Congratulations to Yasser for the new paper in Nature Communications!
Duplicating the genome accurately is an essential genetic process, in which many proteins complexes are involved. However, there are still open questions concerning the biomolecular interactions involved. TopBP1 and GINS form a complex essential to build a macro-complex that recruits essential elements for genome replication. TopBP1 is a multi-domain biomolecule that establishes interactions with many partners. The GINI and BRCT45 domains of TopBP1 have been identified as important for genome duplication. By employing AlphaFold modeling and molecular docking, we independently predicted the GINS binding site of the TopBP1-GINI domain, confirmed experimentally by cryoEM. Additionally, by estimating the binding free energy, we showed that the binding of TopBP1 to GINS is mediated by two low affinity interfaces, namely TopBP1-GINI and TopBP1-BRCT45.
TopBP1 utilises a bipartite GINS binding mode to support genome replication. Nat Commun 15, 1797 (2024). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45946-0