Structure of a highly stable mutant of human fibroblast growth factor 1.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are involved in diverse cellular processes such as cell migration, angiogenesis, osteogenesis, wound healing and embryonic and foetal development. Human acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-1) is the only member of the FGF family that binds with high affinity to all four FGF receptors and thus is considered to be the human mitogen with the broadest specificity. However, pharmacological applications of FGF-1 are limited owing to its low stability. It has previously been reported that the introduction of single mutations can significantly improve the stability of FGF-1 and its resistance to proteolytic degradation. Here, the structure of the Q40P/S47I/H93G triple mutant of FGF-1, which exhibits much higher stability, a prolonged half-life and enhanced mitogenic activity, is presented. Compared with the wild-type structure, three localized conformational changes in the stable triple mutant were observed, which is in agreement with the perfect energetic additivity of the single mutations described in a previous study. The huge change in FGF-1 stability (the denaturation temperature increased by 21.5 K, equivalent to DeltaDeltaG(den) = 24.3 kJ mol(-1)) seems to result from the formation of a short 3(10)-helix (position 40), an improvement in the propensity of amino acids to form beta-sheets (position 47) and the rearrangement of a local hydrogen-bond network (positions 47 and 93).

The crystal structure of Arabidopsis thaliana RAC7/ROP9: the first RAS superfamily GTPase from the plant kingdom.

Arabidopsis thaliana RAC/ROP GTPases constitute a plant specific Rho GTPase family in the RAS superfamily, which has been implicated in numerous pivotal signalling cascades in plants. Research has shown that plants in some cases have evolved different modes of regulating Rho GTPase activity as compared to the equivalent systems in animals and yeast. In order to gain structural insight into plant signaling at the molecular level, we have determined the first crystal structure of a RAC-like GTPase belonging to the RAS superfamily from the plant kingdom. The structure of AtRAC7/ROP9 bound to GDP was solved at a resolution of 1.78 A. We have found that the structure of plant Rho GTPases is based upon a conserved G-domain architecture, but structural differences were found concerning the insert region and switch II region of the protein.

Trypsin specificity as elucidated by LIE calculations, X-ray structures, and association constant measurements.

The variation in inhibitor specificity for five different amine inhibitors bound to CST, BT, and the cold-adapted AST has been studied by use of association constant measurements, structural analysis of high-resolution crystal structures, and the LIE method. Experimental data show that AST binds the 1BZA and 2BEA inhibitors 0.8 and 0.5 kcal/mole more strongly than BT. However, structural interactions and orientations of the inhibitors within the S1 site have been found to be virtually identical in the three enzymes studied. For example, the four water molecules in the inhibitor-free structures of AST and BT are channeled into similar positions in the S1 site, and the nitrogen atom(s) of the inhibitors are found in two cationic binding sites denoted Position1 and Position2. The hydrophobic binding contributions for all five inhibitors, estimated by the LIE calculations, are also in the same order (-2.1 +/- 0.2 kcal/mole) for all three enzymes. Our hypothesis is therefore that the observed variation in inhibitor binding arises from different electrostatic interactions originating from residues outside the S1 site. This is well illustrated by AST, in which Asp 150 and Glu 221B, despite some distance from the S1 binding site, lower the electrostatic potential of the S1 site and thus enhance substrate binding. Because the trends in the experimentally determined binding energies were reproduced by the LIE calculations after adding the contribution from long-range interactions, we find this method very suitable for rational studies of protein-substrate interactions.