Helicobacter pylori is the most infectious human pathogen that causes gastritis, peptic ulcers and stomach cancer. H. pylori DNA polymerase I (HpPol I) is found to be essential for the viability of H. pylori, but its intrinsic property and attribution to the H. pylori DNA replication remain unclear. HpPol I contains a 5'→3' exonuclease (5'-Exo) and DNA polymerase (Pol) domain, respectively, but lacks a 3'→5' exonuclease, or error proofreading activity. In this study, we characterized the 5'-Exo and Pol functions of HpPol I and found that HpPol I is a multifunctional protein displaying DNA nick translation, strand-displacement synthesis, RNase H-like, structure-specific endonuclease and exonuclease activities. In the in vitro DNA replication assay, we further demonstrated that the 5'-Exo and Pol domains of HpPol I can cooperate to fill in the DNA gap, remove the unwanted RNA primer from a RNA/DNA hybrid and create a ligatable nick for the DNA ligase A of H. pylori to restore the normal duplex DNA. Altogether, our study suggests that the two catalytic domains of HpPol I may synergistically play an important role in the maturation of Okazaki fragments during the lagging-strand DNA synthesis in H. pylori. Like the functions of DNA polymerase I in Escherichia coli, HpPol I may involve in both DNA replication and repair in H. pylori.
Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; 5′-exonuclease; DNA polymerase I; DNA replication; Okazaki fragments.
© 2020 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.