Structures of bacterial polynucleotide kinase in a Michaelis complex with GTP Mg and 50-OH oligonucleotide and a product complex with GDP Mg and 5-PO4 oligonucleotide reveal a mechanism of general acid-base catalysis and the determinants of phosphoacceptor recognition

Clostridium thermocellum polynucleotide kinase (CthPnk), the 50 end-healing module of a bacterial RNA repair system, catalyzes reversible phosphoryl transfer from an NTP donor to a 50-OH polynucleotide acceptor. Here we report the crystal structures of CthPnk-D38N in a Michaelis complex with GTP Mg and a 50-OH oligonucleotide and a product complex with GDP Mgand a 5-PO4 oligonucleotide. The O50 nucleophile is situated 3.0 Å from the GTP c phosphorus in the Michaelis complex, where it is coordinated by Asn38 and is apical to the bridging b phosphate oxygen of the GDP leaving group. In the product complex, the transferred phosphate has undergone stereochemical inversion and Asn38 coordinates the 50-bridging phosphate oxygen of the oligonucleotide. The D38N enzyme is poised for catalysis, but cannot execute because it lacks Asp38—hereby implicated as the essential general base catalyst that abstracts a proton from the 50-OH during the kinase reaction. Asp38 serves as a general acid catalyst during the ‘reverse kinase’ reaction by donating a proton to the O50 leaving group of the 5-PO4 strand. The acceptor strand binding mode of CthPnk is distinct from that of bacteriophage T4 Pnk.