Thesis
Novel Activity of a Previously Characterized Swi2/Snf2 Protein
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005323
Abstract
Archaea comprise the third domain of life and while they are prokaryotic and more metabolically similar to bacteria, at the molecular level they more closely resemble eukaryotes in terms of their machinery for transcription, translation, replication, and DNA repair, making them a valuable model to study the cellular processes of eukaryotes. Additionally, archaea are unique in that many species are extremophilic, providing an interesting avenue of research into their ability to survive and maintain genomic stability in such a wide range of damaging conditions. In the crenarchaeal hyperthermophilic acidophile Saccharolobus solfataricus, a Swi2/Snf2 protein with involvement in homologous recombination-based repair of DNA double-stranded breaks has double-stranded DNA-dependent ATPase activity, just like its eukaryotic homologs. In this work, we demonstrate a previously unknown, novel ability of this Swi2/Snf2 protein to bind and hydrolyze ATP with RNA and RNA:DNA hybrid substrates. RNA-based substrate utilization was also tested with a eukaryotic homolog to determine its ability to function with these nucleic acids. Protein activity with RNA-containing substrates was further analyzed in the presence of various divalent cations to establish a preference hierarchy. Overall, our findings reveal a new function for this Swi2/Snf2 protein, where its ability to use RNA and RNA:DNA hybrids could indicate a role in transcriptionally related processes, including the regulation of R-loops.
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Details
- Title
- Novel Activity of a Previously Characterized Swi2/Snf2 Protein
- Creators
- Jordyn Meekma
- Contributors
- Cynthia A Haseltine (Advisor)William B Davis (Committee Member)John M Hinz (Committee Member)Chengtao Her (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- School of Molecular Biosciences
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 62
- Identifiers
- 99901031037601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis