A covalent enzyme-substrate intermediate with saccharide distortion in a mutant T4 lysozyme.

The glycosyl-enzyme intermediate in lysozyme action has long been considered to be an oxocarbonium ion, although precedent from other glycosidases and theoretical considerations suggest it should be a covalent enzyme-substrate adduct. The mutation of threonine 26 to glutamic acid in the active site cleft of phage T4 lysozyme (T4L) produced an enzyme that cleaved the cell wall of Escherichia coli but left the product covalently bound to the enzyme. The crystalline complex was nonisomorphous with wild-type T4L, and analysis of its structure showed a covalent linkage between the product and the newly introduced glutamic acid 26. The covalently linked sugar ring was substantially distorted, suggesting that distortion of the substrate toward the transition state is important for catalysis, as originally proposed by Phillips. It is also postulated that the adduct formed by the mutant is an intermediate, consistent with a double displacement mechanism of action in which the glycosidic linkage is cleaved with retention of configuration as originally proposed by Koshland. The peptide part of the cell wall fragment displays extensive hydrogen-bonding interactions with the carboxyl-terminal domain of the enzyme, consistent with previous studies of mutations in T4L.

Structure of bacteriophage T4 lysozyme refined at 1.7 A resolution.

The structure of the lysozyme from bacteriophage T4 has been refined at 1.7 A resolution to a crystallographic residual of 19.3%. The final model has bond lengths and bond angles that differ from "ideal" values by 0.019 A and 2.7 degrees, respectively. The crystals are grown from electron-dense phosphate solutions and the use of an appropriate solvent continuum substantially improved the agreement between the observed and calculated structure factors at low resolution. Apart from changes in the conformations of some side-chains, the refinement confirms the structure of the molecule as initially derived from a 2.4 A resolution electron density map. There are 118 well-ordered solvent molecules that are associated with the T4 lysozyme molecule in the crystal. Four of these are more-or-less buried. There is a clustering of water molecules within the active site cleft but, other than this, the solvent molecules are dispersed around the surface of the molecule and do not aggregate into ice-like structures or pentagonal or hexagonal clusters. The apparent motion of T4 lysozyme in the crystal can be interpreted in terms of significant interdomain motion corresponding to an opening and closing of the active site cleft. For the amino-terminal domain the motion can be described equally well (correlation coefficients approx. 0.87) as quasi-rigid-body motion either about a point or about an axis of rotation. The motion in the crystals of the carboxy-terminal domain is best described as rotation about an axis (correlation coefficient 0.80) although in this case the apparent motion seems to be influenced in part by crystal contacts and may be of questionable relevance to dynamics in solution.

Structure of phage P22 gene 19 lysozyme inferred from its homology with phage T4 lysozyme. Implications for lysozyme evolution.

The amino acid sequence of the lysozyme from phage P22 is shown to be homologous (26% identity) with the lysozyme from bacteriophage T4. The sequence correspondence suggests that the structure of P22 lysozyme is similar to the known structure of T4 lysozyme within the "core" of the molecule, including the active site cleft. However, P22 lysozyme appears to lack two surface loops present in T4 lysozyme. It is possible that P22 lysozyme may provide an "evolutionary link" between the phage-type lysozymes and the goose-type lysozymes.

The refined structures of goose lysozyme and its complex with a bound trisaccharide show that the "goose-type" lysozymes lack a catalytic aspartate residue.

The structure of goose egg-white lysozyme (GEWL) has been refined to an R-value of 15.9% at 1.6 A resolution. Details of the structure determination, the refinement and the structure itself are presented. The structure of a complex of the enzyme with the trisaccharide of N-acetyl glucosamine has also been determined and refined at 1.6 A resolution. The trisaccharide occupies sites analogous to the B, C and D subsites of chicken (HEWL) and phage T4 (T4L) lysozymes. All three lysozymes (GEWL, HEWL and T4L) display the same characteristic set of bridging hydrogen bonds between backbone atoms of the protein and the 2-acetamido group of the saccharide in subsite C. Glu73 of GEWL is seen to correspond closely to Glu35 of HEWL (and to Glu11 of T4L) and supports the established view that this group is critically involved in the catalytic mechanism. There is, however, no obvious residue in goose lysozyme that is a counterpart of Asp52 of chicken lysozyme (or of Asp20 in T4L), suggesting that a second acidic residue is not essential for the catalytic activity of goose lysozyme, and may not be required for the activity of other lysozymes.

Structural studies of mutants of the lysozyme of bacteriophage T4. The temperature-sensitive mutant protein Thr157----Ile.

To understand the roles of individual amino acids in the folding and stability of globular proteins, a systematic structural analysis of mutants of the lysozyme of bacteriophage T4 has been undertaken. The isolation, characterization, crystallographic refinement and structural analysis of a temperature-sensitive lysozyme in which threonine 157 is replaced by isoleucine is reported here. This mutation reduces the temperature of the midpoint of the reversible thermal denaturation transition by 11 deg.C at pH 2.0. Electron density maps showing differences between the wild-type and mutant X-ray crystal structures have obvious features corresponding to the substitution of threonine 157 by isoleucine. There is little difference electron density in the remainder of the molecule, indicating that the structural changes are localized to the site of the mutation. High-resolution crystallographic refinement of the mutant lysozyme structure confirms that it is very similar to wild-type lysozyme. The largest conformational differences are in the gamma-carbon of residue 157 and in the side-chain of Asp159, which shift 1.0 A and 1.1 A, respectively. In the wild-type enzyme, the gamma-hydroxyl group of Thr157 participates in a network of hydrogen bonds. Substitution of Thr157 with an isoleucine disrupts this set of hydrogen bonds. A water molecule bound in the vicinity of Thr155 partially restores the hydrogen bond network in the mutant structure, but the buried main-chain amide of Asp159 is not near a hydrogen bond acceptor. This unsatisfied hydrogen-bonding potential is the most obvious reason for the reduction in stability of the temperature-sensitive mutant protein.

Structural analysis of a non-contiguous second-site revertant in T4 lysozyme shows that increasing the rigidity of a protein can enhance its stability.

The mutation Glu108-->Val (E108V) in T4 lysozyme was previously isolated as a second-site revertant that specifically compensated for the loss of function associated with the destabilizing substitution Leu99-->Gly (L99G). Surprisingly, the two sites are 11 A apart, with Leu99 in the core and Glu108 on the surface of the protein. In order to better understand this result we have carried out a detailed thermodynamic, enzymatic and structural analysis of these mutant lysozymes as well as a related variant with the substitution Leu99-->Ala. It was found that E108V does increase the stability of L99G, but it also increases the stability of both the wild-type protein and L99A by essentially equal amounts. The effects of E108V on enzymatic activity are more complicated. The mutation slightly reduces the maximal rate of cell wall hydrolysis of wild-type, L99G and L99A. At the same time, L99G is an unstable protein and rapidly loses activity during the course of the assay, especially at temperatures above 20 degrees C. Thus, even though the double mutant L99G/E108V has a slightly lower maximal rate than L99G, over a period of 20-30 minutes it hydrolyzes more substrate. This decrease in the rate of thermal inactivation appears to be the basis of the action of E108V as a second-site revertant of L99G. Mutant L99A creates a cavity of volume 149 A(3). Instead of enlarging this cavity, mutant L99G results in a 4-5 A displacement of part of helix F (residues 108-113), creating a solvent-accessible declivity. In the double mutant, L99G/E108V, this helix returns to a position akin to wild-type, resulting in a cavity of volume 203 A(3). Whether the mutation Glu108-->Val is incorporated into either wild-type lysozyme, or L99A or L99G, it results in a decrease in crystallographic thermal factors, especially in the helices that include residues 99 and 108. This increase in rigidity, which appears to be due to a combination of increased hydrophobic stabilization plus a restriction of conformational fluctuation, provides a structural basis for the increase in thermostability.

Competing protein:protein interactions are proposed to control the biological switch of the E coli biotin repressor.

A model is suggested for the complex between the biotin repressor of Escherichia coli, BirA, and BCCP, the biotin carboxyl carrier protein to which BirA transfers biotin. The model is consistent with prior physical and biochemical studies. Measurement of transfer rates for variants of BirA with single-site mutations in the proposed BirA:BCCP interface region also provides support. The unique feature of the proposed interaction between BirA and BCCP is that it uses the same beta-sheet region on the surface of BirA that the protein uses for homodimerization into a form competent to bind DNA. The resulting mutually exclusive protein:protein interfaces explain the novel feature of the BirA regulatory system, namely, that transcription of the genes involved in biotin synthesis is not determined by the level of biotin, per se, but by the level of unmodified BCCP. The model also provides a role for the C-terminal domain of BirA that is structurally similar to an SH3 domain.

Goose lysozyme structure: an evolutionary link between hen and bacteriophage lysozymes?

During evolution, the amino acid sequence of a protein is much more variable and changes more rapidly than its tertiary structure. Given sufficient time, the amino acid sequences of proteins derived from a common precursor may alter to the point that they are no longer demonstrably homologous. The ability to make meaningful comparisons between such distantly related proteins must therefore come primarily from structural homology, and only secondarily (if at all) from sequence homology. On the other hand, structural homology in the absence of sequence homology might be attributed to convergent rather than divergent evolution. (A common fold might be dictated by functional or folding requirements.) We have previously argued, on the basis of structural and functional similarities, that the lysozymes of hen egg-white and bacteriophage T4 have a common evolutionary precursor, even though their amino acid sequences have no detectable similarity. Here we report the structure of the lysozyme from Embden goose, a representative of a third class of lysozymes that has no sequence homology (or perhaps very weak homology) with either the hen egg-white or the phage enzyme. The structure of goose egg-white lysozyme has striking similarities to the lysozymes from hen egg-white and bacteriophage T4. However, some parts of goose lysozyme resemble hen lysozyme while other parts correspond only to the phage enzyme. The nature of the structural correspondence strongly suggests that all three lysozymes evolved from a common precursor.

Structure-based design of a lysozyme with altered catalytic activity.

Here we show that the substitution Thr 26-->His in the active site of T4 lysozyme causes the product to change from the alpha- to the beta-anomer. This implies an alteration in the catalytic mechanism of the enzyme. From the change in product, together with inspection of relevant crystal structures, it is inferred that wild-type T4 lysozyme is an anomer-inverting enzyme with a single displacement mechanism in which water attacks from the alpha-side of the substrate. In contrast, the mutant T26H is an anomer-retaining enzyme with an apparently double displacement mechanism in which a water molecule attacks from the opposite side of the substrate. The results also show that the mechanism of wild-type T4 lysozyme differs from that of hen egg-white lysozyme even though both enzymes are presumed to have evolved from a common precursor.

Structural basis of the conversion of T4 lysozyme into a transglycosidase by reengineering the active site.

In contrast to hen egg-white lysozyme, which retains the beta-configuration of the substrate in the product, T4 lysozyme (T4L) is an inverting glycosidase. The substitution Thr-26 --> His, however, converts T4L from an inverting to a retaining enzyme. It is shown here that the Thr-26 --> His mutant is also a transglycosidase. Indeed, the transglycosylation reaction can be more effective than hydrolysis. In contrast, wild-type T4L has no detectable transglycosidase activity. The results support the prior hypothesis that catalysis by the Thr-26 --> His mutant proceeds via a covalent intermediate. Further mutations (Glu-11 --> His, Asp-20 --> Cys) of the T26H mutant lysozyme indicate that the catalytic mechanism of this mutant requires Glu-11 as a general acid but Asp-20 is not essential. The results help provide an overall rationalization for the activity of glycosidases, in which a highly conserved acid group (Glu-11 in T4L, Glu-35 in hen egg-white lysozyme) on the beta-side of the substrate acts as a proton donor, whereas alterations in the placement and chemical identity of residues on the alpha-side of the substrate can lead to catalysis with or without retention of the configuration, to transglycosidase activity, or to the formation of a stable enzyme-substrate adduct.

Crystals of luciferase from Vibrio harveyi. A preliminary characterization.

Bacterial luciferase from Vibrio harveyi, the 77,000-dalton light-emitting enzyme of the marine bacterium, has been crystallized into a two million cubic Angstrom cell with P212121 symmetry. The cell constants are a = 59.6 +/- 0.4 A, b = 112 +/- 0.7 A, and c = 302 +/- 2 A. The reflections corresponding to the 302-A cell edge can be resolved by suitable collimation of the incident beam, without resorting to focusing mirrors. The crystals diffract to better than 3-A resolution and are large enough (0.7 mm) for data collection. The crystallization conditions are presented and general crystallization characteristics are discussed.

Three-dimensional structure of human basic fibroblast growth factor.

The three-dimensional structure of human basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) has been determined by x-ray crystallography and refined to a crystallographic residual of 17.4% at 2.2-A resolution. The structure was initially solved at a nominal resolution of 2.8 A by multiple isomorphous replacement using three heavy-atom derivatives. Although the map clearly showed the overall fold of the molecule, electron density was not observed for the first 19 amino-terminal and the last 3 carboxyl-terminal amino acids, suggesting that they are disordered. The bFGF crystals were grown from 2.0 M ammonium sulfate at pH 8.1 in space group P1 with cell dimensions a = 30.9 A, b = 33.4 A, c = 35.9 A, alpha = 59.5 degrees, beta = 72.0 degrees, and gamma = 75.6 degrees. There is one molecule per unit cell and the crystals diffract to spacings beyond 1.9 A. The overall structure of bFGF can be described as a trigonal pyramid with a fold very similar to that reported for interleukin 1 beta, interleukin 1 alpha, and soybean trypsin inhibitor. An apparent sulfate ion is bound within a basic region on the surface of the molecule and has a ligands the main-chain amide of Arg-120 and the side chains of Asn-27, Arg-120, and Lys-125. This is suggested as the presumed binding site for heparin. Residues 106-115, which are presumed to bind to the bFGF receptor [Baird, A., Schubert, D., Ling, N. & Guillemin, R. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 2324-2328], include an irregular loop that extends somewhat from the surface of the protein and is about 25 A from the presumed heparin binding site. The backbone structure of this putative receptor-binding loop is very similar, although not identical, to the corresponding region of interleukin 1 beta.

Sequence and structure comparison suggest that methionine aminopeptidase, prolidase, aminopeptidase P, and creatinase share a common fold.

Amino acid sequence comparison suggests that the structure of Escherichia coli methionine aminopeptidase (EC 3.4.11.18) and the C-terminal domain of Pseudomonas putida creatinase (EC 3.5.3.3) are related. A detailed comparison of the three-dimensional folds of the two enzymes confirms this homology: with an approximately 260-residue chain segment, 218 C alpha atoms of the structures superimpose within 2.5 A; only 41 of these overlapping positions (i.e., 19%) feature identical amino acids in the two protein chains. Notwithstanding this striking correspondence in structure, methionine aminopeptidase binds and is stimulated by Co2+, while creatinase is not a metal-dependent enzyme. Searches of protein data banks using sequence and structure-based profiles reveal other enzymes, including aminopeptidase P (EC 3.4.11.9), prolidase (EC 3.4.13.9), and agropine synthase, that likely share the same "pita-bread" fold common to creatinase and methionine aminopeptidase.

Corepressor-induced organization and assembly of the biotin repressor: a model for allosteric activation of a transcriptional regulator.

The Escherichia coli biotin repressor binds to the biotin operator to repress transcription of the biotin biosynthetic operon. In this work, a structure determined by x-ray crystallography of a complex of the repressor bound to biotin, which also functions as an activator of DNA binding by the biotin repressor (BirA), is described. In contrast to the monomeric aporepressor, the complex is dimeric with an interface composed in part of an extended beta-sheet. Model building, coupled with biochemical data, suggests that this is the dimeric form of BirA that binds DNA. Segments of three surface loops that are disordered in the aporepressor structure are located in the interface region of the dimer and exhibit greater order than was observed in the aporepressor structure. The results suggest that the corepressor of BirA causes a disorder-to-order transition that is a prerequisite to repressor dimerization and DNA binding.

Use of site-directed mutagenesis to obtain isomorphous heavy-atom derivatives for protein crystallography: cysteine-containing mutants of phage T4 lysozyme.

Five different cysteine-containing mutants of the lysozyme from bacteriophage T4 were used to explore the feasibility of using site-directed mutagenesis to generate isomorphous heavy-atom derivatives for protein crystallography. Cysteines 54 and 97, present in wild-type lysozyme, can be readily reacted with mercuric ion to produce an excellent isomorphous heavy-atom derivative. Mutants with an additional cysteine at position 86, 146, 153 or 157, or with Cys 97 replaced by Val, were engineered by site-directed mutagenesis. The mutant lysozyme Thr 157----Cys reacts with mercuric chloride to give an excellent new derivative although Cys 157 is only approximately 60% substituted with the heavy atom. The cysteine at position 146 is largely buried but reacts readily with mercuric chloride. In this case the isomorphism is poor and the resultant derivative is of marginal quality. Cys 153 reacts rapidly with mercuric ion but the derivative crystals do not diffract. The mutant Pro 86----Cys does not yield a particularly good heavy-atom derivative. This is due in part to a loss of isomorphism associated with the mutation. In addition, Cys 86 shows very little reactivity towards mercurials even though it is fully exposed to solvent. The mutation Cys 97----Val was used to explore the possibility of creating an independent derivative by deleting a heavy-atom site already present in wild-type lysozyme. In all cases that were tested, the quality of the heavy-atom derivative was improved by using as an isomorphous pair mercury-substituted mutant versus non-substituted mutant rather than mercury-substituted mutant versus (non-substituted) wild-type lysozyme.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Comparison of goose-type, chicken-type, and phage-type lysozymes illustrates the changes that occur in both amino acid sequence and three-dimensional structure during evolution.

The three-dimensional structure of goose-type lysozyme (GEWL), determined by x-ray crystallography and refined at high resolution, has similarities to the structures of hen (chicken) egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) and bacteriophage T4 lysozyme (T4L). The nature of the structural correspondence suggests that all three classes of lysozyme diverged from a common evolutionary precursor, even though their amino acid sequences appear to be unrelated (Grütter et al. 1983). In this paper we make detailed comparisons of goose-type, chicken-type, and phage-type lysozymes. The lysozymes have undergone conformational changes at both the global and the local level. As in the globins, there are corresponding alpha-helices that have rigid-body displacements relative to each other, but in some cases corresponding helices have increased or decreased in length, and in other cases there are helices in one structure that have no counterpart in another. Independent of the overall structural correspondence among the three lysozyme backbones is another, distinct correspondence between a set of three consecutive alpha-helices in GEWL and three consecutive alpha-helices in T4L. This structural correspondence could be due, in part, to a common energetically favorable contact between the first and the third helices. There are similarities in the active sites of the three lysozymes, but also one striking difference. Glu 73 (GEWL) spatially corresponds to Glu 35 (HEWL) and to Glu 11 (T4L). On the other hand, there are two aspartates in the GEWL active site, Asp 86 and Asp 97, neither of which corresponds exactly to Asp 52 (HEWL) or Asp 20 (T4L). (The discrepancy in the location of the carboxyl groups is about 10 A for Asp 86 and 4 A for Asp 97.) This lack of structural correspondence may reflect some differences in the mechanisms of action of the three lysozymes. When the amino acid sequences of the three lysozyme types are aligned according to their structural correspondence, there is still no apparent relationship between the sequences except for possible weak matching in the vicinity of the active sites.