Preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of YqjH from Escherichia coli: a putative cytoplasmic ferri-siderophore reductase.

YqjH is a cytoplasmic FAD-containing protein from Escherichia coli; based on homology to ViuB of Vibrio cholerae, it potentially acts as a ferri-siderophore reductase. This work describes its overexpression, purification, crystallization and structure solution at 3.0 A resolution. YqjH shares high sequence similarity with a number of known siderophore-interacting proteins and its structure was solved by molecular replacement using the siderophore-interacting protein from Shewanella putrefaciens as the search model. The YqjH structure resembles those of other members of the NAD(P)H:flavin oxidoreductase superfamily.

In vitro characterization of the cysteine-rich capping domains in a plant leucine rich repeat protein.

Plant leucine rich repeat (LRR) proteins have diverse functions and cellular locations. An important unresolved question involves the role of the cysteine-rich capping domains which flank the LRR domain. Such studies have been hampered by difficulties in producing recombinant LRR proteins in yields sufficient for biochemical analysis. We have used Escherichia coli to overproduce Leucine Rich Protein (LRP), a small model LRR protein from tomato containing approximately five LRRs. The LRP capping domain sequences resemble those from plant disease resistance proteins and receptor-like protein kinases. LRP was purified as a soluble, crystallizable, monomeric protein by renaturation of a GST-fusion protein. The four cysteine residues in LRP were found to form two disulfide bonds, one each in the N- and C-terminal LRR-capping domains, the presence of which is necessary to protect the LRR domain from proteolysis in vitro. Fluorescence and CD spectroscopies together with molecular modelling revealed that structural features of the N-capping domain may be destabilised on reduction. These include a tryptophan stacking interaction and a long alpha-helix of residues 30-44. LRP deletion mutants lacking the capping domains showed a propensity to aggregate and increased proteolytic sensitivity. These results have important implications for future structure-function studies of plant LRR proteins.

Crystal structures of Mycobacteria tuberculosis and Klebsiella pneumoniae UDP-galactopyranose mutase in the oxidised state and Klebsiella pneumoniae UDP-galactopyranose mutase in the (active) reduced state.

Uridine diphosphogalactofuranose (UDP-Galf) is the precursor of the d-galactofuranose sugar found in bacterial and parasitic cell walls, including those of many pathogens. UDP-Galf is made from UDP-galactopyranose by the enzyme UDP-galactopyranose mutase. The enzyme requires the reduced FADH- co-factor for activity. The structure of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis mutase with FAD has been determined to 2.25 A. The structures of Klebsiella pneumoniae mutase with FAD and with FADH- bound have been determined to 2.2 A and 2.35 A resolution, respectively. This is the first report of the FADH(-)-containing structure. Two flavin-dependent mechanisms for the enzyme have been proposed, one, which involves a covalent adduct being formed at the flavin and the other based on electron transfer. Using our structural data, we have examined the two mechanisms. The electron transfer mechanism is consistent with the structural data, not surprisingly, since it makes fewer demands on the precise positioning of atoms. A model based on a covalent adduct FAD requires repositioning of the enzyme active site and would appear to require the isoalloxazine ring of FADH- to buckle in a particular way. However, the FADH- structure reveals that the isoalloxazine ring buckles in the opposite sense, this apparently requires the covalent adduct to trigger profound conformational changes in the protein or to buckle the FADH- opposite to that seen in the apo structure.

Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of a fungal saponin-detoxifying enzyme.

Tomatinase, an extracellular enzyme belonging to family 3 of the glycosyl hydrolases, is produced by the fungal tomato-leaf pathogen Septoria lycopersici and detoxifies the saponin alpha-tomatine. An efficient strategy for purification of the enzyme from fungal culture medium has been developed. Single crystals have been grown by vapour diffusion at 289 K from 17.5%(w/v) PEG 4K, 5%(v/v) 2-propanol and 0.1 M sodium acetate pH 4.5 as precipitant. When cryoprotected at 100 K, these crystals diffract to at least 3.0 A and belong to space group P2(1)2(1)2. Based on an estimated molecular weight of 110 kDa for the glycosylated protein and assuming two molecules in the asymmetric unit, the crystals contain approximately 46% solvent.

Structural basis for the oxidation of thiosulfate by a sulfur cycle enzyme.

Reduced inorganic sulfur compounds are utilized by many bacteria as electron donors to photosynthetic or respiratory electron transport chains. This metabolism is a key component of the biogeochemical sulfur cycle. The SoxAX protein is a heterodimeric c-type cytochrome involved in thiosulfate oxidation. The crystal structures of SoxAX from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodovulum sulfidophilum have been solved at 1.75 A resolution in the oxidized state and at 1.5 A resolution in the dithionite-reduced state, providing the first structural insights into the enzymatic oxidation of thiosulfate. The SoxAX active site contains a haem with unprecedented cysteine persulfide (cysteine sulfane) coordination. This unusual post-translational modification is also seen in sulfurtransferases such as rhodanese. Intriguingly, this enzyme shares further active site characteristics with SoxAX such as an adjacent conserved arginine residue and a strongly positive electrostatic potential. These similarities have allowed us to suggest a catalytic mechanism for enzymatic thiosulfate oxidation. The atomic coordinates and experimental structure factors have been deposited in the PDB with the accession codes 1H31, 1H32 and 1H33.

Structure and spectroscopy of the periplasmic cytochrome c nitrite reductase from Escherichia coli.

The crystal structure and spectroscopic properties of the periplasmic penta-heme cytochrome c nitrite reductase (NrfA) of Escherichia coli are presented. The structure is the first for a member of the NrfA subgroup that utilize a soluble penta-heme cytochrome, NrfB, as a redox partner. Comparison to the structures of Wolinella succinogenes NrfA and Sulfospirillum deleyianum NrfA, which accept electrons from a membrane-anchored tetra-heme cytochrome (NrfH), reveals notable differences in the protein surface around heme 2, which may be the docking site for the redox partner. The structure shows that four of the NrfA hemes (hemes 2-5) have bis-histidine axial heme-Fe ligation. The catalytic heme-Fe (heme 1) has a lysine distal ligand and an oxygen atom proximal ligand. Analysis of NrfA in solution by magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) suggested that the oxygen ligand arose from water. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra were collected from electrochemically poised NrfA samples. Broad perpendicular mode signals at g similar 10.8 and 3.5, characteristic of weakly spin-coupled S = 5/2, S = 1/2 paramagnets, titrated with E(m) = -107 mV. A possible origin for these are the active site Lys-OH(2) coordinated heme (heme 1) and a nearby bis-His coordinated heme (heme 3). A rhombic heme Fe(III) EPR signal at g(z) = 2.91, g(y) = 2.3, g(x) = 1.5 titrated with E(m) = -37 mV and is likely to arise from bis-His coordinated heme (heme 2) in which the interplanar angle of the imidazole rings is 21.2. The final two bis-His coordinated hemes (hemes 4 and 5) have imidazole interplanar angles of 64.4 and 71.8. Either, or both, of these hemes could give rise to a "Large g max" EPR signal at g(z)() = 3.17 that titrated at potentials between -250 and -400 mV. Previous spectroscopic studies on NrfA from a number of bacterial species are considered in the light of the structure-based spectro-potentiometric analysis presented for the E. coli NrfA.