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Human claspin is a ring-shaped DNA-binding protein with high affinity to branched DNA structures
Funda Sar1, Laura A Lindsey-Boltz, Deepa Subramanian
1Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Abstract:
Claspin is an essential protein for the ATR-dependent activation of the DNA replication checkpoint response in Xenopus and human cells. Here we describe the purification and characterization of human Claspin. The protein has a ring-like structure and binds with high affinity to branched DNA molecules. These findings suggest that Claspin may be a component of the replication ensemble and plays a role in the replication checkpoint by directly associating with replication forks and with the various branched DNA structures likely to form at stalled replication forks because of DNA damage.