scholarly journals Membrane Topology and Identification of Critical Amino Acid Residues in the Wzx O-Antigen Translocase from Escherichia coli O157:H4

2010 ◽  
Vol 192 (23) ◽  
pp. 6160-6171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina L. Marolda ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
Michael Lung ◽  
Mei Yang ◽  
Anna Hanuszkiewicz ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Wzx belongs to a family of membrane proteins involved in the translocation of isoprenoid lipid-linked glycans, which is loosely related to members of the major facilitator superfamily. Despite Wzx homologs performing a conserved function, it has been difficult to pinpoint specific motifs of functional significance in their amino acid sequences. Here, we elucidate the topology of the Escherichia coli O157 Wzx (WzxEcO157) by a combination of bioinformatics and substituted cysteine scanning mutagenesis, as well as targeted deletion-fusions to green fluorescent protein and alkaline phosphatase. We conclude that WzxEcO157 consists of 12 transmembrane (TM) helices and six periplasmic and five cytosolic loops, with N and C termini facing the cytoplasm. Four TM helices (II, IV, X, and XI) contain polar residues (aspartic acid or lysine), and they may form part of a relatively hydrophilic core. Thirty-five amino acid replacements to alanine or serine were targeted to five native cysteines and most of the aspartic acid, arginine, and lysine residues. From these, only replacements of aspartic acid-85, aspartic acid-326, arginine-298, and lysine-419 resulted in a protein unable to support O-antigen production. Aspartic acid-85 and lysine-419 are located in TM helices II and XI, while arginine-298 and aspartic acid-326 are located in periplasmic and cytosolic loops 4, respectively. Further analysis revealed that the charge at these positions is required for Wzx function since conservative substitutions maintaining the same charge polarity resulted in a functional protein, whereas those reversing or eliminating polarity abolished function. We propose that the functional requirement of charged residues at both sides of the membrane and in two TM helices could be important to allow the passage of the Und-PP-linked saccharide substrate across the membrane.

2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 7955-7960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moon-Sun Jang ◽  
Young-Mi Lee ◽  
Cheorl-Ho Kim ◽  
Jai-Heon Lee ◽  
Dong-Woo Kang ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We purified to homogeneity an enzyme from Citrobacter sp. strain KCTC 18061P capable of decolorizing triphenylmethane dyes. The native form of the enzyme was identified as a homodimer with a subunit molecular mass of about 31 kDa. It catalyzes the NADH-dependent reduction of triphenylmethane dyes, with remarkable substrate specificity related to dye structure. Maximal enzyme activity occurred at pH 9.0 and 60°C. The enzymatic reaction product of the triphenylmethane dye crystal violet was identified as its leuco form by UV-visible spectral changes and thin-layer chromatography. A gene encoding this enzyme was isolated based on its N-terminal and internal amino acid sequences. The nucleotide sequence of the gene has a single open reading frame encoding 287 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 30,954 Da. Although the deduced amino acid sequence displays 99% identity to the hypothetical protein from Listeria monocytogenes strain 4b H7858, it shows no overall functional similarity to any known protein in the public databases. At the N terminus, the amino acid sequence has high homology to sequences of NAD(P)H-dependent enzymes containing the dinucleotide-binding motif GXXGXXG. The enzyme was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, and the purified recombinant enzyme showed characteristics similar to those of the native enzyme. This is the first report of a triphenylmethane reductase characterized from any organism.


2011 ◽  
Vol 193 (5) ◽  
pp. 1291-1292 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Marolda ◽  
B. Li ◽  
M. Lung ◽  
M. Yang ◽  
A. Hanuszkiewicz ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1018
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Yokota

Helicases are nucleic acid-unwinding enzymes that are involved in the maintenance of genome integrity. Several parts of the amino acid sequences of helicases are very similar, and these quite well-conserved amino acid sequences are termed “helicase motifs”. Previous studies by X-ray crystallography and single-molecule measurements have suggested a common underlying mechanism for their function. These studies indicate the role of the helicase motifs in unwinding nucleic acids. In contrast, the sequence and length of the C-terminal amino acids of helicases are highly variable. In this paper, I review past and recent studies that proposed helicase mechanisms and studies that investigated the roles of the C-terminal amino acids on helicase and dimerization activities, primarily on the non-hexermeric Escherichia coli (E. coli) UvrD helicase. Then, I center on my recent study of single-molecule direct visualization of a UvrD mutant lacking the C-terminal 40 amino acids (UvrDΔ40C) used in studies proposing the monomer helicase model. The study demonstrated that multiple UvrDΔ40C molecules jointly participated in DNA unwinding, presumably by forming an oligomer. Thus, the single-molecule observation addressed how the C-terminal amino acids affect the number of helicases bound to DNA, oligomerization, and unwinding activity, which can be applied to other helicases.


2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Wilson Bowers ◽  
Andrea McCracken ◽  
Alicia J. Dombroski

ABSTRACT Amino acid substitutions in Escherichia coliς70 were generated and characterized in an analysis of the role of region 1.1 in transcription initiation. Several acidic and conserved residues are tolerant of substitution. However, replacement of aspartic acid 61 with alanine results in inactivity caused by structural and functional thermolability.


2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (11) ◽  
pp. 5829-5834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshio Mori ◽  
Mohammed Ali Borgan ◽  
Naoto Ito ◽  
Makoto Sugiyama ◽  
Nobuyuki Minamoto

ABSTRACT Avian rotavirus NSP4 glycoproteins expressed in Escherichia coli acted as enterotoxins in suckling mice, as did mammalian rotavirus NSP4 glycoproteins, despite great differences in the amino acid sequences. The enterotoxin domain of PO-13 NSP4 exists in amino acid residues 109 to 135, a region similar to that reported in SA11 NSP4.


2001 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1601-1606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsunori Ishiguro ◽  
Satoshi Kaneko ◽  
Atsushi Kuno ◽  
Yoshinori Koyama ◽  
Shigeki Yoshida ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The nucleotide sequence of the Thermus sp. strain T2 DNA coding for a thermostable α-galactosidase was determined. The deduced amino acid sequence of the enzyme predicts a polypeptide of 474 amino acids (M r, 53,514). The observed homology between the deduced amino acid sequences of the enzyme and α-galactosidase from Thermus brockianus was over 70%.Thermus sp. strain T2 α-galactosidase was expressed in its active form in Escherichia coli and purified. Native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and gel filtration chromatography data suggest that the enzyme is octameric. The enzyme was most active at 75°C forp-nitrophenyl-α-d-galactopyranoside hydrolysis, and it retained 50% of its initial activity after 1 h of incubation at 70°C. The enzyme was extremely stable over a broad range of pH (pH 6 to 13) after treatment at 40°C for 1 h. The enzyme acted on the terminal α-galactosyl residue, not on the side chain residue, of the galactomanno-oligosaccharides as well as those of yeasts and Mortierella vinacea α-galactosidase I. The enzyme has only one Cys residue in the molecule.para-Chloromercuribenzoic acid completely inhibited the enzyme but did not affect the mutant enzyme which contained Ala instead of Cys, indicating that this Cys residue is not responsible for its catalytic function.


1997 ◽  
Vol 52 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 789-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jürgen Tiburzy ◽  
Richard J. Berzborn

Abstract Subunit I of chloroplast ATP synthase is reviewed until now to be equivalent to subunit b of Escherichia coli ATP synthase, whereas subunit II is suggested to be an additional subunit in photosynthetic ATP synthases lacking a counterpart in E. coli. After publication of some sequences of subunits II a revision of this assignment is necessary. Based on the analysis of 51 amino acid sequences of b-type subunits concerning similarities in primary structure, iso­electric point and a discovered discontinuous structural feature, our data provide evidence that chloroplast subunit II (subunit b' of photosynthetic eubacteria) and not chloroplast subunit I (subunit b of photosynthetic eubacteria) is the equivalent of subunit b of nonphoto­ synthetic eubacteria, and therefore does have a counterpart in e.g. E. coli. In consequence, structural features essential for function should be looked for on subunit II (b').


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanath Kumar ◽  
Manjusha Lekshmi ◽  
Ammini Parvathi ◽  
Manisha Ojha ◽  
Nicholas Wenzel ◽  
...  

Pathogenic microorganisms that are multidrug-resistant can pose severe clinical and public health concerns. In particular, bacterial multidrug efflux transporters of the major facilitator superfamily constitute a notable group of drug resistance mechanisms primarily because multidrug-resistant pathogens can become refractory to antimicrobial agents, thus resulting in potentially untreatable bacterial infections. The major facilitator superfamily is composed of thousands of solute transporters that are related in terms of their phylogenetic relationships, primary amino acid sequences, two- and three-dimensional structures, modes of energization (passive and secondary active), and in their mechanisms of solute and ion translocation across the membrane. The major facilitator superfamily is also composed of numerous families and sub-families of homologous transporters that are conserved across all living taxa, from bacteria to humans. Members of this superfamily share several classes of highly conserved amino acid sequence motifs that play essential mechanistic roles during transport. The structural and functional importance of multidrug efflux pumps that belong to the major facilitator family and that are harbored by Gram-negative and -positive bacterial pathogens are considered here.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document