Mechanism of force generation of a viral DNA packaging motor

Yann R. Chemla, K. Aathavan, Jens Michaelis, Shelley Grimes, Paul J. Jardine, Dwight L. Anderson, Carlos Bustamante

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A large family of multimeric ATPases are involved in such diverse tasks as cell division, chromosome segregation, DNA recombination, strand separation, conjugation, and viral genome packaging. One such system is the Bacillus subtilis phage φ29 DNA packaging motor, which generates large forces to compact its genome into a small protein capsid. Here we use optical tweezers to study, at the single-molecule level, the mechanism of force generation in this motor. We determine the kinetic parameters of the packaging motor and their dependence on external load to show that DNA translocation does not occur during ATP binding but is likely triggered by phosphate release. We also show that the motor subunits act in a coordinated, successive fashion with high processivity. Finally, we propose a minimal mechanochemical cycle of this DNA-translocating ATPase that rationalizes all of our findings.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)683-692
Number of pages10
JournalCell
Volume122
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 9 2005
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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