Collagen prolyl 4-hydroxylases catalyze the formation of 4-hydroxyproline in -X-Pro-Gly-sequences and have an essential role in collagen synthesis. The vertebrate enzymes are α2β2tetramers in which the catalytic α-subunits contain separate peptide-substrate-binding and catalytic domains. We report on the crystal structure of the peptide-substrate-binding domain of the human type I enzyme refined at 2.3 Å resolution. It was found to belong to a family of tetratricopeptide repeat domains that are involved in many protein-protein interactions and consist of five α-helices forming two tetratricopeptide repeat motifs plus the solvating helix. A prominent feature of its concave surface is a deep groove lined by tyrosines, a putative binding site for proline-rich Tripeptides. Solvent-exposed side chains of three of the tyrosines have a repeat distance similar to that of a poly-l-proline type II helix. The aromatic surface ends at one of the tyrosines, where the groove curves almost 90° away from the linear arrangement of the three tyrosine side chains, possibly inducing a bent conformation in the bound peptide. This finding is consistent with previous suggestions by others that a minimal structural requirement for proline 4-hydroxylation may be a sequence in the poly-l-proline type II conformation followed by a β-turn in the Pro-Gly segment. Site-directed mutagenesis indicated that none of the tyrosines was critical for tetramer assembly, whereas most of them were critical for the binding of a peptide substrate and inhibitor both to the domain and the α2β2enzyme tetramer.
The Peptide-Substrate-binding Domain of Human Collagen Prolyl 4-Hydroxylases
