Trypanosoma brucei thymidine kinase is tandem protein consisting of two homologous parts, which together enable efficient substrate binding.
J Biol Chem
; 287(21): 17628-17636, 2012 May 18.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22442154
ABSTRACT
Trypanosoma brucei causes African sleeping sickness, a disease for which existing chemotherapies are limited by their toxicity or lack of efficacy. We have found that four parasites, including T. brucei, contain genes where two or four thymidine kinase (TK) sequences are fused into a single open reading frame. The T. brucei full-length enzyme as well as its two constituent parts, domain 1 and domain 2, were separately expressed and characterized. Of potential interest for nucleoside analog development, T. brucei TK was less discriminative against purines than human TK1 with the following order of catalytic efficiencies thymidine > deoxyuridine â« deoxyinosine > deoxyguanosine. Proteins from the TK1 family are generally dimers or tetramers, and the quaternary structure is linked to substrate affinity. T. brucei TK was primarily monomeric but can be considered a two-domain pseudodimer. Independent kinetic analysis of the two domains showed that only domain 2 was active. It had a similar turnover number (k(cat)) as the full-length enzyme but could not self-dimerize efficiently and had a 5-fold reduced thymidine/deoxyuridine affinity. Domain 1, which lacks three conserved active site residues, can therefore be considered a covalently attached structural partner that enhances substrate binding to domain 2. A consequence of the non-catalytic role of domain 1 is that its active site residues are released from evolutionary pressure, which can be advantageous for developing new catalytic functions. In addition, nearly identical 89-bp sequences present in both domains suggest that the exchange of genetic material between them can further promote evolution.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Timidina Quinase
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Trypanosoma brucei brucei
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Proteínas de Protozoários
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Evolução Molecular
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Multimerização Proteica
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Nucleotídeos
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Biol Chem
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Suécia