Structural basis for the substrate specificity of an S-formylglutathione hydrolase derived from Variovorax sp. PAMC 28711.

S-Formylglutathione hydrolase was originally known to catalyze the hydrolysis of S-formylglutathione to formate and glutathione. However, this enzyme has a broader esterase activity toward substrates containing thioester and ester bonds. In a previous study, we identified a new S-formylglutathione hydrolase (VaSFGH) gene in the Antarctic bacterium Variovorax sp. PAMC 28711, and recombinant VaSFGH protein was purified and characterized. Previous enzyme activity assays showed that VaSFGH has high activity, especially toward short-chain p-nitrophenyl esters (C2-C4). In this study, we determined the crystal structure of substrate-free VaSFGH at a resolution of 2.38 Å. In addition, p-nitrophenyl ester-bound VaSFGH structure models were generated by molecular docking simulations to obtain structural evidence of its substrate specificity. Comparative structural analysis of the apo-form and p-nitrophenyl ester-bound VaSFGH model structures revealed that large substrates could not bind inside the hydrophobic substrate-binding pocket because of the intrinsically static and relatively small substrate-binding pocket size of VaSFGH. This study provides useful information for further protein engineering of SFGHs for industrial use.

Engineered ice-binding protein (FfIBP) shows increased stability and resistance to thermal and chemical denaturation compared to the wildtype.

Many polar organisms produce antifreeze proteins (AFPs) and ice-binding proteins (IBPs) to protect themselves from ice formation. As IBPs protect cells and organisms, the potential of IBPs as natural or biological cryoprotective agents (CPAs) for the cryopreservation of animal cells, such as oocytes and sperm, has been explored to increase the recovery rate after freezing-thawing. However, only a few IBPs have shown success in cryopreservation, possibly because of the presence of protein denaturants, such as dimethyl sulfoxide, alcohols, or ethylene glycol, in freezing buffer conditions, rendering the IBPs inactive. Therefore, we investigated the thermal and chemical stability of FfIBP isolated from Antarctic bacteria to assess its suitability as a protein-based impermeable cryoprotectant. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation identified and generated stability-enhanced mutants (FfIBP_CC1). The results indicated that FfIBP_CC1 displayed enhanced resistance to denaturation at elevated temperatures and chemical concentrations, compared to wildtype FfIBP, and was functional in known CPAs while retaining ice-binding properties. Given that FfIBP shares an overall structure similar to DUF3494 IBPs, which are recognized as the most widespread IBP family, these findings provide important structural information on thermal and chemical stability, which could potentially be applied to other DUF3494 IBPs for future protein engineering.

Structural and functional characterization of sulfurtransferase from Frondihabitans sp. PAMC28461.

Sulfurtransferases transfer of sulfur atoms from thiols to acceptors like cyanide. They are categorized as thiosulfate sulfurtransferases (TSTs) and 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferases (MSTs). TSTs transfer sulfur from thiosulfate to cyanide, producing thiocyanate. MSTs transfer sulfur from 3-mercaptopyruvate to cyanide, yielding pyruvate and thiocyanate. The present study aimed to isolate and characterize the sulfurtransferase FrST from Frondihabitans sp. PAMC28461 using biochemical and structural analyses. FrST exists as a dimer and can be classified as a TST rather than an MST according to sequence-based clustering and enzyme activity. Furthermore, the discovery of activity over a wide temperature range and the broad substrate specificity exhibited by FrST suggest promising prospects for its utilization in industrial applications, such as the detoxification of cyanide.

Crystal structure and biochemical analysis of acetylesterase (LgEstI) from Lactococcus garvieae.

Esterase, a member of the serine hydrolase family, catalyzes the cleavage and formation of ester bonds with high regio- and stereospecificity, making them attractive biocatalysts for the synthesis of optically pure molecules. In this study, we performed an in-depth biochemical and structural characterization of a novel microbial acetylesterase, LgEstI, from the bacterial fish pathogen Lactococcus garvieae. The dimeric LgEstI displayed substrate preference for the short acyl chain of p-nitrophenyl esters and exhibited increased activity with F207A mutation. Comparative analysis with other esterases indicated that LgEstI has a narrow and shallow active site that may exhibit substrate specificity to short acyl chains. Unlike other esterases, LgEstI contains bulky residues such as Trp89, Phe194, and Trp217, which block the acyl chain channel. Furthermore, immobilized LgEstI retained approximately 90% of its initial activity, indicating its potential in industrial applications. This study expands our understanding of LgEstI and proposes novel ideas for improving its catalytic efficiency and substrate specificity for various applications.

Crystal Structure and Biochemical Analysis of a Cytochrome P450 Steroid Hydroxylase (BaCYP106A6) from Bacillus Species.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) is a heme-containing enzyme that catalyzes hydroxylation reactions with various substrate molecules. Steroid hydroxylases are particularly useful for effectively introducing hydroxyl groups into a wide range of steroids in the pharmaceutical industry. This study reports a newly identified CYP steroid hydroxylase (BaCYP106A6) from the bacterium Bacillus sp. and characterizes it using an in vitro enzyme assay and structural investigation. Bioconversion assays indicated that BaCYP106A1 catalyzes the hydroxylation of progesterone and androstenedione, whereas no or low conversion was observed with 11ß-hydroxysteroids such as cortisol, corticosterone, dexamethasone, and prednisolone. In addition, the crystal structure of BaCYP106A6 was determined at a resolution of 2.8 Å to investigate the configuration of the substrate-binding site and understand substrate preference. This structural characterization and comparison with other bacterial steroid hydroxylase CYPs allowed us to identify a unique Arg295 residue that may serve as the key residue for substrate specificity and regioselectivity in BaCYP106A6. This observation provides valuable background for further protein engineering to design commercially useful CYP steroid hydroxylases with different substrate specificities.

Membrane Depolarization and Apoptosis-Like Cell Death in an Alkaline Environment in the Rice Pathogen Burkholderia glumae.

The rice pathogen Burkholderia glumae uses amino acids as a principal carbon source and thus produces ammonia in amino acid-rich culture medium such as Luria-Bertani (LB) broth. To counteract ammonia-mediated environmental alkaline toxicity, the bacterium produces a public good, oxalate, in a quorum sensing (QS)-dependent manner. QS mutants of B. glumae experience alkaline toxicity and may undergo cell death at the stationary phase when grown in LB medium. Here, we show that the cell-death processes of QS mutants due to alkaline environmental conditions are similar to the apoptosis-like cell death reported in other bacteria. Staining QS mutants with bis-(1,3-dibutylbarbituric acid)-trimethine oxonol revealed membrane depolarization. CellROX™ staining showed excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in QS mutants. The expression of genes encoding HNH endonuclease (BGLU_1G15690), oligoribonuclease (BGLU_1G09120), ribonuclease E (BGLU_1G09400), and Hu-beta (BGLU_1G13530) was significantly elevated in QS mutants compared to that in wild-type BGR1, consistent with the degradation of cellular materials as observed under transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A homeostatic neutral pH was not attainable by QS mutants grown in LB broth or by wild-type BGR1 grown in an artificially amended alkaline environment. At an artificially adjusted alkaline pH, wild-type BGR1 underwent apoptosis-like cell death similar to that observed in QS mutants. These results show that environmental alkaline stress interferes with homeostatic neutral cellular pH, induces membrane depolarization, and causes apoptosis-like cell death in B. glumae.