AFM characterization of the interaction of PriA helicase with stalled DNA replication forks

In bacteria, the restart of stalled DNA replication forks requires the PriA DNA helicase. PriA recognizes and remodels abandoned DNA replication forks performing the DNA unwinding in 3’ to 5’-direction and facilitates loading of the DnaB helicase onto the DNA to restart replication. The single stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) is typically present at the abandoned forks, but there is gap in the knowledge on the interaction between SSB and PriA protein. Here, we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) to visualize the interaction of PriA with DNA substrates in the absence or presence of SSB. Results show that in the absence of SSB, PriA binds preferentially to a fork substrate with a gap in the leading strand. Preferential binding occurs only on forked DNA structures as 5’- and 3’-tailed duplexes were bound equally well. Furthermore, in the absence of SSB, PriA bound exclusively to the fork regions of substrates. In contrast, fork bound SSB loads PriA onto the duplex DNA arms of forks. When the fork has a gap in the leading strand, PriA localizes to both the parental and lagging strand arms. When the gap is present in the lagging strand, PriA is loaded preferentially onto the leading strand arm of the fork. Remodeling of PriA requires a functional C-terminal domain of SSB.