Enhancing helicase-dependent amplification by fusing the helicase with the DNA polymerase

Abstract In this study, we have engineered a new bifunctional protein named “helimerase”, by physically linking Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis UvrD helicase (TteUvrD) and Bacillus stearothermophilus DNA polymerase I Large Fragment (Bstpol) using a coiled-coil. TteUvrD is fused with one part of the coiled-coil, WinZip-A2 (WZA2), through a linker L1 and possesses a Maltose Binding Protein (MBP) tag at the N terminal end. Bstpol is fused with the other part of the coiled-coil, WinZip-B1 (WZB1), through the same linker and possesses a His tag at the N terminal end. Therefore, the two fusion proteins MBP-WZA2-L1-TteUvrD and His-WZB1-L1-Bstpol composed the helimerase. We showed that this complex could be formed in vivo as well as in vitro and possessed specific activities of both TteUvrD and Bstpol. Moreover, we demonstrated that significantly longer fragments could be amplified by the helimerase in Helicase-Dependent Amplification (HDA) reactions instead of using TteUvrD and Bstpol proteins that do not form a complex.