The first crystal structure of the peptidase domain of the U32 peptidase family

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2505-2512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Schacherl ◽  
Angelika A. M. Montada ◽  
Elena Brunstein ◽  
Ulrich Baumann

The U32 family is a collection of over 2500 annotated peptidases in the MEROPS database with unknown catalytic mechanism. They mainly occur in bacteria and archaea, but a few representatives have also been identified in eukarya. Many of the U32 members have been linked to pathogenicity, such as proteins fromHelicobacterandSalmonella. The first crystal structure analysis of a U32 catalytic domain fromMethanopyrus kandleri(genemk0906) reveals a modified (βα)8TIM-barrel fold with some unique features. The connecting segment between strands β7 and β8 is extended and helix α7 is located on top of the C-terminal end of the barrel body. The protein exhibits a dimeric quaternary structure in which a zinc ion is symmetrically bound by histidine and cysteine side chains from both monomers. These residues reside in conserved sequence motifs. No typical proteolytic motifs are discernible in the three-dimensional structure, and biochemical assays failed to demonstrate proteolytic activity. A tunnel in which an acetate ion is bound is located in the C-terminal part of the β-barrel. Two hydrophobic grooves lead to a tunnel at the C-terminal end of the barrel in which an acetate ion is bound. One of the grooves binds to aStrep-Tag II of another dimer in the crystal lattice. Thus, these grooves may be binding sites for hydrophobic peptides or other ligands.

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 889-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Sauer ◽  
Stefan Imseng ◽  
Timm Maier ◽  
Michael N. Hall

The atypical serine/threonine kinase mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) is a central regulator of cell growth and metabolism. mTOR is part of two multisubunit signalling complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. Although many aspects of mTOR signalling are understood, the lack of high-resolution structures impairs a detailed understanding of complex assembly, function and regulation. The structure of the kinase domain is of special interest for the development of mTOR inhibitors as anti-cancer agents. A homology model of the mTOR kinase domain was derived from the structure of PI3Ks (phosphoinositide 3-kinases). More recently, the crystal structure of the catalytic domain of human mTOR was determined, providing long-awaited structural insight into the architecture of mTOR. Interestingly, the homology model predicted several aspects of the crystal structure. In the present paper, we revisit the homology model in the context of the now available crystal structure of the mTOR kinase domain.


2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 1889-1900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianyu Wang ◽  
Jinjing Ding ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Da-Cheng Wang ◽  
Wei Liu

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a bacterial protein-export machine that is capable of delivering virulence effectors between Gram-negative bacteria. The T6SS ofPseudomonas aeruginosatransports two lytic enzymes, Tse1 and Tse3, to degrade cell-wall peptidoglycan in the periplasm of rival bacteria that are competing for nichesviaamidase and muramidase activities, respectively. Two cognate immunity proteins, Tsi1 and Tsi3, are produced by the bacterium to inactivate the two antibacterial effectors, thereby protecting its siblings from self-intoxication. Recently, Tse1–Tsi1 has been structurally characterized. Here, the structure of the Tse3–Tsi3 complex is reported at 1.9 Å resolution. The results reveal that Tse3 contains a C-terminal catalytic domain that adopts a soluble lytic transglycosylase (SLT) fold in which three calcium-binding sites were surprisingly observed close to the catalytic Glu residue. The electrostatic properties of the substrate-binding groove are also distinctive from those of known structures with a similar fold. All of these features imply that a unique catalytic mechanism is utilized by Tse3 in cleaving glycosidic bonds. Tsi3 comprises a single domain showing a β-sandwich architecture that is reminiscent of the immunoglobulin fold. Three loops of Tsi3 insert deeply into the groove of Tse3 and completely occlude its active site, which forms the structural basis of Tse3 inactivation. This work is the first crystallographic report describing the three-dimensional structure of the Tse3–Tsi3 effector–immunity pair.


2007 ◽  
Vol 283 (3) ◽  
pp. 1501-1507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huey-Sheng Shieh ◽  
Karl J. Mathis ◽  
Jennifer M. Williams ◽  
Robert L. Hills ◽  
Joe F. Wiese ◽  
...  

Aggrecanase-2 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs-5 (ADAMTS-5)), a member of the ADAMTS protein family, is critically involved in arthritic diseases because of its direct role in cleaving the cartilage component aggrecan. The catalytic domain of aggrecanase-2 has been refolded, purified, and crystallized, and its three-dimensional structure determined to 1.4Å resolution in the presence of an inhibitor. A high resolution structure of an ADAMTS/aggrecanase protein provides an opportunity for the development of therapeutics to treat osteoarthritis.


2006 ◽  
Vol 395 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Alberto ◽  
Emmanuelle Jordi ◽  
Bernard Henrissat ◽  
Mirjam Czjzek

Thermotoga maritima invertase (β-fructosidase), a member of the glycoside hydrolase family GH-32, readily releases β-D-fructose from sucrose, raffinose and fructan polymers such as inulin. These carbohydrates represent major carbon and energy sources for prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The invertase cleaves β-fructopyranosidic linkages by a double-displacement mechanism, which involves a nucleophilic aspartate and a catalytic glutamic acid acting as a general acid/base. The three-dimensional structure of invertase shows a bimodular enzyme with a five bladed β-propeller catalytic domain linked to a β-sandwich of unknown function. In the present study we report the crystal structure of the inactivated invertase in interaction with the natural substrate molecule α-D-galactopyranosyl-(1,6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-β-D-fructofuranoside (raffinose) at 1.87 Å (1 Å=0.1 nm) resolution. The structural analysis of the complex reveals the presence of three binding-subsites, which explains why T. maritima invertase exhibits a higher affinity for raffinose than sucrose, but a lower catalytic efficiency with raffinose as substrate than with sucrose.


2000 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 1483-1521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Rusnak ◽  
Pamela Mertz

Calcineurin is a eukaryotic Ca2+- and calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine protein phosphatase. It is a heterodimeric protein consisting of a catalytic subunit calcineurin A, which contains an active site dinuclear metal center, and a tightly associated, myristoylated, Ca2+-binding subunit, calcineurin B. The primary sequence of both subunits and heterodimeric quaternary structure is highly conserved from yeast to mammals. As a serine/threonine protein phosphatase, calcineurin participates in a number of cellular processes and Ca2+-dependent signal transduction pathways. Calcineurin is potently inhibited by immunosuppressant drugs, cyclosporin A and FK506, in the presence of their respective cytoplasmic immunophilin proteins, cyclophilin and FK506-binding protein. Many studies have used these immunosuppressant drugs and/or modern genetic techniques to disrupt calcineurin in model organisms such as yeast, filamentous fungi, plants, vertebrates, and mammals to explore its biological function. Recent advances regarding calcineurin structure include the determination of its three-dimensional structure. In addition, biochemical and spectroscopic studies are beginning to unravel aspects of the mechanism of phosphate ester hydrolysis including the importance of the dinuclear metal ion cofactor and metal ion redox chemistry, studies which may lead to new calcineurin inhibitors. This review provides a comprehensive examination of the biological roles of calcineurin and reviews aspects related to its structure and catalytic mechanism.


2006 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okan Zafer Yeşilel ◽  
İbrahim Uçar ◽  
Ahmet Bulut ◽  
Halis Ölmez ◽  
Orhan Büyükgüngör

AbstractPreparation, X-ray crystal structure, thermal behavior, and IR spectroscopic studies of cis-diaquabis(1,10-phenanthroline)zinc(II) diorotate hydrate are described. In the compound [Zn(H2O)2(C12H8N2)2](C5H3N2O4)2·(H2O)2.125 (1), the zinc ion, located on a twofold axis, is coordinated by two aqua ligands together with a pair of bidentate 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) molecules, and exhibits a distorted octahedral coordination. The orotate anions have a single negative charge each. The metal−coordinated water molecules link the orotate ions to the metal complex via O-H· · ·O hydrogen bonds. Also the uncoordinated water molecules are bonded to orotate ions through O-H· · ·O hydrogen bonds. Thus, an extensive network of hydrogen bonds together with π-π, and π-ring interactions stabilize the crystal structure and form an infinitive three dimensional structure. The thermal decomposition pathway of 1 has been investigated by the help of thermal analysis data (TG, DTG and DTA).


2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (9) ◽  
pp. 654-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Wiedemann ◽  
Julia Kohl

Crown ethers and their supramolecular derivatives are well-known chelators and scavengers for a variety of cations, most notably heavier alkali and alkaline-earth ions. Although they are widely used in synthetic chemistry, available crystal structures of uncoordinated and solvent-free crown ethers regularly suffer from disorder. In this study, we present the X-ray crystal structure analysis of well-ordered solvent-free crystals of dibenzo-21-crown-7 (systematic name: dibenzo[b,k]-1,4,7,10,13,16,19-heptaoxacycloheneicosa-2,11-diene, C22H28O7). Because of the quality of the crystal and diffraction data, we have chosen invarioms, in addition to standard independent spherical atoms, for modelling and briefly discuss the different refinement results. The electrostatic potential, which is directly deducible from the invariom model, and the Hirshfeld surface are analysed and complemented with interaction-energy computations to characterize intermolecular contacts. The boat-like molecules stack along the a axis and are arranged as dimers of chains, which assemble as rows to form a three-dimensional structure. Dispersive C—H...H—C and C—H...π interactions dominate, but nonclassical hydrogen bonds are present and reflect the overall rather weak electrostatic influence. A fingerprint plot of the Hirshfeld surface summarizes and visualizes the intermolecular interactions. The insight gained into the crystal structure of dibenzo-21-crown-7 not only demonstrates the power of invariom refinement, Hirshfeld surface analysis and interaction-energy computation, but also hints at favourable conditions for crystallizing solvent-free crown ethers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 1116-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana Pereira ◽  
Vikram Alva

Biochemical and biophysical experiments are essential for uncovering the three-dimensional structure and biological role of a protein of interest. However, meaningful predictions can frequently also be made using bioinformatics resources that transfer knowledge from a well studied protein to an uncharacterized protein based on their evolutionary relatedness. These predictions are helpful in developing specific hypotheses to guide wet-laboratory experiments. Commonly used bioinformatics resources include methods to identify and predict conserved sequence motifs, protein domains, transmembrane segments, signal sequences, and secondary as well as tertiary structure. Here, several such methods available through the MPI Bioinformatics Toolkit (https://toolkit.tuebingen.mpg.de) are described and how their combined use can provide meaningful information on a protein of unknown function is demonstrated. In particular, the identification of homologs of known structure using HHpred, internal repeats using HHrepID, coiled coils using PCOILS and DeepCoil, and transmembrane segments using Quick2D are focused on.


Author(s):  
A. F. Marshall ◽  
J. W. Steeds ◽  
D. Bouchet ◽  
S. L. Shinde ◽  
R. G. Walmsley

Convergent beam electron diffraction is a powerful technique for determining the crystal structure of a material in TEM. In this paper we have applied it to the study of the intermetallic phases in the Cu-rich end of the Cu-Zr system. These phases are highly ordered. Their composition and structure has been previously studied by microprobe and x-ray diffraction with sometimes conflicting results.The crystalline phases were obtained by annealing amorphous sputter-deposited Cu-Zr. Specimens were thinned for TEM by ion milling and observed in a Philips EM 400. Due to the large unit cells involved, a small convergence angle of diffraction was used; however, the three-dimensional lattice and symmetry information of convergent beam microdiffraction patterns is still present. The results are as follows:1) 21 at% Zr in Cu: annealed at 500°C for 5 hours. An intermetallic phase, Cu3.6Zr (21.7% Zr), space group P6/m has been proposed near this composition (2). The major phase of our annealed material was hexagonal with a point group determined as 6/m.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (11) ◽  
pp. 1054-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Li ◽  
Hui-Ting Wang

A new cadmium dicyanamide complex, poly[tetramethylphosphonium [μ-chlorido-di-μ-dicyanamido-κ4N1:N5-cadmium(II)]], [(CH3)4P][Cd(NCNCN)2Cl], was synthesized by the reaction of tetramethylphosphonium chloride, cadmium nitrate tetrahydrate and sodium dicyanamide in aqueous solution. In the crystal structure, each CdIIatom is octahedrally coordinated by four terminal N atoms from four anionic dicyanamide (dca) ligands and by two chloride ligands. The dicyanamide ligands play two different roles in the building up of the structure; one role results in the formation of [Cd(dca)Cl]2building blocks, while the other links the building blocks into a three-dimensional structure. The anionic framework exhibits a solvent-accessible void of 673.8 Å3, amounting to 47.44% of the total unit-cell volume. The cavities in the network are occupied by pairs of tetramethylphosphonium cations.


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