Mutations in the MutS interaction interface of MLH1 can abolish DNA mismatch repair - DNA

Mutations in the MutS interaction interface of MLH1 can abolish DNA mismatch repair
November 28, 2006
Guido Plotz1,*, Christoph Welsch1,2, Luis Giron-Monzon3, Peter Friedhoff3, Mario Albrecht2, Albrecht Piiper1, Ricardo M. Biondi1, Thomas Lengauer2, Stefan Zeuzem1 and Jochen Raedle1
1 Klinik f?r Innere Medizin II, Geb?ude 41 Kirrberger Stra?e, Universit?t des Saarlandes, D-66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany 2 Max Planck Institut f?r Informatik, Stuhlsatzenhausweg 85 D-66123 Saarbr?cken, Germany 3 Institut f?r Biochemie (FB 08), Justus-Liebig-Universit?t Giessen D-35392 Giessen, Germany
Nucleic Acids Research
ABSTRACT
MutL, a heterodimer of MLH1 and PMS2, plays a central role in human DNA mismatch repair. It interacts ATP-dependently with the mismatch detector MutS and assembles and controls further repair enzymes. We tested if the interaction of MutL with DNA-bound MutS is impaired by cancer-associated mutations in MLH1, and identified one mutation (Ala128Pro) which abolished interaction as well as mismatch repair activity. Further examinations revealed three more residues whose mutation interfered with interaction. Homology modelling of MLH1 showed that all residues clustered in a small accessible surface patch, suggesting that the major interaction interface of MutL for MutS is located on the edge of an extensive ?-sheet that backs the MLH1 ATP binding pocket. Bioinformatic analysis confirmed that this patch corresponds to a conserved potential protein?protein interaction interface which is present in both human MLH1 and its E.coli homologue MutL. MutL could be site-specifically crosslinked to MutS from this patch, confirming that the bacterial MutL?MutS complex is established by the corresponding interface in MutL. This is the first study that identifies the conserved major MutL?MutS interaction interface in MLH1 and demonstrates that mutations in this interface can affect interaction and mismatch repair, and thereby can also contribute to cancer development.
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