scholarly journals Conversion of citrate synthase into citryl-CoA lyase as a result of mutation of the active-site aspartic acid residue to glutamic acid

1991 ◽  
Vol 280 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
W J Man ◽  
Y Li ◽  
C D O'Connor ◽  
D C Wilton

The active-site aspartic acid residue, Asp-362, of Escherichia coli citrate synthase was changed by site-directed mutagenesis to Glu-362, Asn-362 or Gly-362. Only very low catalytic activity could be detected with the Asp→Asn and Asp→Gly mutations. The Asp→Glu mutation produced an enzyme that expressed about 0.8% of the overall catalytic rate, and the hydrolysis step in the reaction, monitored as citryl-CoA hydrolysis, was inhibited to a similar extent. However, the condensation reaction, measured in the reverse direction as citryl-CoA cleavage to oxaloacetate and acetyl-CoA, was not affected by the mutation, and this citryl-CoA lyase activity was the major catalytic activity of the mutant enzyme. This high condensation activity in an enzyme in which the subsequent hydrolysis step was about 98% inhibited permitted considerable exchange of the methyl protons of acetyl-CoA during catalysis by the mutant enzyme. The Km for oxaloacetate was not significantly altered in the D362E mutant enzyme, whereas the Km for acetyl-CoA was about 5 times lower. A mechanism is proposed in which Asp-362 is involved in the hydrolysis reaction of this enzyme, and not as a base in the deprotonation of acetyl-CoA as recently suggested by others. [Karpusas, Branchaud & Remington (1990) Biochemistry 29, 2213-2219; Alter, Casazza, Zhi, Nemeth, Srere & Evans, (1990) Biochemistry 29, 7557-7563].

1991 ◽  
Vol 276 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
H M Lim ◽  
R K Iyer ◽  
J J Pène

An amino acid residue functioning as a general base has been proposed to assist in the hydrolysis of beta-lactam antibiotics by the zinc-containing Bacillus cereus beta-lactamase II [Bicknell & Waley (1985) Biochemistry 24, 6876-6887]. Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of cloned Bacillus cereus 5/B/6 beta-lactamase II was used in an ‘in vivo’ study to investigate the role of carboxy-group-containing amino acids near the active site of the enzyme. Substitution of asparagine for the wild-type aspartic acid residue at position 81 resulted in fully functional enzyme. An aspartic acid residue at position 90 is essential for beta-lactamase II to confer any detectable ampicillin and cephalosporin C resistance to Escherichia coli. Conversion of Asp90 into Asn90 or Glu90 lead to the synthesis of inactive enzyme, suggesting that the spatial position of the beta-carboxy group of Asp90 is critical for enzyme function.


1969 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Bayliss ◽  
J. R. Knowles ◽  
Grith B. Wybrandt

Pepsin reacts stoicheiometrically with the active-site-directed irreversible inhibitor N-diazoacetyl-l-phenylalanine methyl ester, with concomitant loss of all proteolytic and peptidolytic activity. The reagent esterifies a unique aspartic acid residue in pepsin, which is in the sequence:Ile-Val-Asp-Thr-Gly-Thr-Ser


1971 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kay ◽  
A. P. Ryle

Porcine pepsin C is inactivated rapidly and irreversibly by diazoacetyl-dl-norleucine methyl ester in the presence of cupric ions at pH values above 4.5. The inactivation is specific in that complete inactivation accompanies the incorporation of 1mol of inhibitor residue/mol of enzyme and evidence has been obtained to suggest that the reaction occurs with an active site residue. The site of reaction is the β-carboxyl group of an aspartic acid residue in the sequence Ile-Val-Asp-Thr. This sequence is identical with the active-site sequence in pepsin and the significance of this in terms of the different activities of the two enzymes is discussed.


1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (18) ◽  
pp. 4799-4803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédérique Pompeo ◽  
Jean van Heijenoort ◽  
Dominique Mengin-Lecreulx

ABSTRACT The glucosamine-1-phosphate acetyltransferase activity but not the uridyltransferase activity of the bifunctional GlmU enzyme fromEscherichia coli was lost when GlmU was stored in the absence of β-mercaptoethanol or incubated with thiol-specific reagents. The enzyme was protected from inactivation in the presence of its substrate acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA), suggesting the presence of an essential cysteine residue in or near the active site of the acetyltransferase domain. To ascertain the role of cysteines in the structure and function of the enzyme, site-directed mutagenesis was performed to change each of the four cysteines to alanine, and plasmids were constructed for high-level overproduction and one-step purification of histidine-tagged proteins. Whereas the kinetic parameters of the bifunctional enzyme appeared unaffected by the C296A and C385A mutations, 1,350- and 8-fold decreases of acetyltransferase activity resulted from the C307A and C324A mutations, respectively. TheKm values for acetyl-CoA and GlcN-1-P of mutant proteins were not modified, suggesting that none of the cysteines was involved in substrate binding. The uridyltransferase activities of wild-type and mutant GlmU proteins were similar. From these studies, the two cysteines Cys307 and Cys324 appeared important for acetyltransferase activity and seemed to be located in or near the active site.


1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (6) ◽  
pp. 1425-1430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Heath ◽  
Charles O. Rock

ABSTRACT Sequence analysis of membrane-bound glycerolipid acyltransferases revealed that proteins from the bacterial, plant, and animal kingdoms share a highly conserved domain containing invariant histidine and aspartic acid residues separated by four less conserved residues in an HX4D configuration. We investigated the role of the invariant histidine residue in acyltransferase catalysis by site-directed mutagenesis of two representative members of this family, the sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (PlsB) and the bifunctional 2-acyl-glycerophosphoethanolamine acyltransferase/acyl-acyl carrier protein synthetase (Aas) ofEscherichia coli. Both the PlsB[H306A] and Aas[H36A] mutants lacked acyltransferase activity. However, the Aas[H36A] mutant retained significant acyl-acyl carrier protein synthetase activity, illustrating that the lack of acyltransferase activity was specifically associated with the H36A substitution. The invariant aspartic acid residue in the HX4D pattern was also important. The substitution of aspartic acid 311 with glutamic acid in PlsB resulted in an enzyme with significantly reduced catalytic activity. Substitution of an alanine at this position eliminated acyltransferase activity; however, the PlsB[D311A] mutant protein did not assemble into the membrane, indicating that aspartic acid 311 is also important for the proper folding and membrane insertion of the acyltransferases. These data are consistent with a mechanism for glycerolipid acyltransferase catalysis where the invariant histidine functions as a general base to deprotonate the hydroxyl moiety of the acyl acceptor.


2009 ◽  
Vol 417 (3) ◽  
pp. 757-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa A. Vargo ◽  
W. Edward Martucci ◽  
Karen S. Anderson

In contrast with most species, including humans, which have monofunctional forms of the folate biosynthetic enzymes TS (thymidylate synthase) and DHFR (dihydrofolate reductase), several pathogenic protozoal parasites, including Cryptosporidium hominis, contain a bifunctional form of the enzymes on a single polypeptide chain having both catalytic activities. The crystal structure of the bifunctional enzyme TS–DHFR C. hominis reveals a dimer with a ‘crossover helix’, a swap domain between DHFR domains, unique in that this helical region from one monomer makes extensive contacts with the DHFR active site of the other monomer. In the present study, we used site-directed mutagenesis to probe the role of this crossover helix in DHFR catalysis. Mutations were made to the crossover helix: an ‘alanine-face’ enzyme in which the residues on the face of the helix close to the DHFR active site of the other subunit were mutated to alanine, a ‘glycine-face’ enzyme in which the same residues were mutated to glycine, and an ‘all-alanine’ helix in which all residues of the helix were mutated to alanine. These mutant enzymes were studied using a rapid transient kinetic approach. The mutations caused a dramatic decrease in the DHFR activity. The DHFR catalytic activity of the alanine-face mutant enzyme was 30 s−1, the glycine-face mutant enzyme was 17 s−1, and the all-alanine helix enzyme was 16 s−1, all substantially impaired from the wild-type DHFR activity of 152 s−1. It is clear that loss of helix interactions results in a marked decrease in DHFR activity, supporting a role for this swap domain in DHFR catalysis. The crossover helix provides a unique structural feature of C. hominis bifunctional TS–DHFR that could be exploited as a target for species-specific non-active site inhibitors.


1999 ◽  
Vol 341 (3) ◽  
pp. 805-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl B. BARON ◽  
Dean R. TOLAN ◽  
Kyung H. CHOI ◽  
Ronald F. COBURN

We substituted neutral amino acids for some positively charged residues (R42, K107, K146, R148 and K229) that line the active site of aldolase A in an effort to determine binding sites for inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. In addition, D33 (involved in carbon-carbon bond cleavage) was mutated. K229A and D33S aldolases showed almost no catalytic activity, but Ins(1,4,5)P3 binding was similar to that determined with the use of wild-type aldolase A. R42A, K107A, K146R and R148A had markedly decreased affinities for Ins(1,4,5)P3 binding, increased EC50 values for Fru(1,6)P2-evoked release of bound Ins(1,4,5)P3 and increased Ki values for Ins(1,4,5)P3-evoked inhibition of aldolase activity. K146Q (positive charge removal) had essentially no catalytic activity and could not bind Ins(1,4,5)P3. Computer-simulated docking of Ins(1,4,5)P3 in the aldolase A structure was consistent with electrostatic binding of Ins(1,4,5)P3 to K107, K146, R148, R42, R303 and backbone nitrogens, as has been reported for Fru(1,6)P2 binding. Results indicate that Ins(1,4,5)P3 binding occurs at the active site and is not dependent on having a catalytically active enzyme; they also suggest that there is competition between Ins(1,4,5)P3 and Fru(1,6)P2 for binding. Although Ins(1,4,5)P3 binding to aldolase involved electrostatic interactions, the aldolase A Ins(1,4,5)P3-binding domain did not show other similarities to pleckstrin homology domains or phosphotyrosine-binding domains known to bind Ins(1,4,5)P3 in other proteins.


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