scholarly journals Conserved Structural Regions Involved in the Catalytic Mechanism of Escherichia coli K-12 WaaO (RfaI)

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (20) ◽  
pp. 5313-5318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keigo Shibayama ◽  
Shinji Ohsuka ◽  
Toshihiko Tanaka ◽  
Yoshichika Arakawa ◽  
Michio Ohta

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli K-12 WaaO (formerly known as RfaI) is a nonprocessive α-1,3 glucosyltransferase, involved in the synthesis of the R core of lipopolysaccharide. By comparing the amino acid sequence of WaaO with those of 11 homologous α-glycosyltransferases, four strictly conserved regions, I, II, III, and IV, were identified. Since functionally related transferases are predicted to have a similar architecture in the catalytic sites, it is assumed that these four regions are directly involved in the formation of α-glycosidic linkage from α-linked nucleotide diphospho-sugar donor. Hydrophobic cluster analysis revealed a conserved domain at the N termini of these α-glycosyltransferases. This domain was similar to that previously reported for β-glycosyltransferases. Thus, this domain is likely to be involved in the formation of β-glycosidic linkage between the donor sugar and the enzyme at the first step of the reaction. Site-directed mutagenesis analysis of E. coli K-12 WaaO revealed four critical amino acid residues.

1998 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 1607-1611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeru Nakamori ◽  
Shin-ichiro Kobayashi ◽  
Chitose Kobayashi ◽  
Hiroshi Takagi

ABSTRACT Organisms that overproduced l-cysteine andl-cystine from glucose were constructed by usingEscherichia coli K-12 strains. cysE genes coding for altered serine acetyltransferase, which was genetically desensitized to feedback inhibition by l-cysteine, were constructed by replacing the methionine residue at position 256 of the serine acetyltransferase protein with 19 other amino acid residues or the termination codon to truncate the carboxy terminus from amino acid residues 256 to 273 through site-directed mutagenesis by using PCR. A cysteine auxotroph, strain JM39, was transformed with plasmids having these altered cysE genes. The serine acetyltransferase activities of most of the transformants, which were selected based on restored cysteine requirements and ampicillin resistance, were less sensitive than the serine acetyltransferase activity of the wild type to feedback inhibition by l-cysteine. At the same time, these transformants produced approximately 200 mg ofl-cysteine plus l-cystine per liter, whereas these amino acids were not detected in the recombinant strain carrying the wild-type serine acetyltransferase gene. However, the production ofl-cysteine and l-cystine by the transformants was very unstable, presumably due to a cysteine-degrading enzyme of the host, such as cysteine desulfhydrase. Therefore, mutants that did not utilize cysteine were derived from host strain JM39 by mutagenesis withN-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. When a newly derived host was transformed with plasmids having the altered cysE genes, we found that the production ofl-cysteine plus l-cystine was markedly increased compared to production in JM39.


1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Grewal ◽  
P. J. Lowry ◽  
D. Savva

ABSTRACT A large portion of the human pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) peptide corresponding to amino acid residues 59–241 has been cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. A 1·0 kb DNA fragment encoding this peptide was cloned into the expression vectors pUC8 and pUR291. Plasmid pJMBG51 (a pUC8 recombinant) was found to direct the expression of a 24 kDa peptide. The recombinant pUR291 (pJMBG52) was shown to produce a β-galactosidase fusion protein of 140 kDa. Western blot analysis showed that both the 24 kDa and 140 kDa peptides are recognized by antibodies raised against POMC-derived peptides. The β-galactosidase fusion protein has been partially purified from crude E. coli cell lysates using affinity chromatography on p-aminobenzyl-1-thio-β-d-galactopyranoside agarose.


1993 ◽  
Vol 292 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
W Asmara ◽  
U Murdiyatmo ◽  
A J Baines ◽  
A T Bull ◽  
D J Hardman

The chemical modification of L-2-haloacid halidohydrolase IVa (Hdl IVa), originally identified in Pseudomonas cepacia MBA4, produced as a recombinant protein in Escherichia coli DH5 alpha, led to the identification of histidine and arginine as amino acid residues likely to play a part in the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. These results, together with DNA sequence and analyses [Murdiyatmo, Asmara, Baines, Bull and Hardman (1992) Biochem. J. 284, 87-93] provided the basis for the rational design of a series of random- and site-directed-mutagenesis experiments of the Hdl IVa structural gene (hdl IVa). Subsequent apparent kinetic analyses of purified mutant enzymes identified His-20 and Arg-42 as the key residues in the activity of this halidohydrolase. It is also proposed that Asp-18 is implicated in the functioning of the enzyme, possibly by positioning the correct tautomer of His-20 for catalysis in the enzyme-substrate complex and stabilizing the protonated form of His-20 in the transition-state complex. Comparison of conserved amino acid sequences between the Hdl IVa and other halidohydrolases suggests that L-2-haloacid halidohydrolases contain conserved amino acid sequences that are not found in halidohydrolases active towards both D- and L-2-monochloropropionate.


2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (9) ◽  
pp. 2567-2573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuo Kido ◽  
Hidemitsu Kobayashi

ABSTRACT wbdA is a mannosyltransferase gene that is involved in synthesis of the Escherichia coli O9a polysaccharide, a mannose homopolymer with a repeating unit of 2-αMan-1,2-αMan-1,3-αMan-1,3-αMan-1. The equivalent structural O polysaccharide in the E. coli O9 andKlebsiella O3 strains is 2-αMan-1,2-αMan-1,2-αMan-1,3-αMan-1,3-αMan-1, with an excess of one mannose in the 1,2 linkage. We have cloned wbdAgenes from these O9 and O3 strains and shown by genetic and functional studies that wbdA is the only gene determining the O-polysaccharide structure of O9 or O9a. Based on functional analysis of chimeric genes and site-directed mutagenesis, we showed that a single amino acid substitution, C55R, in WbdA of E. coli O9 converts the O9 polysaccharide into O9a. DNA sequencing revealed the substitution to be conserved in other E. coli O9a strains. The reverse substitution, R55C, in WbdA of E. coli O9a resulted in lipopolysaccharide synthesis showing no ladder profile instead of the conversion of O9a to O9. This suggests that more than one amino acid substitution in WbdA is required for conversion from O9a to O9.


2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (20) ◽  
pp. 6915-6927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Lunin ◽  
Yunge Li ◽  
Joseph D. Schrag ◽  
Pietro Iannuzzi ◽  
Miroslaw Cygler ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Intracellular glucose in Escherichia coli cells imported by phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system-independent uptake is phosphorylated by glucokinase by using ATP to yield glucose-6-phosphate. Glucokinases (EC 2.7.1.2) are functionally distinct from hexokinases (EC 2.7.1.1) with respect to their narrow specificity for glucose as a substrate. While structural information is available for ADP-dependent glucokinases from Archaea, no structural information exists for the large sequence family of eubacterial ATP-dependent glucokinases. Here we report the first structure determination of a microbial ATP-dependent glucokinase, that from E. coli O157:H7. The crystal structure of E. coli glucokinase has been determined to a 2.3-Å resolution (apo form) and refined to final R work/R free factors of 0.200/0.271 and to 2.2-Å resolution (glucose complex) with final R work/R free factors of 0.193/0.265. E. coli GlK is a homodimer of 321 amino acid residues. Each monomer folds into two domains, a small α/β domain (residues 2 to 110 and 301 to 321) and a larger α+β domain (residues 111 to 300). The active site is situated in a deep cleft between the two domains. E. coli GlK is structurally similar to Saccharomyces cerevisiae hexokinase and human brain hexokinase I but is distinct from the ADP-dependent GlKs. Bound glucose forms hydrogen bonds with the residues Asn99, Asp100, Glu157, His160, and Glu187, all of which, except His160, are structurally conserved in human hexokinase 1. Glucose binding results in a closure of the small domains, with a maximal Cα shift of ∼10 Å. A catalytic mechanism is proposed that is consistent with Asp100 functioning as the general base, abstracting a proton from the O6 hydroxyl of glucose, followed by nucleophilic attack at the γ-phosphoryl group of ATP, yielding glucose-6-phosphate as the product.


2007 ◽  
Vol 402 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimin Jiang ◽  
Chunhong Li ◽  
Weiwen Zhang ◽  
Yuanheng Cai ◽  
Yunliu Yang ◽  
...  

One of the greatest bottlenecks in producing recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli is that over-expressed target proteins are mostly present in an insoluble form without any biological activity. DCase (N-carbamoyl-D-amino acid amidohydrolase) is an important enzyme involved in semi-synthesis of β-lactam antibiotics in industry. In the present study, in order to determine the amino acid sites responsible for solubility of DCase, error-prone PCR and DNA shuffling techniques were applied to randomly mutate its coding sequence, followed by an efficient screening based on structural complementation. Several mutants of DCase with reduced aggregation were isolated. Solubility tests of these and several other mutants generated by site-directed mutagenesis indicated that three amino acid residues of DCase (Ala18, Tyr30 and Lys34) are involved in its protein solubility. In silico structural modelling analyses suggest further that hydrophilicity and/or negative charge at these three residues may be responsible for the increased solubility of DCase proteins in E. coli. Based on this information, multiple engineering designated mutants were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis, among them a triple mutant A18T/Y30N/K34E (named DCase-M3) could be overexpressed in E. coli and up to 80% of it was soluble. DCase-M3 was purified to homogeneity and a comparative analysis with wild-type DCase demonstrated that DCase-M3 enzyme was similar to the native DCase in terms of its kinetic and thermodynamic properties. The present study provides new insights into recombinant protein solubility in E. coli.


2001 ◽  
Vol 360 (3) ◽  
pp. 617-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian HAN ◽  
Jianmin FANG ◽  
Jianyong LI

The present study describes the isolation of a protein from Escherichia coli possessing kynurenine aminotransferase (KAT) activity and its identification as aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT). KAT catalyses the transamination of kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine to kynurenic acid and xanthurenic acid respectively, and the enzyme activity can be easily detected in E. coli cells. Separation of the E. coli protein possessing KAT activity through various chromatographic steps led to the isolation of the enzyme. N-terminal sequencing of the purified protein determined its first 10 N-terminal amino acid residues, which were identical with those of the E. coli AspAT. Recombinant AspAT (R-AspAT), homologously expressed in an E. coli/pET22b expression system, was capable of catalysing the transamination of both l-kynurenine (Km = 3mM; Vmax = 7.9μmol·min−1·mg−1) and 3-hydroxy-dl-kynurenine (Km = 3.7mM; Vmax = 1.25μmol·min−1·mg−1) in the presence of pyruvate as an amino acceptor, and exhibited its maximum activity at temperatures between 50–60°C and at a pH of approx. 7.0. Like mammalian KATs, R-AspAT also displayed high glutamine transaminase K activity when l-phenylalanine was used as an amino donor (Km = 8mM; Vmax = 20.6μmol·min−1·mg−1). The exact match of the first ten N-terminal amino acid residues of the KAT-active protein with that of AspAT, in conjunction with the high KAT activity of R-AspAT, provides convincing evidence that the identity of the E. coli protein is AspAT.


2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (13) ◽  
pp. 3745-3752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Enz ◽  
Heidi Brand ◽  
Claudia Orellana ◽  
Susanne Mahren ◽  
Volkmar Braun

ABSTRACT Transcription of the fecABCDE ferric citrate transport genes of Escherichia coli K-12 is initiated by a signaling cascade from the cell surface into the cytoplasm. FecR receives the signal in the periplasm from the outer membrane protein FecA loaded with ferric citrate, transmits the signal across the cytoplasmic membrane, and converts FecI in the cytoplasm to an active sigma factor. In this study, it was shown through the use of a bacterial two-hybrid system that, in the periplasm, the C-terminal FecR237-317 fragment interacts with the N-terminal FecA1-79 fragment. In the same C-terminal region, amino acid residues important for the interaction of FecR with FecA were identified by random and site-directed mutagenesis. They were preferentially located in and around a leucine motif (residues 247 to 268) which was found to be highly conserved in FecR-like proteins. The degree of residual binding of FecR mutant proteins to FecA was correlated with the degree of transcription initiation in response to ferric citrate in the culture medium. Three randomly generated inactive FecR mutants, FecR(L254E), FecR(L269G), and FecR(F284L), were suppressed to different degrees by the mutants FecA(G39R) and FecR(D43E). One FecR mutant, FecR (D138E, V197A), induced fecA promoter-directed transcription constitutively in the absence of ferric citrate and bound more strongly than wild-type FecR to FecA. The data showed that FecR interacts in the periplasm with FecA to confer ferric citrate-induced transcription of the fec transport genes and identified sites in FecR and FecA that are important for signal transduction.


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