scholarly journals Site-directed mutagenesis of the Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogenase. Effects of modifying conserved cysteine residues in the α- and β-subunits

1989 ◽  
Vol 264 (1) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
H M Kent ◽  
I Ioannidis ◽  
C Gormal ◽  
B E Smith ◽  
M Buck
Keyword(s):  
Klebsiella Pneumoniae ◽  
Active Component ◽  
Molybdenum Cofactor ◽  
Beta Subunit ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Alpha Subunit ◽  
Cysteine Residues ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Diazotrophic Growth ◽  
Iron Molybdenum Cofactor

The five conserved cysteine residues present in the alpha-subunit and the three conserved cysteine residues present in the beta-subunit of nitrogenase component 1 were individually changed to alanine. Mutations in the alpha-subunit at positions 63, 89, 155 and 275 and in the beta-subunit at positions 69, 94 and 152 all resulted in a loss of diazotrophic growth and component 1 activity and loss of the normal e.p.r. signal of the component 1 protein. Component 2 activity was retained. Replacement of cysteine-184 in the alpha-subunit with alanine greatly diminished, but did not eliminate, diazotrophic growth and component 1 activity. Substitution of serine for cysteine at position 152 in the beta-subunit, in contrast with the substitution of alanine at this position, resulted in the formation of active component 1. Replacement of the non-conserved cysteine-112 in the beta-subunit with alanine did not greatly perturb diazotrophic growth or the activity of component 1. Extracts prepared from a mutant, with cysteine-275 of the alpha-subunit replaced by alanine, complemented extracts of a mutant unable to synthesize the iron-molybdenum cofactor of nitrogenase, indicating that the alanine-275 substitution increases the availability of cofactor. Furthermore extracts of this mutant exhibited an e.p.r. signal similar to that of extracted iron-molybdenum cofactor. These data suggest a role for cysteine-275 as a ligand to the cofactor.

scholarly journals Overexpression and site-directed mutagenesis of the succinyl-CoA synthetase of Escherichia coli and nucleotide sequence of a gene (g30) that is adjacent to the suc operon

1989 ◽  
Vol 260 (3) ◽  
pp. 737-747 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Buck ◽  
J R Guest
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Nucleotide Sequence ◽  
Binding Site ◽  
Phosphorylation Site ◽  
Beta Subunit ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Alpha Subunit ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Oxoglutarate Dehydrogenase ◽  
Succinyl Coa Synthetase

The succinyl-CoA synthetase of Escherichia coli is encoded by two genes, sucC (beta subunit) and sucD (alpha subunit), which are distal genes in the sucABCD operon. They are expressed from the suc promoter, which also expresses the dehydrogenase and dihydrolipoyl succinyl-transferase subunits of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex. Strategies have now been devised for the site-directed mutagenesis and independent expression of the succinyl-CoA synthetase (alpha 2 beta 2 tetramer) and the individual subunits. These involve (1) subcloning a promoterless sucCD fragment downstream of the lac promoter in M13mp10, and (2) precise splicing of the suc coding regions with the efficient atpE ribosome-binding site and expression from the thermoinducible lambda promoters in the pJLA503 vector. Succinyl-CoA synthetase specific activities were amplified 40-60-fold within 5 h of thermoinduction of the lambda promoters, and the alpha and beta subunits accounted for almost 30% of the protein in supernatant fractions of the cell-free extracts. Site-directed mutagenesis of potential CoA binding-site residues indicated that Trp-43 beta and His-50 beta are essential residues in the beta-subunit, whereas Cys-47 beta could be replaced by serine without inactivating the enzyme. No activity was detected after the histidine residue at the phosphorylation site of the alpha-subunit was replaced by aspartate (His-246 alpha----Asp), but this alteration seemed to have a deleterious effect on the accumulation of the enzyme in cell-free supernatant extracts. The nucleotide sequence of an unidentified gene (g30) that is adjacent to the sucABCD operon was defined by extending the sequence of the citric acid cycle gene cluster by 818 bp to 13379 bp: gltA-sdhCDAB-sucABCD-g30. This gene converges on the suc operon and encodes a product (P30) that contains 230 amino acids (Mr 27,251). Highly significant similarities were detected between the N-terminal region of P30 and those of GENA [the product of another unidentified gene (geneA) located upstream of the aceEF-lpd operon], and GNTR (a putative transcriptional repressor of the gluconate operon of Bacillus subtilis). Possible roles for GENA and P30 as transcriptional regulators of the adjacent operons encoding the pyruvate and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes are discussed.

scholarly journals Altered nitrogenase MoFe proteins from Azotobacter vinelandii. Analysis of MoFe proteins having amino acid substitutions for the conserved cysteine residues within the β-subunit

1991 ◽  
Vol 277 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
H D May ◽  
D R Dean ◽  
W E Newton
Keyword(s):  
Signal Intensity ◽  
Azotobacter Vinelandii ◽  
Beta Subunit ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Cysteine Residues ◽  
Acetylene Reduction Activity ◽  
Protein Activity ◽  
Whole Cell ◽  
Mofe Protein ◽  
Diazotrophic Growth

The regions surrounding the three strictly conserved cysteine residues (positions 70, 95 and 153) in the beta-subunit of the Azotobacter vinelandii nitrogenase MoFe protein have been proposed to provide P-cluster environments [Dean, Setterquist, Brigle, Scott, Laird & Newton (1990) Mol. Microbiol. 4, 1505-1512]. In the present study, each of these cysteine residues was individually substituted by either serine or alanine by site-directed mutagenesis of the nifK gene, which encodes the MoFe protein beta-subunit. A mutant strain for which the codon for Cys-153 is removed was also isolated. Significant structural or functional roles are indicated for the cysteine residues at positions 70 and 95, where substitution by either serine or alanine eliminates diazotrophic growth of the resulting strains and abolishes or markedly decreases both MoFe-protein acetylene-reduction activity and the intensity of the whole-cell S = 3/2 e.p.r. signal. Changes introduced at position 153 have various effects on the functional properties of the enzyme. The strains produced either by deletion of the Cys-153 residue or its substitution by serine exhibit only a moderate decrease in diazotrophic growth and MoFe-protein activity and no loss of the whole-cell e.p.r.-signal intensity. In contrast, substitution by alanine eliminates diazotrophic growth and very markedly decreases both MoFe-protein activity and e.p.r.-signal intensity. These results are interpreted in terms of a metallocluster-driven protein rearrangement. After purification of the altered MoFe protein, in which serine replaces Cys-153, an investigation of its catalytic and spectroscopic properties confirms that neither the FeMo cofactor, i.e. the substrate-reduction site, nor the component-protein interaction site has been affected. Instead, these data indicate a disruption in electron transfer within the MoFe protein, which is consistent with a role for this residue (and region) at the P clusters.

scholarly journals Involvement of cysteine residues in catalysis and inhibition of human aldose reductase. Site-directed mutagenesis of Cys-80, -298, and -303.

1992 ◽  
Vol 267 (34) ◽  
pp. 24833-24840 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.M. Petrash ◽  
T.M. Harter ◽  
C.S. Devine ◽  
P.O. Olins ◽  
A Bhatnagar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aldose Reductase ◽  
Site Directed Mutagenesis ◽  
Cysteine Residues ◽  
Directed Mutagenesis
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