922.02 vs. 30922.45 Da; respectively. Moreover, the mass spectrometric data allowed the assignment of multiple xXPA fragments not resolvable by SDS PAGE. Full-length xXPA exhibited aberrant mobility on SDS-PAGE with an apparent MW of ~40 kDa. To test predictions that a Glu-rich region (E70-E76) or other local regions of high charge were responsible for this ~40% aberrant SDS-PAGE mobility, the MW's of partial proteolytic fragments from ~5 to 25 kDa precisely determined by ESI-FTICR MS were correlated with their gel positions. Surprisingly, all tested partial tryptic fragments within this size-range exhibited 10-42% divergence between calculated MW and that estimated by SDS-PAGE, thus indicating the origin of anomalous migration of XPA is not localized. The computer program Predictor of Natural Disordered Regions (PONDR) correctly identified several regions of xXPA either sensitive or resistant to partial proteolysis, thereby indicating that disorder in XPA shares sequence features with other well-characterized intrinsically unstructured proteins.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1012901
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-33033; TRN: US201110%%412
Journal Information:
Protein Science, 10(3):560-571, Vol. 10, Issue 3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English