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RsmI and RsmH are conserved S-Adenosylmethionine (AdoMet)-dependent methyltransferases (MTases) that are responsible for the 2′-O-methylation and N4-methylation of C1402 in bacterial 16S rRNA, respectively. Methylation of m4Cm1402 plays a role in fine-tuning the shape and functions of the P-site to increase the decoding fidelity, and was recently found to contribute to the virulence of Staphylococcus aureus in host animals. Here we report the 2.20-Å crystal structure of homodimeric RsmI from Escherichia coli in complex with the cofactor AdoMet. RsmI consists of an N-terminal putative RNA-binding domain (NTD) and a C-terminal catalytic domain (CTD) with a Rossmann-like fold, and belongs to the class III MTase family. AdoMet is specifically bound into a negatively charged deep pocket formed by both domains by making extensive contacts. Structure-based mutagenesis and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) assays revealed Asp100 and Ala124 are vital for AdoMet-binding. Although the overall fold of RsmI shows remarkable similarities to the characterized MTases involved in vitamin B12 biosynthesis, it exhibits a distinct charge distribution especially around the AdoMet-binding pocket because of different substrate specificity. The docking model of RsmI-AdoMet-RNA ternary complex suggested a possible base-flipping mechanism of the substrate RNA that has been observed in several known RNA MTases. Our structural and biochemical studies provide novel insights into the catalytic mechanism of C1402 methylation in 16S rRNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

T:G base pair arising from spontaneous deamination of 5mC or polymerase errors is a great challenge for DNA repair of hyperthermophilic archaea, especially Crenarchaea. Most strains in this phylum lack the protein homologues responsible for the recognition of the mismatch in the DNA repair pathways. To investigate whether Cren7, a highly conserved chromatin protein in Crenarchaea, serves a role in the repair of T:G mispairs, the crystal structures of Cren7-GTAATTGC and Cren7-GTGATCGC complexes were solved at 2.0 Å and 2.1 Å. In our structures, binding of Cren7 to the AT-rich DNA duplex (GTAATTGC) induces opening of T2:G15 but not T10:G7 base pair. By contrast, both T:G mispairs in the GC-rich DNA duplex (GTGATCGC) retain the classic wobble type. Structural analysis also showed DNA helical changes of GTAATTGC, especially in the steps around the open T:G base pair, as compared to GTGATCGC or the matched DNAs. Surface plasmon resonance assays revealed a 4-fold lower binding affinity of Cren7 for GTAATTGC than that for GTGATCGC, which was dominantly contributed by the decrease of association rate. These results suggested that binding of Cren7 to DNA leads to T:G mispair opening in a sequence dependent manner, and therefore propose the potential roles of Cren7 in DNA repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]