Type I DNA topoisomerases from mammalian cell nuclei interlock strands and promote renaturation of denatured closed circular PM2 DNA

Abstract Type I DNA topoisomerases from mouse ascites cell nuclei and from rat liver cell nuclei act on denatured viral closed circular PM2 DNA to produce molecules with a highly contracted structure as well as fully duplex nonsupercoiled covalently closed circular molecules. Highly contracted DNA molecules contain a novel type of topological linkage in which a strand in one region of the double-stranded molecule passes between the strands in another region of the circular molecule one or more times. Since it is also found that the action of the topoisomerase promotes renaturation of complementary strands in denatured closed circular DNA, it is suggested that formation of contracted DNA structures proceeds through renatured, duplex intermediates with highly negative superhelix densities that contain small single-stranded regions.