No abstract available

No abstract available

[en] The crystal structures of two arginine decarboxylase mutant proteins provide insights into the mechanisms of pyruvoyl-group formation and the decarboxylation reaction. Pyruvoyl-dependent arginine decarboxylase (PvlArgDC) catalyzes the first step of the polyamine-biosynthetic pathway in plants and some archaebacteria. The pyruvoyl group of PvlArgDC is generated by an internal autoserinolysis reaction at an absolutely conserved serine residue in the proenzyme, resulting in two polypeptide chains. Based on the native structure of PvlArgDC from Methanococcus jannaschii, the conserved residues Asn47 and Glu109 were proposed to be involved in the decarboxylation and autoprocessing reactions. N47A and E109Q mutant proteins were prepared and the three-dimensional structure of each protein was determined at 2.0 Å resolution. The N47A and E109Q mutant proteins showed reduced decarboxylation activity compared with the wild-type PvlArgDC. These residues may also be important for the autoprocessing reaction, which utilizes a mechanism similar to that of the decarboxylation reaction

[en] The high-resolution crystal structure of a free-standing carrier protein from Acinetobacter baumannii that belongs to a larger NRPS-containing operon, encoded by the ABBFA-003406–ABBFA-003399 genes of A. baumannii strain AB307-0294, that has been implicated in A. baumannii motility, quorum sensing and biofilm formation, is presented. Microorganisms produce a variety of natural products via secondary metabolic biosynthetic pathways. Two of these types of synthetic systems, the nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and polyketide synthases (PKSs), use large modular enzymes containing multiple catalytic domains in a single protein. These multidomain enzymes use an integrated carrier protein domain to transport the growing, covalently bound natural product to the neighboring catalytic domains for each step in the synthesis. Interestingly, some PKS and NRPS clusters contain free-standing domains that interact intermolecularly with other proteins. Being expressed outside the architecture of a multi-domain protein, these so-called type II proteins present challenges to understand the precise role they play. Additional structures of individual and multi-domain components of the NRPS enzymes will therefore provide a better understanding of the features that govern the domain interactions in these interesting enzyme systems. The high-resolution crystal structure of a free-standing carrier protein from Acinetobacter baumannii that belongs to a larger NRPS-containing operon, encoded by the ABBFA-003406–ABBFA-003399 genes of A. baumannii strain AB307-0294, that has been implicated in A. baumannii motility, quorum sensing and biofilm formation, is presented here. Comparison with the closest structural homologs of other carrier proteins identifies the requirements for a conserved glycine residue and additional important sequence and structural requirements within the regions that interact with partner proteins

No abstract available

[en] The structure of the core domain of the arginine repressor protein from M. tuberculosis has been determined with (1.85 Å resolution) and without (2.15 Å resolution) the arginine corepressor bound. Three additional arginine molecules have been found to bind to the core domain hexamer at high (0.2 M) arginine concentration. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) gene product encoded by open reading frame Rv1657 is an arginine repressor (ArgR). All genes involved in the l-arginine (hereafter arginine) biosynthetic pathway are essential for optimal growth of the Mtb pathogen, thus making MtbArgR a potential target for drug design. The C-terminal domains of arginine repressors (CArgR) participate in oligomerization and arginine binding. Several crystal forms of CArgR from Mtb (MtbCArgR) have been obtained. The X-ray crystal structures of MtbCArgR were determined at 1.85 Å resolution with bound arginine and at 2.15 Å resolution in the unliganded form. These structures show that six molecules of MtbCArgR are arranged into a hexamer having approximate 32 point symmetry that is formed from two trimers. The trimers rotate relative to each other by about 11° upon binding arginine. All residues in MtbCArgR deemed to be important for hexamer formation and for arginine binding have been identified from the experimentally determined structures presented. The hexamer contains six regular sites in which the arginine molecules have one common binding mode and three sites in which the arginine molecules have two overlapping binding modes. The latter sites only bind the ligand at high (200 mM) arginine concentrations

[en] The crystal structures of DAPK–ADP–Mg²⁺ and DAPK–AMP-PNP–Mg²⁺ complexes were determined at 1.85 and 2.00 Å resolution, respectively. Comparison of the two nucleotide-bound states with apo DAPK revealed localized changes in the glycine-rich loop region that were indicative of a transition from a more open state to a more closed state on binding of the nucleotide substrate and to an intermediate state with the bound nucleotide product. Death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) is a member of the Ca²⁺/calmodulin-regulated family of serine/threonine protein kinases. The role of the kinase activity of DAPK in eukaryotic cell apoptosis and the ability of bioavailable DAPK inhibitors to rescue neuronal death after brain injury have made it a drug-discovery target for neurodegenerative disorders. In order to understand the recognition of nucleotides by DAPK and to gain insight into DAPK catalysis, the crystal structure of human DAPK was solved in complex with ADP and Mg²⁺ at 1.85 Å resolution. ADP is a product of the kinase reaction and product release is considered to be the rate-limiting step of protein kinase catalytic cycles. The structure of DAPK–ADP–Mg²⁺ was compared with a newly determined DAPK–AMP-PNP–Mg²⁺ structure and the previously determined apo DAPK structure (PDB code http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/cr.cgi?rm). The comparison shows that nucleotide-induced changes are localized to the glycine-rich loop region of DAPK

[en] The crystal structure of the complex of mouse Keap1-DC with a fragment of the nuclear protein prothymosin α was determined and refined to 1.9 Å resolution and revealed that the peptide binds to the bottom region of the β-propeller domain of Keap1-DC. The Nrf2 transcription factor, which plays important roles in oxidative and xenobiotic stress, is negatively regulated by the cytoplasmic repressor Keap1. The β-propeller/Kelch domain of Keap1, which is formed by the double-glycine repeat and C-terminal region domains (Keap1-DC), interacts directly with the Neh2 domain of Nrf2. The nuclear oncoprotein prothymosin α (ProTα) also interacts directly with Keap1 and may play a role in the dissociation of the Keap1–Nrf2 complex. The structure of Keap1-DC complexed with a ProTα peptide (amino acids 39–54) has been determined at 1.9 Å resolution. The Keap1-bound ProTα peptide possesses a hairpin conformation and binds to the Keap1 protein at the bottom region of the β-propeller domain. Complex formation occurs as a consequence of their complementary electrostatic interactions. A comparison of the present structure with recently reported Keap1-DC complex structures revealed that the DLG and ETGE motifs of the Neh2 domain of Nrf2 and the ProTα peptide bind to Keap1 in a similar manner but with different binding potencies

[en] Crystal structures of the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2-25K M172A mutant protein at pH 6.5 and pH 8.5 were determined to 1.9 and 2.2 Å resolution, respectively. Examination of the structures revealed domain–domain interactions between the UBC and UBA domains which have not previously been reported. The ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2-25K has been identified as a huntingtin (the key protein in Huntington’s disease) interacting protein and has been shown to play a role in mediating the toxicity of Aβ, the principal protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis. E2-25K is a dual-domain protein with an ubiquitin-associated (UBA) domain as well as a conserved ubiquitin-conjugating (UBC) domain which catalyzes the formation of a covalent bond between the C-terminal glycine of an ubiquitin molecule and the ∊-amine of a lysine residue on the acceptor protein as part of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. The crystal structures of E2-25K M172A mutant protein at pH 6.5 and pH 8.5 were determined to 1.9 and 2.2 Å resolution, respectively. Examination of the structures revealed domain–domain interactions between the UBC and UBA domains which have not previously been reported

[en] The synthesis of [³H]Aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid at high specific activity and high purity is described. The compound has been developed as a specific ligand for the Glycine-B binding site. (author)