scholarly journals Revealing the structural origin of the redox-Bohr effect: the first solution structure of a cytochrome from Geobacter sulfurreducens

2011 ◽  
Vol 441 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonor Morgado ◽  
Vítor B. Paixão ◽  
Marianne Schiffer ◽  
P. Raj Pokkuluri ◽  
Marta Bruix ◽  
...  

Gs (Geobacter sulfurreducens) can transfer electrons to the exterior of its cells, a property that makes it a preferential candidate for the development of biotechnological applications. Its genome encodes over 100 cytochromes and, despite their abundance and key functional roles, to date there is no structural information for these proteins in solution. The trihaem cytochrome PpcA might have a crucial role in the conversion of electronic energy into protonmotive force, a fundamental step for ATP synthesis in the presence of extracellular electron acceptors. In the present study, 15N-labelled PpcA was produced and NMR spectroscopy was used to determine its solution structure in the fully reduced state, its backbone dynamics and the pH-dependent conformational changes. The structure obtained is well defined, with an average pairwise rmsd (root mean square deviation) of 0.25 Å (1 Å=0.1 nm) for the backbone atoms and 0.99 Å for all heavy atoms, and constitutes the first solution structure of a Gs cytochrome. The redox-Bohr centre responsible for controlling the electron/proton transfer was identified, as well as the putative interacting regions between PpcA and its redox partners. The solution structure of PpcA will constitute the foundation for studies aimed at mapping out in detail these interacting regions.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E Longbotham ◽  
Mark J S Kelly ◽  
Danica Galonić Fujimori

AbstractPHD reader domains are chromatin binding modules often responsible for the recruitment of large protein complexes that contain histone modifying enzymes, chromatin remodelers and DNA repair machinery. A majority of PHD domains recognize N–terminal residues of histone H3 and are sensitive to the methylation state of Lys4 in histone H3 (H3K4). Histone demethylase KDM5A, an epigenetic eraser enzyme that contains three PHD domains, is often overexpressed in various cancers and its demethylation activity is allosterically enhanced when its PHD1 domain is bound to the H3 tail. The allosteric regulatory function of PHD1 expands roles of reader domains, suggesting unique features of this chromatin interacting module. Our previous studies determined the H3 binding site of PHD1, although it remains unclear how the H3 tail interacts with the N–terminal residues of PHD1 and how PHD1 discriminates against H3 tails with varying degrees of H3K4 methylation. Here we have determined the solution structure of apo and H3 bound PHD1. We observe conformational changes occurring in PHD1 in order to accommodate H3, which interestingly binds in a helical conformation. We also observe differential interactions of binding residues with differently methylated H3K4 peptides (me0, me1, me2 or me3), providing a rational for this PHD1 domain’s preference for lower methylation states of H3K4. We further assessed the contributions of various H3 interacting residues in the PHD1 domain to the binding of H3 peptides. The structural information of the H3 binding site could provide useful information to aid development of allosteric small molecule modulators of KDM5A.


2017 ◽  
Vol 474 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonor Morgado ◽  
Marta Bruix ◽  
P. Raj Pokkuluri ◽  
Carlos A. Salgueiro ◽  
David L. Turner

The periplasmic triheme cytochrome PpcA from Geobacter sulfurreducens is highly abundant; it is the likely reservoir of electrons to the outer surface to assist the reduction of extracellular terminal acceptors; these include insoluble metal oxides in natural habitats and electrode surfaces from which electricity can be harvested. A detailed thermodynamic characterization of PpcA showed that it has an important redox-Bohr effect that might implicate the protein in e−/H+ coupling mechanisms to sustain cellular growth. This functional mechanism requires control of both the redox state and the protonation state. In the present study, isotope-labeled PpcA was produced and the three-dimensional structure of PpcA in the oxidized form was determined by NMR. This is the first solution structure of a G. sulfurreducens cytochrome in the oxidized state. The comparison of oxidized and reduced structures revealed that the heme I axial ligand geometry changed and there were other significant changes in the segments near heme I. The pH-linked conformational rearrangements observed in the vicinity of the redox-Bohr center, both in the oxidized and reduced structures, constitute the structural basis for the differences observed in the pKa values of the redox-Bohr center, providing insights into the e−/H+ coupling molecular mechanisms driven by PpcA in G. sulfurreducens.


2019 ◽  
Vol 476 (21) ◽  
pp. 3227-3240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanshan Wang ◽  
Yanxiang Zhao ◽  
Long Yi ◽  
Minghe Shen ◽  
Chao Wang ◽  
...  

Trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) synthase (Tps1) catalyzes the formation of T6P from UDP-glucose (UDPG) (or GDPG, etc.) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P), and structural basis of this process has not been well studied. MoTps1 (Magnaporthe oryzae Tps1) plays a critical role in carbon and nitrogen metabolism, but its structural information is unknown. Here we present the crystal structures of MoTps1 apo, binary (with UDPG) and ternary (with UDPG/G6P or UDP/T6P) complexes. MoTps1 consists of two modified Rossmann-fold domains and a catalytic center in-between. Unlike Escherichia coli OtsA (EcOtsA, the Tps1 of E. coli), MoTps1 exists as a mixture of monomer, dimer, and oligomer in solution. Inter-chain salt bridges, which are not fully conserved in EcOtsA, play primary roles in MoTps1 oligomerization. Binding of UDPG by MoTps1 C-terminal domain modifies the substrate pocket of MoTps1. In the MoTps1 ternary complex structure, UDP and T6P, the products of UDPG and G6P, are detected, and substantial conformational rearrangements of N-terminal domain, including structural reshuffling (β3–β4 loop to α0 helix) and movement of a ‘shift region' towards the catalytic centre, are observed. These conformational changes render MoTps1 to a ‘closed' state compared with its ‘open' state in apo or UDPG complex structures. By solving the EcOtsA apo structure, we confirmed that similar ligand binding induced conformational changes also exist in EcOtsA, although no structural reshuffling involved. Based on our research and previous studies, we present a model for the catalytic process of Tps1. Our research provides novel information on MoTps1, Tps1 family, and structure-based antifungal drug design.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1023-1032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Stockner ◽  
Anna Mullen ◽  
Fraser MacMillan

ABC transporters are primary active transporters found in all kingdoms of life. Human multidrug resistance transporter ABCB1, or P-glycoprotein, has an extremely broad substrate spectrum and confers resistance against chemotherapy drug treatment in cancer cells. The bacterial ABC transporter MsbA is a lipid A flippase and a homolog to the human ABCB1 transporter, with which it partially shares its substrate spectrum. Crystal structures of MsbA and ABCB1 have been solved in multiple conformations, providing a glimpse into the possible conformational changes the transporter could be going through during the transport cycle. Crystal structures are inherently static, while a dynamic picture of the transporter in motion is needed for a complete understanding of transporter function. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy can provide structural information on ABC transporters, but the strength of these two methods lies in the potential to characterise the dynamic regime of these transporters. Information from the two methods is quite complementary. MD simulations provide an all atom dynamic picture of the time evolution of the molecular system, though with a narrow time window. EPR spectroscopy can probe structural, environmental and dynamic properties of the transporter in several time regimes, but only through the attachment sites of an exogenous spin label. In this review the synergistic effects that can be achieved by combining the two methods are highlighted, and a brief methodological background is also presented.


Biochemistry ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (35) ◽  
pp. 10677-10683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitri I. Svergun ◽  
Ardina Bećirević ◽  
Hildgund Schrempf ◽  
Michel H. J. Koch ◽  
Gerhard Grüber

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Wu ◽  
Naohiro Kobayashi ◽  
Kengo Tsuda ◽  
Satoru Unzai ◽  
Tomonori Saotome ◽  
...  

AbstractGaussia luciferase (GLuc) is the smallest luciferase (18.2kDa; 168 residues) reported so far and is thus attracting much attention as a reporter protein, but the lack of structural information is hampering further application. Here, we report the first solution structure of a fully active, recombinant GLuc determined by heteronuclear multidimensional NMR. We obtained a natively folded GLuc by bacterial expression and efficient refolding using a solubility tag. Almost perfect assignments of GLuc’s 1H, 13C and 15N backbone signals were obtained. GLuc structure was determined using CYANA, which automatically identified over 2500 NOEs of which > 570 were long-range. GLuc is an all-alpha-helix protein made of nine helices. The region spanning residues 10–18, 36-81, 96-145 and containing eight out of the nine helices was determined with a Cα-atom RMSD of 1.39 ű 0.39 Å. The structure of GLuc is novel and unique. Two homologous sequential repeats form two anti-parallel bundles made by 4 helices and tied together by three disulfide bonds. The N-terminal helix 1 is grabbed by these 4 helices. Further, we found a hydrophobic cavity where several residues responsible for bioluminescence were identified in previous mutational studies, and we thus hypothesize that this is a catalytic cavity, where the hydrophobic coelenterazine binds and the bioluminescence reaction takes place.


2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1894-1901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepa V. Venkitaramani ◽  
D. Bruce Fulton ◽  
Amy H. Andreotti ◽  
Kristen M. Johansen ◽  
Jørgen Johansen

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (49) ◽  
pp. 24568-24573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Delgado Blanco ◽  
Leandro G. Radusky ◽  
Damiano Cianferoni ◽  
Luis Serrano

RNA–protein interactions are crucial for such key biological processes as regulation of transcription, splicing, translation, and gene silencing, among many others. Knowing where an RNA molecule interacts with a target protein and/or engineering an RNA molecule to specifically bind to a protein could allow for rational interference with these cellular processes and the design of novel therapies. Here we present a robust RNA–protein fragment pair-based method, termed RnaX, to predict RNA-binding sites. This methodology, which is integrated into the ModelX tool suite (http://modelx.crg.es), takes advantage of the structural information present in all released RNA–protein complexes. This information is used to create an exhaustive database for docking and a statistical forcefield for fast discrimination of true backbone-compatible interactions. RnaX, together with the protein design forcefield FoldX, enables us to predict RNA–protein interfaces and, when sufficient crystallographic information is available, to reengineer the interface at the sequence-specificity level by mimicking those conformational changes that occur on protein and RNA mutagenesis. These results, obtained at just a fraction of the computational cost of methods that simulate conformational dynamics, open up perspectives for the engineering of RNA–protein interfaces.


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