LIG1

DNA ligase 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the LIG1 gene. DNA ligase I is the only known eukaryotic DNA ligase involved in both DNA replication and repair, making it the most studied of the ligases. It was known that DNA replication occurred through the breakage of the double DNA strand, but the enzyme responsible for ligating the strands back together, and mechanism of action, was unknown until Lehman, Gellert, Richardson, and Hurwitz laboratories, made significant contributions to the discovery of DNA ligase in 1967. The LIG1 gene encodes a, 120kDa enzyme, 919 residues long, known as DNA ligase I. The DNA ligase I polypeptide contains an N-terminal replication factory-targeting sequence (RFTS), followed by a nuclear localization sequence (NLS), and three functional domains. The three domains consist of an N-terminal DNA binding domain (DBD), and catalytic nucleotidyltransferase (NTase), and C-terminal oligonucleotide / oligosaccharide binding (OB) domains. Although the N-terminus of the peptide has no catalytic activity it is needed for activity within the cells. The N-terminus of the protein contains a replication factory-targeting sequence that is used to recruit it to sites of DNA replication known as replication factories. Activation and recruitment of DNA ligase I seem to be associated with posttranslational modifications. N-terminal domain is completed through phosphorylation of four serine residues on this domain, Ser51, Ser76, and Ser91 by cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) and Ser66 by casein kinase II (CKII). Phosphorylation of these residues (Ser66 in particular) has been shown to possibly regulate the interaction between the RFTS to the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) when ligase I is recruited to the replication factories during S-phase. Rossi et al. proposed that when Ser66 is dephosphorylated, the RFTS of ligase I interact with PCNA, which was confirmed in vitro by Tom et al. Both data sets provide plausible evidence the N-terminal region of ligase I plays a regulatory role in the enzymes in vivo function in the nucleus.