scholarly journals Functional Analysis of N-Terminal Residues of Ty1 Integrase

2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (18) ◽  
pp. 9502-9511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon P. Moore ◽  
David J. Garfinkel

ABSTRACT The Ty1 retrotransposon of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is comprised of structural and enzymatic proteins that are functionally similar to those of retroviruses. Despite overall sequence divergence, certain motifs are highly conserved. We have examined the Ty1 integrase (IN) zinc binding domain by mutating the definitive histidine and cysteine residues and thirteen residues in the intervening (X32) sequence between IN-H22 and IN-C55. Mutation of the zinc-coordinating histidine or cysteine residues reduced transposition by more than 4,000-fold and led to IN and reverse transcriptase (RT) instability as well as inefficient proteolytic processing. Alanine substitution of the hydrophobic residues I28, L32, I37 and V45 in the X32 region reduced transposition 85- to 688-fold. Three of these residues, L32, I37, and V45, are highly conserved among retroviruses, although their effects on integration or viral infectivity have not been characterized. In contrast to the HHCC mutants, all the X32 mutants exhibited stable IN and RT, and protein processing and cDNA production were unaffected. However, glutathione S-transferase pulldowns and intragenic complementation analysis of selected transposition-defective X32 mutants revealed decreased IN-IN interactions. Furthermore, virus-like particles with in-L32A and in-V45A mutations did not exhibit substantial levels of concerted integration products in vitro. Our results suggest that the histidine/cysteine residues are important for steps in transposition prior to integration, while the hydrophobic residues function in IN multimerization.

1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1087-1095
Author(s):  
M Werner ◽  
S Hermann-Le Denmat ◽  
I Treich ◽  
A Sentenac ◽  
P Thuriaux

The conserved amino-terminal region of the largest subunit of yeast RNA polymerase C is capable of binding zinc ions in vitro. By oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis, we show that the putative zinc-binding motif CX2CX6-12CXGHXGX24-37CX2C, present in the largest subunit of all eukaryotic and archaebacterial RNA polymerases, is essential for the function of RNA polymerase C. All mutations in the invariant cysteine and histidine residues conferred a lethal phenotype. We also obtained two conditional thermosensitive mutants affecting this region. One of these produced a form of RNA polymerase C which was thermosensitive and unstable in vitro. This instability was correlated with the loss of three of the subunits which are specific to RNA polymerase C: C82, C34, and C31.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1087-1095 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Werner ◽  
S Hermann-Le Denmat ◽  
I Treich ◽  
A Sentenac ◽  
P Thuriaux

The conserved amino-terminal region of the largest subunit of yeast RNA polymerase C is capable of binding zinc ions in vitro. By oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis, we show that the putative zinc-binding motif CX2CX6-12CXGHXGX24-37CX2C, present in the largest subunit of all eukaryotic and archaebacterial RNA polymerases, is essential for the function of RNA polymerase C. All mutations in the invariant cysteine and histidine residues conferred a lethal phenotype. We also obtained two conditional thermosensitive mutants affecting this region. One of these produced a form of RNA polymerase C which was thermosensitive and unstable in vitro. This instability was correlated with the loss of three of the subunits which are specific to RNA polymerase C: C82, C34, and C31.


1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 3892-3903 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Rainwater ◽  
D Parks ◽  
M E Anderson ◽  
P Tegtmeyer ◽  
K Mann

Previous studies of p53 have implicated cysteine residues in site-specific DNA binding via zinc coordination and redox regulation (P. Hainaut and J. Milner, Cancer Res. 53:4469-4473, 1993; T. R. Hupp, D. W. Meek, C. A. Midgley, and D. P. Lane, Nucleic Acids Res. 21:3167-3174, 1993). We show here that zinc binding and redox regulation are, at least in part, distinct determinants of the binding of p53 to DNA. Moreover, by substituting serine for each cysteine in murine p53, we have investigated the roles of individual cysteines in the regulation of p53 function. Substitution of serine for cysteine at position 40, 179, 274, 293, or 308 had little or no effect on p53 function. In contrast, replacement of cysteine at position 173, 235, or 239 markedly reduced in vitro DNA binding, completely blocked transcriptional activation, and led to a striking enhancement rather than a suppression of transformation by p53. These three cysteines have been implicated in zinc binding by X-ray diffraction studies (Y. Cho, S. Gorina, P.D. Jeffrey, and N.P. Pavletich, Science 265:346-355, 1994); our studies demonstrate the functional consequences of the inability of the central DNA-binding domain of p53 to studies demonstrate the functional consequences of the inability of the central DNA-binding domain of p53 to bind zinc. Lastly, substitutions for cysteines at position 121, 132, 138, or 272 partially blocked both transactivation and the suppression of transformation by p53. These four cysteines are located in the loop-sheet-helix region of the site-specific DNA-binding domain of p53. Like the cysteines in the zinc-binding region, therefore, these cysteines may cooperate to modulate the structure of the DNA-binding domain. Our findings argue that p53 is subject to more than one level of conformational modulation through oxidation-reduction of cysteines at or near the p53-DNA interface.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Shi ◽  
Wei Zhou ◽  
Baoyue Zhang ◽  
Shaojia Huang ◽  
Yanan Jiang ◽  
...  

AbstractIn bacteria, σ28 is the flagella-specific sigma factor that controls the expression of flagella-related genes involving bacterial motility and chemotaxis. However, its transcriptional mechanism remains largely unclear. Here we report cryo-EM structures of σ28-dependent transcribing complexes on a complete flagella-specific DNA promoter. The structures reveal how σ28-RNA polymerase (RNAP) recognizes promoter DNA through strong interaction with −10 element but weak contact with −35 element to initiate transcription. In addition, we observed a distinct architecture in which the β′ zinc binding domain (ZBD) of RNAP stretches out from its canonical position to interact with the upstream non-template strand. Further in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrate that this interaction facilitates the isomerization of RNAP-promoter closed to open complex due to compensating the weak interaction between σ4/−35 element, and suggest that ZBD-relocation is a general mechanism employed by the σ70-family factors to enhance transcription from promoters with weak σ4/−35 element interactions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta M. O'Connor ◽  
Patrick B. Burns ◽  
Tin Ha-Ngoc ◽  
Kristen Scarpato ◽  
Wasif Khan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Cryptosporidium, a waterborne enteric parasite, is a frequent cause of diarrheal disease outbreaks worldwide. Thus far, the few antigens shown to be important for attachment to and invasion of the host cell by Cryptosporidium are all mucin-like glycoproteins. In order to investigate other antigens that could be important for Cryptosporidium host-parasite interactions, the Cryptosporidium genome databases were mined for other mucin-like genes. A single locus of seven small mucin sequences was identified on chromosome 2 (CpMuc1 to -7). Reverse transcriptase PCR analysis demonstrated that all seven CpMucs were expressed throughout intracellular development. CpMuc4 and CpMuc5 were selected for further investigation because of the significant sequence divergence between Cryptosporidium parvum and C. hominis alleles. Rabbit anti-CpMuc5 and -CpMuc4 antibodies identified several polypeptides in C. parvum lysates, suggestive of proteolytic processing of the mucins. All polypeptides were larger than the predicted molecular weight, which is suggestive of posttranslational processing, most likely O-glycosylation. In immunofluorescence assays, both anti-CpMuc4 and -CpMuc5 antibodies reacted with the apical region of sporozoites and revealed surface-exposed epitopes. The antigens were not shed during excystation but did partition into the aqueous phase of Triton X-114 extractions. Consistent with a role in attachment and invasion, CpMuc4 and CpMuc5 could be detected binding to fixed Caco-2A cells, and anti-CpMuc4 peptide antibodies inhibited Cryptosporidium infection in vitro. Sequencing of CpMuc4 and CpMuc5 from C. hominis clinical isolates identified several polymorphic alleles. The data suggest that these antigens are integral for Cryptosporidium infection in vitro and may be potential vaccine candidates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 400-410
Author(s):  
Valentina De Luca ◽  
Luigi Mandrich

: Enzymes are among the most studied biological molecules because better understanding enzymes structure and activity will shed more light on their biological processes and regulation; from a biotechnological point of view there are many examples of enzymes used with the aim to obtain new products and/or to make industrial processes less invasive towards the environment. Enzymes are known for their high specificity in the recognition of a substrate but considering the particular features of an increasing number of enzymes this is not completely true, in fact, many enzymes are active on different substrates: this ability is called enzyme promiscuity. Usually, promiscuous activities have significantly lower kinetic parameters than to that of primary activity, but they have a crucial role in gene evolution. It is accepted that gene duplication followed by sequence divergence is considered a key evolutionary mechanism to generate new enzyme functions. In this way, promiscuous activities are the starting point to increase a secondary activity in the main activity and then get a new enzyme. The primary activity can be lost or reduced to a promiscuous activity. In this review we describe the differences between substrate and enzyme promiscuity, and its rule in gene evolution. From a practical point of view the knowledge of promiscuity can facilitate the in vitro progress of proteins engineering, both for biomedical and industrial applications. In particular, we report cases regarding esterases, phosphotriesterases and cytochrome P450.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuye Li ◽  
W. Michael Babinchak ◽  
Witold K. Surewicz

AbstractAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis and several other neurodegenerative diseases are associated with brain deposits of amyloid-like aggregates formed by the C-terminal fragments of TDP-43 that contain the low complexity domain of the protein. Here, we report the cryo-EM structure of amyloid formed from the entire TDP-43 low complexity domain in vitro at pH 4. This structure reveals single protofilament fibrils containing a large (139-residue), tightly packed core. While the C-terminal part of this core region is largely planar and characterized by a small proportion of hydrophobic amino acids, the N-terminal region contains numerous hydrophobic residues and has a non-planar backbone conformation, resulting in rugged surfaces of fibril ends. The structural features found in these fibrils differ from those previously found for fibrils generated from short protein fragments. The present atomic model for TDP-43 LCD fibrils provides insight into potential structural perturbations caused by phosphorylation and disease-related mutations.


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