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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jan 24.
Published in final edited form as: DNA Repair (Amst). 2021 Jun 19;105:103161. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2021.103161

Figure 5. The MutL-directed strand specificity model for strand-specific cleavage.

Figure 5.

A. The bacteria β-clamp (green) is loaded by the clamp loader (subunits black to grey) so that the “front” face is oriented towards the 3’ end of the discontinuous (daughter) strand. The model was generated using the E. coli β-clamp DNA complex (PDB ID 3bep (111)), the E. coli clamp loader bound to a primer-template DNA (grey; PDB ID 3glf (102)) and the β-clamp complex with clamp loader δ subunit (not shown; PDB ID 1jqj (103)). B. The orientation of the faces of the replicative clamps relative to the two strands are preserved during potentially non-strand-specific diffusion along DNA. C. To mediate daughter strand specific cleavage, clamp-bound MutL homologs (blue) must specifically cleave the strand emerging in a 5’ to 3’ direction from the “front” face of the replicative clamp (red arrows). Image generated with the B. subtilis β-clamp fused to the MutL regulatory subdomain (PDB ID 6e8d (100)).