Quaternary Structure (quaternary + structure)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Chemistry


Selected Abstracts


Hydrolysis of acetylthiocoline, o -nitroacetanilide and o- nitrotrifluoroacetanilide by fetal bovine serum acetylcholinesterase

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 7 2009
María F. Montenegro
Besides esterase activity, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) hydrolyze o -nitroacetanilides through aryl acylamidase activity. We have reported that BuChE tetramers and monomers of human blood plasma differ in o -nitroacetanilide (ONA) hydrolysis. The homology in quaternary structure and folding of subunits in the prevalent BuChE species () of human plasma and AChE forms of fetal bovine serum prompted us to study the esterase and amidase activities of fetal bovine serum AChE. The kcat/Km values for acetylthiocholine (ATCh), ONA and its trifluoro derivative N -(2-nitrophenyl)-trifluoroacetamide (F-ONA) were 398 × 106 m,1·min,1, 0.8 × 106 m,1·min,1, and 17.5 × 106 m,1·min,1, respectively. The lack of inhibition of amidase activity at high F-ONA concentrations makes it unlikely that there is a role for the peripheral anionic site (PAS) in F-ONA degradation, but the inhibition of ATCh, ONA and F-ONA hydrolysis by the PAS ligand fasciculin-2 points to the transit of o -nitroacetalinides near the PAS on their way to the active site. Sedimentation analysis confirmed substrate hydrolysis by tetrameric 10.9S AChE. As compared with esterase activity, amidase activity was less sensitive to guanidine hydrochloride. This reagent led to the formation of 9.3S tetramers with partially unfolded subunits. Their capacity to hydrolyze ATCh and F-ONA revealed that, despite the conformational change, the active site architecture and functionality of AChE were partially retained. [source]


Molecular mass of macromolecules and subunits and the quaternary structure of hemoglobin from the microcrustacean Daphnia magna

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 14 2006
Tobias Lamkemeyer
The molecular masses of macromolecules and subunits of the extracellular hemoglobin from the fresh-water crustacean Daphnia magna were determined by analytical ultracentrifugation, multiangle laser light scattering and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The hemoglobins from hypoxia-incubated, hemoglobin-rich and normoxia-incubated, hemoglobin-poor Daphnia magna were analyzed separately. The sedimentation coefficient of the macromolecule was 17.4 ± 0.1 S, and its molecular mass was 583 kDa (hemoglobin-rich animals) determined by AUC and 590.4 ± 11.1 kDa (hemoglobin-rich animals) and 597.5 ± 49 kDa (hemoglobin-poor animals), respectively, determined by multiangle laser light scattering. Measurements of the hemoglobin subunit mass of hemoglobin-rich animals by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry revealed a significant peak at 36.482 ± 0.0015 kDa, i.e. 37.715 kDa including two heme groups. The hemoglobin subunits are modified by O-linked glycosylation in the pre-A segments of domains 1. No evidence for phosphorylation of hemoglobin subunits was found. The subunit migration behavior during SDS/PAGE was shown to be influenced by the buffer system used (Tris versus phosphate). The subunit mass heterogeneity found using Tris buffering can be explained by glycosylation of hemoglobin subunits. Based on molecular mass information, Daphnia magna hemoglobin is demonstrated to consist of 16 subunits. The quaternary structure of the Daphnia magna hemoglobin macromolecule was assessed by three-dimensional reconstructions via single-particle analysis based on negatively stained electron microscopic specimens. It turned out to be much more complex than hitherto proposed: it displays D4 symmetry with a diameter of approximately 12 nm and a height of about 8 nm. [source]


The crystal structure of a plant 2C -methyl- D -erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase exhibits a distinct quaternary structure compared to bacterial homologues and a possible role in feedback regulation for cytidine monophosphate

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 5 2006
Mads Gabrielsen
The homodimeric 2C -methyl- d -erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase contributes to the nonmevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis. The crystal structure of the catalytic domain of the recombinant enzyme derived from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana has been solved by molecular replacement and refined to 2.0 Ĺ resolution. The structure contains cytidine monophosphate bound in the active site, a ligand that has been acquired from the bacterial expression system, and this observation suggests a mechanism for feedback regulation of enzyme activity. Comparisons with bacterial enzyme structures, in particular the enzyme from Escherichia coli, indicate that whilst individual subunits overlay well, the arrangement of subunits in each functional dimer is different. That distinct quaternary structures are available, in conjunction with the observation that the protein structure contains localized areas of disorder, suggests that conformational flexibility may contribute to the function of this enzyme. [source]


Molecular characterization of artemin and ferritin from Artemia franciscana

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2003
Tao Chen
Embryos of the brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana, exhibit remarkable resistance to physiological stress, which is temporally correlated with the presence of two proteins, one a small heat shock/,-crystallin protein termed p26 and the other called artemin, of unknown function. Artemin was sequenced previously by Edman degradation, and its relationship to ferritin, an iron storage protein, established. The isolation from an Artemia expressed sequence tag library of artemin and ferritin cDNAs extends this work. Artemin cDNA was found to contain an ORF of 693 nucleotides, and its deduced amino-acid sequence, except for the initiator methionine, was identical with that determined previously. Ferritin cDNA is 725 bp in length with an ORF of 516 nucleotides. Artemin amino-acid residues 32,185 are most similar to ferritin, but artemin is enriched in cysteines. The abundance of cysteines and their intramolecular spatial distribution suggest that artemin protects embryos against oxidative damage and/or that its function is redox regulated. The conserved regions in artemin and ferritin monomers are structurally similar to one another and both proteins assemble into oligomers. However, modeling of the quaternary structure indicated that artemin multimers lack the central space used for metal storage that characterizes ferritin oligomers, implying different roles for this protein. Probing of Northern blots revealed two artemin transcripts, one of 3.5 kb and another of 2.2 kb. These transcripts decreased in parallel and had almost disappeared by 16 h of development. The ferritin transcript of 0.8 kb increased slightly during reinitiation of development, then declined, and was almost completely gone by 16 h. Clearly, the loss of artemin and ferritin during embryo development is due to transcriptional regulation and proteolytic degradation of the proteins. [source]


Probing the role of oligomerization in the high thermal stability of Pyrococcus furiosus ornithine carbamoyltransferase by site-specific mutants

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 14 2001
Bernard Clantin
The Pyrococcus furiosus ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OTCase) is extremely heat stable and maintains 50% of its catalytic activity after 60 min at 100 °C. The enzyme has an unusual quaternary structure when compared to anabolic OTCases from mesophilic organisms. It is built up of four trimers arranged in a tetrahedral manner, while other anabolic enzymes are single trimers. Residues Trp21, Glu25, Met29 and Trp33 are located in the main interfaces that occur between the catalytic trimers within the dodecamer. They participate in either hydrophobic clusters or ionic interactions. In order to elucidate the role played by the oligomerization in the enzyme stability at very high temperatures, we performed mutagenesis studies of these residues. All the variants show similar catalytic activities and kinetic properties when compared to the wild-type enzyme, allowing the interpretation of the mutations solely on heat stability and quaternary structure. The W21A variant has only a slight decrease in its stability, and is a dodecamer. The variants E25Q, M29A, W33A, W21A/W33A and E25Q/W33A show that altering more drastically the interfaces results in a proportional decrease in heat stability, correlated with a gradual dissociation of dodecamers into trimers. Finally, the E25Q/M29A/W33A variant shows a very large decrease in heat stability and is a trimer. These results suggest that extreme thermal stabilization of this OTCase is achieved in part through oligomerization. [source]


Evolution of allosteric models for hemoglobin

IUBMB LIFE, Issue 8-9 2007
William A. Eaton
Abstract We compare various allosteric models that have been proposed to explain cooperative oxygen binding to hemoglobin, including the two-state allosteric model of Monod, Wyman, and Changeux (MWC), the Cooperon model of Brunori, the model of Szabo and Karplus (SK) based on the stereochemical mechanism of Perutz, the generalization of the SK model by Lee and Karplus (SKL), and the Tertiary Two-State (TTS) model of Henry, Bettati, Hofrichter and Eaton. The preponderance of experimental evidence favors the TTS model which postulates an equilibrium between high (r)- and low (t)-affinity tertiary conformations that are present in both the T and R quaternary structures. Cooperative oxygenation in this model arises from the shift of T to R, as in MWC, but with a significant population of both r and t conformations in the liganded T and in the unliganded R quaternary structures. The TTS model may be considered a combination of the SK and SKL models, and these models provide a framework for a structural interpretation of the TTS parameters. The most compelling evidence in favor of the TTS model is the nanosecond - millisecond carbon monoxide (CO) rebinding kinetics in photodissociation experiments on hemoglobin encapsulated in silica gels. The polymeric network of the gel prevents any tertiary or quaternary conformational changes on the sub-second time scale, thereby permitting the subunit conformations prior to CO photodissociation to be determined from their ligand rebinding kinetics. These experiments show that a large fraction of liganded subunits in the T quaternary structure have the same functional conformation as liganded subunits in the R quaternary structure, an experimental finding inconsistent with the MWC, Cooperon, SK, and SKL models, but readily explained by the TTS model as rebinding to r subunits in T. We propose an additional experiment to test another key prediction of the TTS model, namely that a fraction of subunits in the unliganded R quaternary structure has the same functional conformation (t) as unliganded subunits in the T quaternary structure. [source]


Automatic inference of protein quaternary structure from crystals

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 5 2003
Hannes Ponstingl
The arrangement of the subunits in an oligomeric protein often cannot be inferred without ambiguity from crystallographic studies. The annotation of the functional assembly of protein structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) is incomplete and frequently inconsistent. Instructions for the reconstruction, by symmetry, of the functional assembly from the deposited coordinates are often absent. An automatic procedure is proposed for the inference of assembly structures that are likely to be physiologically relevant. The method scores crystal contacts by their contact size and chemical complementarity. The subunit assembly is then inferred from these scored contacts by a clustering procedure involving a single adjustable parameter. When predicting the oligomeric state for a non-redundant set of 55 monomeric and 163 oligomeric proteins from dimers up to hexamers, a classification error rate of 16% was observed. [source]


Direct detection of the protein quaternary structure and denatured entity by small-angle scattering: guanidine hydrochloride denaturation of chaperonin protein GroEL

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2002
Yasutaka Seki
A change in the higher-order structure of an oligomeric protein is directly detectable by small-angle scattering. A small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) study of the denaturation process of the chaperonin protein GroEL by guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) showed that the disappearance of the quaternary structure can be monitored by using a Kratky plot of the scattered intensities, demonstrating the advantage of the SAXS method over other indirect methods, such as light scattering, circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence and sedimentation. The collapse of the quaternary structure was detected at a GdnHCl concentration of 0.8,M for a solution containing ADP (adenosine diphosphate)/Mg2+(2,mM)/K+. From pairwise plots of the change in forward scattering intensity J(0)/C (weight-average molecular weight) and the z -average (root mean square) radius of gyration against the GdnHCl concentration, the stability and nature of the denatured protein can be determined. The SAXS results suggest that the GroEL tetradecamer directly dissociates to the unfolded coil without going through a globular monomer state. The denatured ensemble is not a single unfolded monomer coil particle, but some mixture of entangled aggregates and a monomer of the coil molecules. Small-angle scattering is a powerful method for the detection and study of changes in quaternary and higher-order structures of oligomeric proteins. [source]


Cellulosomes: microbial nanomachines that display plasticity in quaternary structure

MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2007
Harry J. Gilbert
Summary The assembly of proteins that display complementary activities into supramolecular intra- and extracellular complexes is central to cellular function. One such nanomachine of considerable biological and industrial significance is the plant cell wall degrading apparatus of anaerobic bacteria termed the cellulosome. The Clostridium thermocellum cellulosome assembles through the interaction of a type I dockerin module in the catalytic entities with one of several type I cohesin modules in the non-catalytic scaffolding protein. Recent structural studies have provided the molecular details of how dockerin,cohesin interactions mediate both cellulosome assembly and the retention of the protein complex on the bacterial cell surface. The type I dockerin, which displays near-perfect sequence and structural symmetry, interacts with its cohesin partner through a dual binding mode in which either the N- or C-terminal helix dominate heterodimer formation. The biological significance of this dual binding mode is discussed with respect to the plasticity of the orientation of the catalytic subunits within this supramolecular assembly. The flexibility in the quaternary structure of the cellulosome may reflect the challenges presented by the degradation of a heterogenous recalcitrant insoluble substrate by an intricate macromolecular complex, in which the essential synergy between the catalytic subunits is a key feature of cellulosome function. [source]


Evidence that WbpD is an N -acetyltransferase belonging to the hexapeptide acyltransferase superfamily and an important protein for O-antigen biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2005
Cory Q. Wenzel
Summary Di- N -acetylated uronic acid residues are unique sugar moieties observed in the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of respiratory pathogens including several serotypes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and several species of Bordetella. WbpD of P. aeruginosa PAO1 (serotype O5) is a putative 3- N -acetyltransferase that has been implicated in the biosynthesis of UDP-2,3-diacetamido-2,3-dideoxy- d -mannuronic acid [UDP- d -Man(2NAc3NAc)A], a precursor for the d -Man(2NAc3NAc)A residues in the B-band O antigen of this bacterium. A chromosomal knockout mutant of wbpD is incapable of producing either long-chain B-band O antigen (, 2 repeating units) or semi-rough LPS (lipid A-core + one repeat). Adding wbpD in trans restored LPS production to the wild-type level; this indicates that wbpD is important for biosynthesis of individual B-band O-antigen repeating units. WbpD contains left-handed beta-helical (L,H) structure as observed by Conserved Domain analysis and in silico secondary and tertiary structure predictions. This feature suggested that WbpD belongs to the hexapeptide acyltransferase (HexAT) superfamily of enzymes. WbpD was overexpressed as an N-terminally histidine-tagged fusion protein (His6,WbpD) and purified to >,95% purity. The protein was subjected to Far-UV circular dichroism spectroscopy, and the data revealed that WbpD contains left-handed helical structure, which substantiated in silico predictions made earlier. Results from SDS-PAGE, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS), and gel filtration analyses indicated that His6 -WbpD has trimeric organization, consistent with the quaternary structure of HexATs. The binding of acetyl-CoA by WbpD was demonstrated by MALDI-TOF MS, suggesting that WbpD is an acetyltransferase that utilizes a direct-transfer reaction mechanism. Incubation of WbpD with acetyl-CoA significantly enhanced the stability of the protein and prevented precipitation over a course of 14 days. As a substrate for studying the enzymatic activity of WbpD is unavailable at present, a structure-based model for the L,H domain of WbpD was generated. Comparisons between this model and the L,H domains of known HexATs suggested that Lys136 plays a role in acetyl-CoA binding. A K136A site-directed mutant construct could only partially complement the wbpD knockout, and this mutation also reduced the stabilizing effects of acetyl-CoA, while a K136R mutation showed no discernible effect on complementation of the wbpD mutant or the stabilizing effects of acetyl-CoA on the purified mutant protein. A modified pathway was proposed for the biosynthesis of UDP- d -Man(2NAc3NAc)A, in which WbpD is involved in the catalysis of the fourth step by acting as a UDP-2-acetamido-3-amino-2,3-dideoxy- d -glucuronic acid 3- N -acetyltransferase. [source]


Structural features for the mechanism of antitumor action of a dimeric human pancreatic ribonuclease variant

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 1 2009
Antonello Merlino
Abstract A specialized class of RNases shows a high cytotoxicity toward tumor cell lines, which is critically dependent on their ability to reach the cytosol and to evade the action of the ribonuclease inhibitor (RI). The cytotoxicity and antitumor activity of bovine seminal ribonuclease (BSRNase), which exists in the native state as an equilibrium mixture of a swapped and an unswapped dimer, are peculiar properties of the swapped form. A dimeric variant (HHP2-RNase) of human pancreatic RNase, in which the enzyme has been engineered to reproduce the sequence of BSRNase helix-II (Gln28,Leu, Arg31,Cys, Arg32,Cys, and Asn34,Lys) and to eliminate a negative charge on the surface (Glu111,Gly), is also extremely cytotoxic. Surprisingly, this activity is associated also to the unswapped form of the protein. The crystal structure reveals that on this molecule the hinge regions, which are highly disordered in the unswapped form of BSRNase, adopt a very well-defined conformation in both subunits. The results suggest that the two hinge peptides and the two Leu28 side chains may provide an anchorage to a transient noncovalent dimer, which maintains Cys31 and Cys32 of the two subunits in proximity, thus stabilizing a quaternary structure, similar to that found for the noncovalent swapped dimer of BSRNase, that allows the molecule to escape RI and/or to enhance the formation of the interchain disulfides. [source]


Modeling of possible subunit arrangements in the eukaryotic chaperonin TRiC

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 6 2006
Erik J. Miller
Abstract The eukaryotic cytosolic chaperonin TRiC (TCP-1 Ring Complex), also known as CCT (Cytosolic Chaperonin containing TCP-1), is a hetero-oligomeric complex consisting of two back-to-back rings of eight different subunits each. The general architecture of the complex has been determined, but the arrangement of the subunits within the complex remains an open question. By assuming that the subunits have a defined arrangement within each ring, we constructed a simple model of TRiC that analyzes the possible arrangements of individual subunits in the complex. By applying the model to existing data, we find that there are only four subunit arrangements consistent with previous observations. Our analysis provides a framework for the interpretation and design of experiments to elucidate the quaternary structure of TRiC/CCT. This in turn will aid in the understanding of substrate binding and allosteric properties of this chaperonin. [source]


The X-ray structure determination of bovine carbonmonoxy hemoglobin at 2.1 Ĺ resoultion and its relationship to the quaternary structures of other hemoglobin crystal forms

PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 6 2001
Martin K. Safo
Abstract Crystallographic studies of the intermediate states between unliganded and fully liganded hemoglobin (Hb) have revealed a large range of subtle but functionally important structural differences. Only one T state has been reported, whereas three other quaternary states (the R state, B state, and R2 or Y state) for liganded Hb have been characterized; other studies have defined liganded Hbs that are intermediate between the T and R states. The high-salt crystal structure of bovine carbonmonoxy (CO bovine) Hb has been determined at a resolution of 2.1 Ĺ and is described here. A detailed comparison with other crystallographically solved Hb forms (T, R, R2 or Y) shows that the quaternary structure of CO bovine Hb closely resembles R state Hb. However, our analysis of these structures has identified several important differences between CO bovine Hb and R state Hb. Compared with the R state structures, the ,-subunit N-terminal region has shifted closer to the central water cavity in CO bovine Hb. In addition, both the ,- and ,-subunits in CO bovine Hb have more constrained heme environments that appear to be intermediate between the T and R states. Moreover, the distal pocket of the ,-subunit heme in CO bovine Hb shows significantly closer interaction between the bound CO ligand and the Hb distal residues Val 63(E11) and His 63(E7). The constrained heme groups and the increased steric contact involving the CO ligand and the distal heme residues relative to human Hb may explain in part the low intrinsic oxygen affinity of bovine Hb. [source]


Junctin and the histidine-rich Ca2+ binding protein: potential roles in heart failure and arrhythmogenesis

THE JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 13 2009
Tracy J. Pritchard
Contractile dysfunction and ventricular arrhythmias associated with heart failure have been attributed to aberrant sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ cycling. The study of junctin (JCN) and histidine-rich Ca2+ binding protein (HRC) becomes of particular importance since these proteins have been shown to be critical regulators of Ca2+ cycling. Specifically, JCN is a SR membrane protein, which is part of the SR Ca2+ release quaternary structure that also includes the ryanodine receptor, triadin and calsequestrin. Functionally, JCN serves as a bridge between calsequestrin and the Ca2+ release channel, ryanodine receptor. HRC is a SR luminal Ca2+ binding protein known to associate with both triadin and the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ -ATPase, and may thus mediate the crosstalk between SR Ca2+ uptake and release. Indeed, evidence from genetic models of JCN and HRC indicate that they are important in cardiophysiology as alterations in these proteins affect SR Ca2+ handling and cardiac function. In addition, downregulation of JCN and HRC may contribute to Ca2+ cycling perturbations manifest in the failing heart, where their protein levels are significantly reduced. This review examines the roles of JCN and HRC in SR Ca2+ cycling and their potential significance in heart failure. [source]


Supramolecular structure of 1H -pyrazoles in the solid state: a crystallographic and ab initio study

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B, Issue 6 2000
Concepción Foces-Foces
The secondary structure of 1H -unsubstituted pyrazole derivatives bearing only one hydrogen donor group and one or more acceptor groups has been analyzed in terms of some descriptors representing the substituents at C3 and C5. The substituent at C4 appears to affect mainly the tertiary or quaternary structure of these compounds. The proposed semi-quantitative model, which explains most hydrogen-bonded motifs as a combination of the effects of substituents at C3 and C5, has also been examined as a function of the steric and polarizability effects of these substituents represented by molar refractivity. The model also applies to other five-membered rings (1,2,4-triazoles, 1,2,4-diazaphospholes and 1,2,4-diazaarsoles). Furthermore, ab initio calculations at RHF/6-31G* have been performed to discover the relative stability of three of the four hydrogen-bond patterns displayed by several symmetrical pyrazoles (dimers, trimers, tetramers). The fourth motif, catemers, has only been discussed geometrically. [source]


Structure of the single-stranded DNA-binding protein from Streptomyces coelicolor

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 9 2009
Zoran, tefani
The crystal structure of the single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB) from Streptomyces coelicolor, a filamentous soil bacterium with a complex life cycle and a linear chromosome, has been solved and refined at 2.1,Ĺ resolution. The three-dimensional structure shows a common conserved central OB-fold that is found in all structurally determined SSB proteins. However, it shows variations in quaternary structure that have previously only been found in mycobacterial SSBs. The strand involved in the clamp mechanism characteristic of this type of quaternary structure leads to higher stability of the homotetramer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first X-ray structure of an SSB protein from a member of the genus Streptomyces and it was predicted to be the most stable of the structurally characterized bacterial or human mitochondrial SSBs. [source]


Structure of relaxed-state human hemoglobin: insight into ligand uptake, transport and release

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 1 2009
Joy D. Jenkins
Hemoglobin was one of the first protein structures to be determined by X-ray crystallography and served as a basis for the two-state MWC model for the mechanism of allosteric proteins. Since then, there has been an ongoing debate about whether Hb allostery involves the unliganded tense T state and the liganded relaxed R state or whether it involves the T state and an ensemble of liganded relaxed states. In fact, the former model is inconsistent with many functional observations, as well as the recent discoveries of several relaxed-state Hb structures such as RR2, R3 and R2. One school of thought has suggested the R2 state to be the physiologically relevant relaxed end state, with the R state mediating the T,R2 transition. X-ray studies have been performed on human carbonmonoxy Hb at a resolution of 2.8,Ĺ. The ensuing liganded quaternary structure is different from previously reported liganded Hb structures. The distal ,-heme pocket is the largest when compared with other liganded Hb structures, partly owing to rotation of ,His63(E7) out of the distal pocket, creating a ligand channel to the solvent. The structure also shows unusually smaller ,- and ,-clefts. Results from this study taken in conjunction with previous findings suggest that multiple liganded Hb states with different quaternary structures may be involved in ligand uptake, stabilization, transport and release. [source]


Structure of Escherichia coli tryptophanase

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 7 2006
Shao-Yang Ku
Pyridoxal 5,-phosphate (PLP) dependent tryptophanase has been isolated from Escherichia coli and its crystal structure has been determined. The structure shares the same fold with and has similar quaternary structure to Proteus vulgaris tryptophanase and tyrosine-phenol lyase, but is found in a closed conformation when compared with these two enzymes. The tryptophanase structure, solved in its apo form, does not have covalent PLP bound in the active site, but two sulfate ions. The sulfate ions occupy the phosphoryl-binding site of PLP and the binding site of the ,-carboxyl of the natural substrate tryptophan. One of the sulfate ions makes extensive interactions with both the transferase and PLP-binding domains of the protein and appears to be responsible for holding the enzyme in its closed conformation. Based on the sulfate density and the structure of the P. vulgaris enzyme, PLP and the substrate tryptophan were modeled into the active site. The resulting model is consistent with the roles of Arg419 in orienting the substrate to PLP and acidifying the ,-­proton of the substrate for ,-elimination, Lys269 in the formation and decomposition of the PLP quinonoid intermediate, Arg230 in orienting the substrate,PLP intermediates in the optimal conformation for catalysis, and His463 and Tyr74 in determining substrate specificity and suggests that the closed conformation observed in the structure could be induced by substrate binding and that significant conformational changes occur during catalysis. A catalytic mechanism for tryptophanase is proposed. Since E. coli tryptophanase has resisted forming diffraction-quality crystals for many years, the molecular surface of tryptophanase has been analyzed in various crystal forms and it was rationalized that strong crystal contacts occur on the flat surface of the protein and that the size of crystal contact surface seems to correlate with the diffraction quality of the crystal. [source]


Structure of macrophomate synthase

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 7 2004
Toyoyuki Ose
Macrophomate synthase (MPS) is an enzyme that catalyzes an extraordinarily complex conversion reaction, including two decarboxylations, two carbon,carbon bond formations and a dehydration, to form the benzoate analogue macrophomate from a 2-pyrone derivative and oxalacetate. Of these reactions, the two carbon,carbon bond formations are especially noteworthy because previous experiments have indicated that they proceed via a Diels,Alder reaction, one of the most widely used reactions in organic synthesis. The structural evidence that MPS catalyzes an intermolecular Diels,Alder reaction has been reported recently [Ose et al. (2003), Nature (London), 422, 185,189]. Interestingly, the tertiary structure as well as the quaternary structure of MPS are similar to those of 2-dehydro-3-deoxygalactarate (DDG) aldolase, a carbon,carbon bond-forming enzyme that catalyzes the reversible reaction of aldol condensation/cleavage. Here, the structure of MPS is described in detail and compared with that of DDG aldolase. Both enzymes have a (,/,)8 -barrel fold and are classified as belonging to the enolase superfamily based on their reaction strategy. The basic principles for carbon,carbon bond formation used by both MPS and DDG aldolase are the same with regard to trapping the enolate substrate and inducing subsequent reaction. The major differences in the active sites between these two enzymes are the recognition mechanisms of the second substrates, 2-pyrone and DDG, respectively. [source]


The structures of mutant forms of Hfq from Pseudomonas aeruginosa reveal the importance of the conserved His57 for the protein hexamer organization

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 7 2010
Olga Moskaleva
The bacterial Sm-like protein Hfq forms homohexamers both in solution and in crystals. The monomers are organized as a continuous ,-sheet passing through the whole hexamer ring with a common hydrophobic core. Analysis of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Hfq (PaeHfq) hexamer structure suggested that solvent-inaccessible intermonomer hydrogen bonds created by conserved amino-acid residues should also stabilize the quaternary structure of the protein. In this work, one such conserved residue, His57, in PaeHfq was replaced by alanine, threonine or asparagine. The crystal structures of His57Thr and His57Ala Hfq were determined and the stabilities of all of the mutant forms and of the wild-type protein were measured. The results obtained demonstrate the great importance of solvent-inaccessible conserved hydrogen bonds between the Hfq monomers in stabilization of the hexamer structure. [source]


Structure of Rv1848 (UreA), the Mycobacterium tuberculosis urease , subunit

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 7 2010
Jeff E. Habel
The crystal structure of the urease , subunit (UreA) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Rv1848, has been determined at 1.8,Ĺ resolution. The asymmetric unit contains three copies of Rv1848 arranged into a homotrimer that is similar to the UreA trimer in the structure of urease from Klebsiella aerogenes. Small-angle X-ray scattering experiments indicate that the Rv1848 protein also forms trimers in solution. The observed homotrimer and the organization of urease genes within the M. tuberculosis genome suggest that M. tuberculosis urease has the (,,,)3 composition observed for other bacterial ureases. The , subunit may be of primary importance for the formation of the urease quaternary structure. [source]


A triclinic crystal form of Escherichia coli 4-diphosphocytidyl-2C -methyl- d -erythritol kinase and reassessment of the quaternary structure

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2010
Justyna Kalinowska-T
4-Diphosphocytidyl-2C -methyl- d -erythritol kinase (IspE; EC 2.7.1.148) contributes to the 1-deoxy- d -xylulose 5-phosphate or mevalonate-independent biosynthetic pathway that produces the isomers isopentenyl diphosphate and dimethylallyl diphosphate. These five-carbon compounds are the fundamental building blocks for the biosynthesis of isoprenoids. The mevalonate-independent pathway does not occur in humans, but is present and has been shown to be essential in many dangerous pathogens, i.e. Plasmodium species, which cause malaria, and Gram-negative bacteria. Thus, the enzymes involved in this pathway have attracted attention as potential drug targets. IspE produces 4-diphosphosphocytidyl-2C -methyl- d -erythritol 2-phosphate by ATP-dependent phosphorylation of 4-diphosphocytidyl-2C -methyl- d -erythritol. A triclinic crystal structure of the Escherichia coli IspE,ADP complex with two molecules in the asymmetric unit was determined at 2,Ĺ resolution and compared with a monoclinic crystal form of a ternary complex of E. coli IspE also with two molecules in the asymmetric unit. The molecular packing is different in the two forms. In the asymmetric unit of the triclinic crystal form the substrate-binding sites of IspE are occluded by structural elements of the partner, suggesting that the `triclinic dimer' is an artefact of the crystal lattice. The surface area of interaction in the triclinic form is almost double that observed in the monoclinic form, implying that the dimeric assembly in the monoclinic form may also be an artifact of crystallization. [source]


Rational shape engineering of the filamentous protein , prefoldin through incremental gene truncation

BIOPOLYMERS, Issue 6 2009
Timothy A. Whitehead
Abstract An enticing possibility in nanotechnology is to use proteins as templates for the positioning of molecules in regular patterns with nanometer precision over large surface areas. However, the ability to redesign protein quaternary structure to construct new shapes remains underdeveloped. In the present work, we have engineered the dimensions of a filamentous protein, the , prefoldin (, PFD) from the hyperthermophile Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, and have achieved controllable attachment of filaments in a specific orientation on a carbon surface. Four different constructs of , PFD were generated in which the coiled coils extending from the association domain are progressively truncated. Three of the truncation constructs form well-defined filaments with predictable dimensions according to transmission electron microscopy. Two of these constructs had 2D persistence lengths similar to that of , PFD at 300,740 nm. In contrast, the 2D persistence length of the shortest truncation mutant was 3500 nm, indicating that the filament adsorbs along a different axis than the other constructs with its two rows of coiled coils facing out from the surface. The elastic moduli of the filaments range from 0.7,2.1 GPa, similar to rigid plastics and within the lower limit for proteins whose primary intermolecular interaction is hydrogen bonding. These results demonstrate a versatile approach for controlling the overall dimensions and surface orientation of protein filaments, and expand the toolbox by which to tune two overall dimensions in protein space for the creation of templated materials over a wide variety of conditions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 91: 496,503, 2009. This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The "Published Online" date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com [source]


Changes in the quaternary structure of amelogenin when adsorbed onto surfaces

BIOPOLYMERS, Issue 2 2009
Barbara J. Tarasevich
Abstract Amelogenin is a unique protein that self-assembles into spherical aggregates called "nanospheres" and is believed to be involved in controlling the formation of the highly anisotropic and ordered hydroxyapatite crystallites that form enamel. The adsorption behavior of amelogenin onto substrates is of great interest because protein-surface interactions are critical to its function. We report studies of the adsorption of amelogenin onto self-assembled monolayers containing COOH end group functionality as well as single crystal fluoroapatite, a biologically relevant surface. We found that although our solutions contained only nanospheres of narrow size distribution, smaller structures such as dimers or trimers were observed on the hydrophilic surfaces. This suggests that amelogenin can adsorb onto surfaces as small structures that "shed" or disassemble from the nanospheres that are present in solution. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 91: 103,107, 2009. This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The "Published Online" date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com [source]


Surface-enhanced Raman and steady fluorescence study of interaction between antitumoral drug 9-aminoacridine and trypsin-like protease related to metastasis processes, guanidinobenzoatase

BIOPOLYMERS, Issue 2 2001
Adrian Murza
Abstract Fluorescence spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) were applied to study the interaction of the antitumoral drug 9-aminoacridine (9AA) with a trypsin-like protease guanidinobenzoatase (GB) extracted from a mouse Erlich tumor. As a consequence of this interaction, a strong 9AA exciplex emission was detected in the emission fluorescence spectra at certain drug and enzyme concentrations. A SERS study was accomplished on silver colloids at several excitation wavelengths in order to obtain more information about the interaction mechanism. The results derived from Raman spectroscopy indicated that 9AA in the amino monomeric form may interact with the enzyme by means of two different bonds: an ionic bond with a negatively charged amino acid and a ring stacking interaction with an aromatic residue placed in the catalytic site of GB. This interaction mechanism was responsible for a strong exciplex emission detected at a longer wavelength than the expected value of the normal fluorescence emission. Moreover, the GB concentration dependence of the interaction suggested that the drug was sensitive to the quaternary structure of the enzyme. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopolymers (Biospectroscopy) 62: 85,94, 2001 [source]


Structure of Staphylococcus aureus 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoyl-CoA synthase (MenB) in complex with acetoacetyl-CoA

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 11 2007
Venkatasubramanian Ulaganathan
Vitamin K2, or menaquinone, is an essential cofactor for many organisms and the enzymes involved in its biosynthesis are potential antimicrobial drug targets. One of these enzymes, 1,4-dihydroxy-2-naphthoyl-CoA synthase (MenB) from the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, has been obtained in recombinant form and its quaternary structure has been analyzed in solution. Cubic crystals of the enzyme allowed a low-resolution structure (2.9,Ĺ) to be determined. The asymmetric unit consists of two subunits and a crystallographic threefold axis of symmetry generates a hexamer consistent with size-exclusion chromatography. Analytical ultracentrifugation indicates the presence of six states in solution, monomeric through to hexameric, with the dimer noted as being particularly stable. MenB displays the crotonase-family fold with distinct N- and C-terminal domains and a flexible segment of structure around the active site. The smaller C-terminal domain plays an important role in oligomerization and also in substrate binding. The presence of acetoacetyl-CoA in one of the two active sites present in the asymmetric unit indicates how part of the substrate binds and facilitates comparisons with the structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis MenB. [source]


Structures of two superoxide dismutases from Bacillus anthracis reveal a novel active centre

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F (ELECTRONIC), Issue 7 2005
Ian W. Boucher
The BA4499 and BA5696 genes of Bacillus anthracis encode proteins homologous to manganese superoxide dismutase, suggesting that this organism has an expanded repertoire of antioxidant proteins. Differences in metal specificity and quaternary structure between the dismutases of prokaryotes and higher eukaryotes may be exploited in the development of therapeutic antibacterial compounds. Here, the crystal structure of two Mn superoxide dismutases from B. anthracis solved to high resolution are reported. Comparison of their structures reveals that a highly conserved residue near the active centre is substituted in one of the proteins and that this is a characteristic feature of superoxide dismutases from the B. cereus/B. anthracis/B. thuringiensis group of organisms. [source]


Keratin mutations in patients with epidermolysis bullosa simplex: correlations between phenotype severity and disturbance of intermediate filament molecular structure

BRITISH JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2010
B. Je, ábková
Summary Background, Epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS) is an inherited skin disorder caused by mutations in the keratin 5 (KRT5) and keratin 14 (KRT14) genes, with fragility of basal keratinocytes leading to epidermal cytolysis and blistering. Objectives, In this study, we characterized mutations in KRT5 and KRT14 genes in patients with EBS and investigated their possible structure,function correlations. Materials and methods, Mutations were characterized using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing. Further, to explore possible correlations with function, the structural effects of the mutations in segment 2B of KRT5 and KRT14 and associated with EBS in our patients, as well as those reported previously, were modelled by molecular dynamics with the aid of the known crystal structure of the analogous segment of human vimentin. Results, We have identified mutations in the KRT5 and KRT14 genes in 16 of 23 families affected by EBS in the Czech Republic. Eleven different sequence variants were found, of which four have not been reported previously. Novel mutations were found in two patients with the EBS-Dowling,Meara variant (EBS-DM) [KRT14-p.Ser128Pro and KRT14-p.Gln374_Leu387dup(14)] and in three patients with localized EBS (KRT14-p.Leu136Pro and KRT5-p.Val143Ala). Molecular dynamics studies show that the mutations p.Glu411del and p.Ile467Thr perturb the secondary alpha-helical structure of the mutated polypeptide chain, the deletion p.Glu411del in KRT14 has a strong but only local influence on the secondary structure of KRT14, and the structural impact of the mutation p.Ile467Thr in KRT5 is spread along the helix to the C-terminus. In all the other point mutations studied, the direct structural impact was significantly weaker and did not destroy the alpha-helical pattern of the secondary protein structure. The changes of 3-D structure of the KRT5/KRT14 dimer induced by the steric structural impact of the single point mutations, and the resulting altered inter- and intramolecular contacts, are spread along the protein helices to the protein C-terminus, but the overall alpha-helical character of the secondary structure is not destroyed and the atomic displacements induced by mutations cause only limited-scale changes of the quaternary structure of the dimer. Conclusions, The results of molecular modelling show relationships between patients' phenotypes and the structural effects of individual mutations. [source]


Detection and Function of the Intramolecular Disulfide Bond in Arginine Racemase: An Enzyme with Broad Substrate Specificity

CHEMISTRY & BIODIVERSITY, Issue 6 2010
Daisuke Matsui
Abstract We found that a single intramolecular disulfide bond between the cysteines C47 and C73 exists in the primary structure of arginine racemase (ArgR) from Pseudomonas taetrolens NBRC 3460, and this is the first example of a pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent amino acid racemase that contains a disulfide bond. The amino acid racemase activity was still detected, when the disulfide bond of ArgR was disrupted by site-directed mutagenesis or reduced with dithiothreitol (DTT). The thermal and pH profiles and the quaternary structure of ArgR did not change when the disulfide bond of ArgR was disrupted by site-directed mutagenesis. The substrate specificity and the overall structure did not change when the disulfide bond of ArgR was reduced with DTT after the protein was matured. However, these properties changed when the disulfide bond of ArgR was disrupted by site-directed mutagenesis before protein maturation. The total activity of ArgR decreased when the disulfide bond of ArgR was disrupted by site-directed mutagenesis before the protein was matured or when ArgR was expressed in the cytoplasm. Based on these results, we can conclude that the disulfide bond of ArgR is essential for ArgR to fold and mature as an amino acid racemase with broad substrate specificity. [source]


Conformational stability and multistate unfolding of poly(A)-specific ribonuclease

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 10 2009
Guang-Jun He
Poly(A)-specific ribonuclease (PARN) specifically catalyzes the degradation of the poly(A) tails of single-stranded mRNAs in a highly processive mode. PARN participates in diverse and important intracellular processes by acting as a regulator of mRNA stability and translational efficiency. In this article, the equilibrium unfolding of PARN was studied using both guanidine hydrochloride and urea as chemical denaturants. The unfolding of PARN was characterized as a multistate process, but involving dissimilar equilibrium intermediates when denatured by the two denaturants. A comparison of the spectral characteristics of these intermediates indicated that the conformational changes at low concentrations of the chemical denaturants were more likely to be rearrangements of the tertiary and quaternary structures. In particular, an inactive molten globule-like intermediate was identified to exist as soluble non-native oligomers, and the formation of the oligomers was modulated by electrostatic interactions. An active dimeric intermediate unique to urea-induced unfolding was characterized to have increased regular secondary structures and modified tertiary structures, implying that additional regular structures could be induced by environmental stresses. The dissimilarity in the unfolding pathways induced by guanidine hydrochloride and urea suggest that electrostatic interactions play an important role in PARN stability and regulation. The appearance of multiple intermediates with distinct properties provides the structural basis for the multilevel regulation of PARN by conformational changes. [source]