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Structure of the human CTF18-RFC clamp loader bound to PCNA.

Giuseppina R Briola | Mohammad Tehseen | Amani Al-Amodi | Grace Young | Ammar U Danazumi | Phong Quoc Nguyen | Christos G Savva | Mark Hedglin | Samir M Hamdan | Alfredo De Biasio
eLife | 2026

Sliding clamps like PCNA are crucial processivity factors for replicative polymerases, requiring specific clamp loaders for loading onto DNA. The human alternative clamp loader CTF18-RFC interacts with the leading strand polymerase Pol ε and loads PCNA onto primer/template DNA using its RFC pentameric module. Here, we provide a structural characterization of the human CTF18-RFC complex and its interaction with PCNA. Our cryo-EM data support that the Ctf8 and Dcc1 subunits of CTF18-RFC, which form the regulatory module interacting with Pol ε, are flexibly tethered to the RFC module. A 2.9 Å cryo-EM structure shows the RFC module bound to PCNA in an autoinhibited conformation similar to the canonical RFC loader, marking the initial step of the clamp-loading reaction. The unique RFC1 (Ctf18) large subunit of CTF18-RFC, which based on the cryo-EM map shows high relative flexibility, is anchored to PCNA through an atypical low-affinity PIP box in the AAA+ domain and engages the RFC5 subunit using a novel β-hairpin at the disordered N-terminus. We show that deletion of this β-hairpin impairs the CTF18-RFC-PCNA complex stability, slows down clamp loading, and decreases the rate of primer synthesis by Pol ε. Our research identifies distinctive structural characteristics of the human CTF18-RFC complex, providing insights into its role in PCNA loading and the stimulation of leading strand synthesis by Pol ε.

Pubmed ID: 41730002

Research resources used in this publication

None found

Antibodies used in this publication

None found

Associated grants

  • Agency: NIGMS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R35 GM147238
  • Agency: NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R35 GM147238-03
  • Agency: NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32GM149417

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