Structural Insights into the Molecular Evolution of the Archaeal Exo-ß-d-Glucosaminidase.

The archaeal exo-ß-d-glucosaminidase (GlmA), a thermostable enzyme belonging to the glycosidase hydrolase (GH) 35 family, hydrolyzes chitosan oligosaccharides into monomer glucosamines. GlmA is a novel enzyme in terms of its primary structure, as it is homologous to both GH35 and GH42 ß-galactosidases. The catalytic mechanism of GlmA is not known. Here, we summarize the recent reports on the crystallographic analysis of GlmA. GlmA is a homodimer, with each subunit comprising three distinct domains: a catalytic TIM-barrel domain, an α/ß domain, and a ß1 domain. Surprisingly, the structure of GlmA presents features common to GH35 and GH42 ß-galactosidases, with the domain organization resembling that of GH42 ß-galactosidases and the active-site architecture resembling that of GH35 ß-galactosidases. Additionally, the GlmA structure also provides critical information about its catalytic mechanism, in particular, on how the enzyme can recognize glucosamine. Finally, we postulate an evolutionary pathway based on the structure of an ancestor GlmA to extant GH35 and GH42 ß-galactosidases.

Heat-induced native dimerization prevents amyloid formation by variable domain from immunoglobulin light-chain REI.

Amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is a protein-misfolding disease characterized by accumulation of immunoglobulin light chains (LCs) into amyloid fibrils. Dimerization of a full length or variable domain (VL ) of LC serves to stabilize the native state and prevent the formation of amyloid fibrils. We here analyzed the thermodynamic properties of dimerization and unfolding reactions by nonamyloidogenic VL from REI LC or its monomeric Y96K mutant using sedimentation velocity and circular dichroism. The data indicate that the equilibrium shifts to native dimerization for wild-type REI VL by elevating temperature due to the negative enthalpy change for dimer dissociation (-81.2 kJ·mol-1 ). The Y96K mutation did not affect the stability of the monomeric native state but increased amyloidogenicity. These results suggest that the heat-induced native homodimerization is the major factor preventing amyloid formation by wild-type REI VL . Heat-induced native oligomerization may be an efficient strategy to avoid the formation of misfolded aggregates particularly for thermostable proteins that are used at elevated temperatures under conditions where other proteins tend to misfold. DATABASE: Structural data are available in the Protein Data Bank under the accession numbers 5XP1 and 5XQY.

The Structure of an Archaeal ß-Glucosaminidase Provides Insight into Glycoside Hydrolase Evolution.

The archaeal exo-ß-d-glucosaminidase (GlmA) is a dimeric enzyme that hydrolyzes chitosan oligosaccharides into monomer glucosamines. GlmA is a member of the glycosidase hydrolase (GH)-A superfamily-subfamily 35 and is a novel enzyme in terms of its primary structure. Here, we present the crystal structure of GlmA in complex with glucosamine at 1.27 Å resolution. The structure reveals that a monomeric form of GlmA shares structural homology with GH42 ß-galactosidases, whereas most of the spatial positions of the active site residues are identical to those of GH35 ß-galactosidases. We found that upon dimerization, the active site of GlmA changes shape, enhancing its ability to hydrolyze the smaller substrate in a manner similar to that of homotrimeric GH42 ß-galactosidase. However, GlmA can differentiate glucosamine from galactose based on one charged residue while using the "evolutionary heritage residue" it shares with GH35 ß-galactosidase. Our study suggests that GH35 and GH42 ß-galactosidases evolved by exploiting the structural features of GlmA.

Functional Role of the C-Terminal Amphipathic Helix 8 of Olfactory Receptors and Other G Protein-Coupled Receptors.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) transduce various extracellular signals, such as neurotransmitters, hormones, light, and odorous chemicals, into intracellular signals via G protein activation during neurological, cardiovascular, sensory and reproductive signaling. Common and unique features of interactions between GPCRs and specific G proteins are important for structure-based design of drugs in order to treat GPCR-related diseases. Atomic resolution structures of GPCR complexes with G proteins have revealed shared and extensive interactions between the conserved DRY motif and other residues in transmembrane domains 3 (TM3), 5 and 6, and the target G protein C-terminal region. However, the initial interactions formed between GPCRs and their specific G proteins remain unclear. Alanine scanning mutagenesis of the murine olfactory receptor S6 (mOR-S6) indicated that the N-terminal acidic residue of helix 8 of mOR-S6 is responsible for initial transient and specific interactions with chimeric Gα15_olf, resulting in a response that is 2.2-fold more rapid and 1.7-fold more robust than the interaction with Gα15. Our mutagenesis analysis indicates that the hydrophobic core buried between helix 8 and TM1-2 of mOR-S6 is important for the activation of both Gα15_olf and Gα15. This review focuses on the functional role of the C-terminal amphipathic helix 8 based on several recent GPCR studies.

Crystal structure of an acetyl esterase complexed with acetate ion provides insights into the catalytic mechanism.

We previously reported the crystal structure of an acetyl esterase (TcAE206) belonging to carbohydrate esterase family 3 from Talaromyces cellulolyticus. In this study, we solved the crystal structure of an S10A mutant of TcAE206 complexed with an acetate ion. The acetate ion was stabilized by three hydrogen bonds in the oxyanion hole instead of a water molecule as in the structure of wild-type TcAE206. Furthermore, the catalytic triad residue His182 moved 0.8 Å toward the acetate ion upon substrate entering the active site, suggesting that this movement is necessary for completion of the catalytic reaction.

The N-terminal acidic residue of the cytosolic helix 8 of an odorant receptor is responsible for different response dynamics via G-protein.

We previously observed highly rapid and robust response of murine olfactory receptor S6 (mOR-S6) with chimeric Gα15_olf, compared to Gα15. To identify residues responsible for this difference in response, mutations of the cytosolic helix 8 were analyzed in a heterologous functional expression system. The N-terminal hydrophobic core between helix 8 and TM1-2 of mOR-S6 is important for activation of both Gα15_olf and Gα15. Point mutation of a helix 8 N-terminal acidic residue eliminated the differences in response dynamics via Gα. This result suggests that an N-terminal acidic residue of helix 8 is responsible for rapid response via Gα15_olf.

A tilt-pair based method for assigning the projection directions of randomly oriented single-particle molecules.

In this article, we describe an improved method to assign the projection angle for averaged images using tilt-pair images for three-dimensional reconstructions from randomly oriented single-particle molecular images. Our study addressed the so-called 'initial volume problem' in the single-particle reconstruction, which involves estimation of projection angles of the particle images. The projected images of the particles in different tilt observations were mixed and averaged for the characteristic views. After the ranking of these group average images in terms of reliable tilt angle information, mutual tilt angles between images are assigned from the constituent tilt-pair information. Then, multiples of the conical tilt series are made and merged to construct a network graph of the particle images in terms of projection angles, which are optimized for the three-dimensional reconstruction. We developed the method with images of a synthetic object and applied it to a single-particle image data set of the purified deacetylase from archaea. With the introduction of low-angle tilt observations to minimize unfavorable imaging conditions due to tilting, the results demonstrated reasonable reconstruction models without imposing symmetry to the structure. This method also guides its users to discriminate particle images of different conformational state of the molecule.

The structure of hyperthermophilic ß-N-acetylglucosaminidase reveals a novel dimer architecture associated with the active site.

UNLABELLED: The ß-N-acetylglucosaminidase from the hyperthermophilic bacteria Thermotoga maritima (NagA) hydrolyzes chitooligomers into monomer ß-N-acetylglucosamine. Although NagA contains a highly conserved sequence motif found in glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 3, it can be distinguished from other GH family 3 ß-N-acetylglucosaminidases by its substrate specificity and biological assembly. To investigate its unique structure around the active site, we determined the crystal structure of NagA at a resolution of 2.43 Å. The NagA forms a dimer structure in which the monomer structure consists of an N- and a C-terminal domain. The dimer structure exhibits high solvation free energy for dimer formation. From mutagenesis analyses, the catalytic nucleophile and general acid-base residues were supposed to be Asp245 and His173, respectively. The most striking characteristic of NagA was that it forms the active site cleft from the N-terminal domain and the C-terminal domain of the next polypeptide chain, whereas the other two-domain GH family 3 enzymes form the site within the same molecule. Another striking feature is that the loops located around the active site show high flexibility. One of the flexible loops contains the general acid-base His173 and was thought to be involved in substrate distortion during catalysis. In addition, a loop in close contact with the active site, which comes from the C-terminal domain of the next polypeptide chain, contains a region of high B-factor values, indicating the possibility that the C-terminal domain is involved in catalysis. These results suggest that the dimer structure of NagA is important for its activity and thermostability. DATABASE: Structural data are available in the Protein Data Bank under accession number 3WO8.

Expression from engineered Escherichia coli chromosome and crystallographic study of archaeal N,N'-diacetylchitobiose deacetylase.

UNLABELLED: In order to develop a structure-based understanding of the chitinolytic pathway in hyperthermophilic Pyrococcus species, we performed crystallographic studies on N,N'-diacetylchitobiose deacetylases (Dacs) from Pyrococcus horikoshii (Ph-Dac) and Pyrococcus furiosus (Pf-Dac). Neither Ph-Dac nor Pf-Dac was expressed in the soluble fraction of Escherichia coli harboring the expression plasmid. However, insertion of the target genes into the chromosome of E. coli yielded the soluble recombinant protein. The purified Pyrococcus Dacs were active and thermostable up to 85 °C. The crystal structures of Ph-Dac and Pf-Dac were determined at resolutions of 2.0 Å and 1.54 Å, respectively. The Pyrococcus Dac forms a hexamer composed of two trimers. These Dacs are characterized by an intermolecular cleft, which is formed by two polypeptides in the trimeric assembly. In Ph-Dac, catalytic Zn situated at the end of the cleft is coordinated by three side chain ligands from His44, Asp47, and His155, and by a phosphate ion derived from the crystallization reservoir solution. We considered that the bound phosphate mimicked the tetrahedral oxyanion, which is an intermediate of hydrolysis of the N-acetyl group, and proposed an appropriate reaction mechanism. In the proposed mechanism, the N(ε) atom of His264 (from the adjacent polypeptide in the Ph-Dac sequence) is directly involved in the stabilization of the oxyanion intermediate. Mutation analysis also indicated that His264 was essential to the catalysis. These factors give the archaeal Dacs an unprecedented active site architecture a Zn-dependent deacetylases. DATABASE: Structural data are available in the Protein Data Bank database under accession numbers 3WL3, 3WL4, and 3WE7.

Solution structure of the chitin-binding domain 1 (ChBD1) of a hyperthermophilic chitinase from Pyrococcus furiosus.

A chitinase, from Pyrococcus furiosus, is a hyperthermophilic glycosidase that effectively hydrolyses both α and ß crystalline chitin. This chitinase has unique structural features; it contains two catalytic domains (AD1 and AD2) and two chitin-binding domains (ChBD1 and ChBD2). We have determined the structure of ChBD1, which significantly enhances the activity of the catalytic domains, by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The overall structure of ChBD1 had a compact and globular architecture consisting of three anti-parallel ß-strands, similar to those of other proteins classified into carbohydrate-binding module (CBM) family 5. A mutagenesis experiment suggested three solvent-exposed aromatic residues (Tyr112, Trp113 and Tyr123) as the chitin-binding sites. The involvement of Tyr123 or the corresponding aromatic residues in other CBMs, has been demonstrated for the first time. This result indicates that the binding mode may be different from those of other chitin-binding domains in CBM family 5. In addition, the binding affinities of ChBD1 and ChBD2 were quite different, suggesting that the two ChBDs each play a different role in efficiently increasing the activities of AD1 and AD2.

Expression, refolding, and purification of active diacetylchitobiose deacetylase from Pyrococcus horikoshii.

A chitinase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus degrades chitin to produce diacetylchitobiose [(GlcNAc)(2)] as the end product. To further investigate the degradation mechanism of (GlcNAc)(2) in Pyrococcus spp., we cloned the gene of PH0499 from Pyrococcus horikoshii, which encodes a protein homologous to the diacetylchitobiose deacetylase of Thermococcus kodakaraensis. The deacetylase (Ph-Dac) was overexpressed as inclusion bodies in Escherichia coli Rosetta (DE3) pLys. The insoluble inclusion body was solubilized and reactivated through a refolding procedure. After several purification steps, 40 mg of soluble, thermostable (up to 80°C) Ph-Dac was obtained from 1L of culture. The apparent molecular mass of the refolded Ph-Dac was 180 kDa, indicating Ph-Dac to be a homohexamer. The refolded Ph-Dac also exhibited deacetylase activity toward (GlcNAc)(2), and the deacetylation site was revealed to be specific to the nonreducing end residue of (GlcNAc)(2). These expression and purification systems are useful for further characterization of Ph-Dac.

Characterization and crystal structure of the thermophilic ROK hexokinase from Thermus thermophilus.

We characterized and determined the crystal structure of a putative glucokinase/hexokinase from Thermus thermophilus that belongs to the ROK (bacterial repressors, uncharacterized open reading frames, and sugar kinases) family. The protein possessed significant enzymatic activity against glucose and mannose, with V(max) values of 260 and 68 µmol·min(-1)·mg(-1) protein, respectively. Therefore, we concluded that the enzyme is a hexokinase. However, the hexokinase showed little catalytic capacity for galactose and fructose. Circular dichroism measurements indicated that the enzyme was structurally stable at 90°C. The crystal structure of the enzyme was determined at a resolution of 2.02 Å, with R(cryst) and R(free) values of 18.1% and 22.6%, respectively. The polypeptide structure was divided into large and small domains. The ROK consensus sequences 1 and 2 were included in the large domain. The cysteine-rich consensus sequence 2 folded into a zinc finger, and the bound zinc was confirmed by both electron density and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectrum. The overall structure was a homotetramer that consisted of a dimer of dimers. The accessible surface area buried by the association of the dimers into the tetrameric structures was significantly higher in the T. thermophilus enzyme than in a homologous tetrameric ROK sugar kinase.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of a putative glucokinase/hexokinase from Thermus thermophilus.

Glucokinase/hexokinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of glucose to glucose 6-phosphate, which is the first step of glycolysis. The open reading frame TTHA0299 of the extreme thermophile Thermus thermophilus encodes a putative glucokinase/hexokinase which contains the consensus sequence for proteins from the repressors, open reading frames and sugar kinases family. In this study, the glucokinase/hexokinase from T. thermophilus was purified and crystallized using polyethylene glycol 8000 as a precipitant. Diffraction data were collected and processed to 2.02 Å resolution. The crystal belonged to space group P2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 70.93, b = 138.14, c = 75.16 Å, ß = 95.41°.

Tertiary structure and carbohydrate recognition by the chitin-binding domain of a hyperthermophilic chitinase from Pyrococcus furiosus.

A chitinase is a hyperthermophilic glycosidase that effectively hydrolyzes both alpha and beta crystalline chitins; that studied here was engineered from the genes PF1233 and PF1234 of Pyrococcus furiosus. This chitinase has unique structural features and contains two catalytic domains (AD1 and AD2) and two chitin-binding domains (ChBDs; ChBD1 and ChBD2). A partial enzyme carrying AD2 and ChBD2 also effectively hydrolyzes crystalline chitin. We determined the NMR and crystal structures of ChBD2, which significantly enhances the activity of the catalytic domain. There was no significant difference between the NMR and crystal structures. The overall structure of ChBD2, which consists of two four-stranded beta-sheets, was composed of a typical beta-sandwich architecture and was similar to that of other carbohydrate-binding module 2 family proteins, despite low sequence similarity. The chitin-binding surface identified by NMR was flat and contained a strip of three solvent-exposed Trp residues (Trp274, Trp308 and Trp326) flanked by acidic residues (Glu279 and Asp281). These acidic residues form a negatively charged patch and are a characteristic feature of ChBD2. Mutagenesis analysis indicated that hydrophobic interaction was dominant for the recognition of crystalline chitin and that the acidic residues were responsible for a higher substrate specificity of ChBD2 for chitin compared with that of cellulose. These results provide the first structure of a hyperthermostable ChBD and yield new insight into the mechanism of protein-carbohydrate recognition. This is important in the development of technology for the exploitation of biomass.

Stabilization of an immunoglobulin fold domain by an engineered disulfide bond at the buried hydrophobic region.

We report for the first time the stabilization of an immunoglobulin fold domain by an engineered disulfide bond. In the llama single-domain antibody, which has human chorionic gonadotropin as its specific antigen, Ala49 and Ile70 are buried in the structure. A mutant with an artificial disulfide bond at this position showed a 10 degrees C higher midpoint temperature of thermal unfolding than that without the extra disulfide bond. The modified domains exhibited an antigen binding affinity comparable with that of the wild-type domain. Ala49 and Ile70 are conserved in camel and llama single-domain antibody frameworks. Therefore, domains against different antigens are expected to be stabilized by the engineered disulfide bond examined here. In addition to the effect of the loop constraints in the unfolded state, thermodynamic analysis indicated that internal interaction and hydration also control the stability of domains with disulfide bonds. The change in physical properties resulting from mutation often causes unpredictable and destabilizing effects on these interactions. The introduction of a hydrophobic cystine into the hydrophobic region maintains the hydrophobicity of the protein and is expected to minimize the unfavorable mutational effects.

Structure of the catalytic domain of the hyperthermophilic chitinase from Pyrococcus furiosus.

The crystal structure of the catalytic domain of a chitinase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus (AD2(PF-ChiA)) has been determined at 1.5 A resolution. This is the first structure of the catalytic domain of an archaeal chitinase. The overall structure of AD2(PF-ChiA) is a TIM-barrel fold with a tunnel-like active site that is a common feature of family 18 chitinases. Although the catalytic residues (Asp522, Asp524 and Glu526) are conserved, comparison of the conserved residues and structures with those of other homologous chitinases indicates that the catalytic mechanism of PF-ChiA is different from that of family 18 chitinases.

Crystallization and X-ray diffraction analysis of a catalytic domain of hyperthermophilic chitinase from Pyrococcus furiosus.

The crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of a catalytic domain of chitinase (PF1233 gene) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus is reported. The recombinant protein, prepared using an Escherichia coli expression system, was crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. An X-ray diffraction data set was collected at the undulator beamline BL44XU at SPring-8 to a resolution of 1.50 angstroms. The crystals belong to space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a = 90.0, b = 92.8, c = 107.2 angstroms.

Identification of the region responsible for fibril formation in the CAD domain of caspase-activated DNase.

Caspase-activated DNase (CAD) has a compact domain at its N-terminus (CAD domain, 87 amino acid residues), which comprises one alpha-helix and five beta-strands forming a single sheet. The CAD domain of CAD (CAD-CD) forms amyloid fibrils containing alpha-helix at low pH in the presence of salt. To obtain insights into the mechanism of amyloid fibril formation, we identified the peptide region essential for fibril formation of CAD-CD and the region responsible for the salt requirement. We searched for these regions by constructing a series of deletion and point mutants of CAD-CD. Fibril formation by these CAD-CD mutants was examined by fluorescence analysis of thioflavin T and transmission electron microscopy. C-Terminal deletion and point mutation studies revealed that an aromatic residue near the C-terminus (Trp81) is critical for fibril formation. In addition, the main chain conformation of the beta5 strand, which forms a hydrophobic core with Trp81, was found to be important for the fibril formation by CAD-CD. The N-terminal 30 amino acid region containing two beta-strands was not essential for fibril formation. Rather, the N-terminal region was found to be responsible for the requirement of salt for fibril formation.