Characterization of the apurinic endonuclease activity of Drosophila Rrp1

Drosophila Rrp1 (Recombination repair protein 1) belongs to a family of DNA repair nucleases that includes Escherichia coli exonuclease III, Streptococcus pneumoniae exonuclease A, bovine BAP, mouse APEX endonuclease, and human APE. Within a 252 amino acid region, colinear homology is shared between all members. Rrp1 is unique in that it includes a 427 amino acid N-terminal region not related to any known sequence. The protein copurifies with an apurinic endonuclease and a double-stranded DNA 3'-exonuclease. In this study, a 5'-end-labeled 37 base pair oligonucleotide substrate containing a single apurinic site was used to characterize the endonuclease activity of Rrp1. This substrate is utilized efficiently by Rrp1: the specific activity observed is 1 x 10(5) units/mg. The abasic double-stranded DNA oligonucleotide is cleaved only at the abasic site to create a single-strand break. Strand breaks are not detected in the complementary strand, in the single-stranded DNA oligonucleotide, or in the base-paired control substrate. After endonucleolytic cleavage at the abasic site, exonucleolytic processing at the nick is slow and requires a molar excess of Rrp1, while exonuclease III degrades the nicked substrate more efficiently. The Rrp1 cleavage product comigrates with a DNaseI cleavage product, and the newly formed terminus supports DNA synthesis by DNA polymerase. Therefore, Rrp1 cleaves the phosphodiester backbone at one position 5' to the apurinic site and leaves a 3'-hydroxyl terminus. Rrp1 is a class II apurinic endonuclease and is likely to be important in DNA repair in Drosophila.