On the effect of alkaline pH and cofactor availability in the conformational and oligomeric state of Escherichia coli glutamate decarboxylase.

Escherichia coli glutamate decarboxylase (EcGad) is a homohexameric pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme. It is the structural component of the major acid resistance system that protects E. coli from strong acid stress (pH < 3), typically encountered in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract. In fact EcGad consumes one proton/catalytic cycle while yielding γ-aminobutyrate and carbon dioxide from the decarboxylation of l-glutamate. Two isoforms of Gad occur in E. coli (GadA and GadB) that are 99% identical in sequence. GadB is the most intensively investigated. Prompted by the observation that some transcriptomic and proteomic studies show EcGad to be expressed in conditions far from acidic, we investigated the structural organization of EcGadB in solution in the pH range 7.5-8.6. Small angle X-ray scattering, combined with size exclusion chromatography, and analytical ultracentrifugation analysis show that the compact and entangled EcGadB hexameric structure undergoes dissociation into dimers as pH alkalinizes. When PLP is not present, the dimeric species is the most abundant in solution, though evidence for the occurrence of a likely tetrameric species was also obtained. Trp fluorescence emission spectra as well as limited proteolysis studies suggest that PLP plays a key role in the acquisition of a folding necessary for the canonical catalytic activity.

Solution X-ray scattering study of a full-length class A penicillin-binding protein.

Penicillin binding proteins (PBPs) catalyze essential steps in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan, the main component of the bacterial cell wall. PBPs can harbor two catalytic domains, namely the glycosyltransferase (GT) and transpeptidase (TP) activities, the latter being the target for ß-lactam antibiotics. Despite the availability of structural information regarding bi-functional PBPs, little is known regarding the interaction and flexibility between the TP and GT domains. Here, we describe the structural characterization in solution by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) of PBP1b, a bi-functional PBP from Streptococcus pneumoniae. The molecule is present in solution as an elongated monomer. Refinement of internal coordinates starting from a homology model yields models in which the two domains are in an extended conformation without any mutual contact compatible with the existence of restricted mobility.

Divalent ion-dependent swelling of tomato bushy stunt virus: a multi-approach study.

Time-resolved small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS and SANS) in solution were used to study the swelling reaction of TBSV upon chelation of its constituent calcium at mildly basic pH. SAXS intensities comprise contribution from the protein capsid and the RNA moiety, while neutron scattering, recorded in 72% D2O, is essentially due to the protein capsid. Cryo-electron micrographs of compact and swollen virus were used to produce 3D reconstructions of the initial and final conformations of the virus at a resolution of 13 A and 19 A, respectively. While compact particles appear to be very homogeneous in size, solutions of swollen particles exhibit some size heterogeneity. A procedure has been developed to compute the SAXS pattern from the 3D reconstruction for comparison with experimental data. Cryo-electron microscopy thereby provides an invaluable starting (and ending) point for the analysis of the time-resolved swelling process using the scattering data.

SAXS study of the PIR domain from the Grb14 molecular adaptor: a natively unfolded protein with a transient structure primer?

Grb14 belongs to the Grb7 family of adapters and was identified as a negative regulator of insulin signal transduction. Between the PH (pleckstrin homology) and SH2 (Src homology 2) domains is a new binding domain implicated in the interaction with receptor tyrosine kinases called PIR (phosphorylated insulin receptor interaction region). Both PIR and SH2 domains interact with the insulin receptor, but their relative role varies considering the member of the Grb7 family and the tyrosine kinase receptor. In the case of Grb14, PIR is the main binding domain and is sufficient to inhibit the insulin receptor kinase activity. We have proposed, on the basis of NMR measurements, that PIR lacks ordered structure and presents a high flexibility, although remaining fully active. To complement this first study, we have used small-angle x-ray scattering in solution together with a modeling approach representing the PIR domain as a chain of pseudo residues. Circular dichroism experiments were also performed in the presence of variable amounts of trifluoroethanol. These observations, together with an ensemble of sequence analyses and previous NMR results, all support the view of PIR as essentially unstructured but with a potentially structured short stretch encompassing residues 399-407. This stretch, which may be only structured transiently in the isolated molecule, could play a major role in Grb14 PIR binding to a biological partner by undergoing a structural transition.

Replacement of Asp-162 by Ala prevents the cooperative transition by the substrates while enhancing the effect of the allosteric activator ATP on E. coli aspartate transcarbamoylase.

The available crystal structures of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamoylase (ATCase) show that the conserved residue Asp-162 from the catalytic chain interacts with essentially the same residues in both the T- and R-states. To study the role of Asp-162 in the regulatory properties of the enzyme, this residue has been replaced by alanine. The mutant D162A shows a 7700-fold reduction in the maximal observed specific activity, a twofold decrease in the affinity for aspartate, a loss of homotropic cooperativity, and decreased activation by the nucleotide effector adenosine triphosphate (ATP) compared with the wild-type enzyme. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements reveal that the unliganded mutant enzyme adopts the T-quaternary structure of the wild-type enzyme. Most strikingly, the bisubstrate analog N-phosphonacetyl-L-aspartate (PALA) is unable to induce the T to R quaternary structural transition, causing only a small alteration of the scattering pattern. In contrast, addition of the activator ATP in the presence of PALA causes a significant increase in the scattering amplitude, indicating a large quaternary structural change, although the mutant does not entirely convert to the wild-type R structure. Attempts at modeling this new conformation using rigid body movements of the catalytic trimers and regulatory dimers did not yield a satisfactory solution. This indicates that intra- and/or interchain rearrangements resulting from the mutation bring about domain movements not accounted for in the simple model. Therefore, Asp-162 appears to play a crucial role in the cooperative structural transition and the heterotropic regulatory properties of ATCase.

Spherical plant viruses: interactions in solution, phase diagrams and crystallization of brome mosaic virus.

Brome mosaic virus (BMV) is a small icosahedral plant virus of mean diameter 268 A. Interactions between BMV particles in solution were studied by means of small-angle X-ray scattering in order to find crystallization conditions. The interactions between biomacromolecules as large as these viruses have not yet been systematically studied by this method. As it is known that usually proteins crystallize in, or close to, attractive regimes, the interactions between BMV particles in solution were studied as a function of pH, type of salt and size and concentration of polyethylene glycol. An unexpected result of these studies is that the precipitates obtained upon addition of PEG alone or PEG combined with salt were in fact made of microcrystals, which were all characterized by the same series of diffraction peaks, with positions close to those of a centered cubic space group. A phase diagram of the virus as a function of PEG concentration was established by means of microbatch experiments. From the precipitation zones, conditions for crystallization were tested from 5 to 40 mg ml(-1) virus with 3-10%(w/v) PEG 8000 or PEG 20,000. Small crystals were obtained in several conditions after a few days and continued growing for several weeks.

The allosteric activator Mg-ATP modifies the quaternary structure of the R-state of Escherichia coli aspartate transcarbamylase without altering the T<-->R equilibrium.

The allosteric enzyme aspartate transcarbamylase from Escherichia coli (ATCase) displays regulatory properties that involve various conformational changes, including a large quaternary structure rearrangement. This entails a major change in its solution X-ray scattering curve upon binding substrate analogues. We show here that, in the presence of the nucleotide effector ATP, known to stimulate the enzyme activity, the scattering profiles show a marked dependence on the metal bound to ATP. Whereas ATP has no major effect on the scattering pattern of ATCase, a saturating concentration of Mg-ATP notably modifies the scattering profile of the enzyme, either in the absence or in the presence of the bisubstrate analogue N-(phosphonacetyl)-l-aspartate (PALA). The transition with PALA in the presence of this metal-nucleotide complex remains concerted. Furthermore, Mg-ATP, as already observed with ATP, has no detectable direct effect on the T to R transition. The experimental scattering curves in the presence of Mg-ATP were fitted by a modeling approach using rigid body movements of the regulatory subunits and the catalytic trimers in the crystal structures. While the differences observed in the T-state in the presence of Mg-ATP are essentially attributed to the binding per se of the nucleotide, the solution structure of the R-state complexed to Mg-ATP is even more extended along the 3-fold axis than the previously described R solution structure, which is already more stretched out along the same axis than the crystal R structure. Based on the crystal structure of the enzyme in the R-state complexed with free ATP, a proposal is made to account for the effect of magnesium.

Heat-induced unfolding of neocarzinostatin, a small all-beta protein investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering.

Neocarzinostatin is an all-beta protein, 113 amino acid residues long, with an immunoglobulin-like fold. Its thermal unfolding has been studied by small-angle X-ray scattering. Preliminary differential scanning calorimetry and fluorescence measurements suggest that the transition is not a simple, two-state transition. The apparent radius of gyration is determined using three different approaches, the validity of which is critically assessed using our experimental data as well as a simple, two-state model. Similarly, each step of data analysis is evaluated and the underlying assumptions plainly stated. The existence of at least one intermediate state is formally demonstrated by a singular value decomposition of the set of scattering patterns. We assume that the pattern of the solution before the onset of the transition is that of the native protein, and that of the solution at the highest temperature is that of the completely unfolded protein. Given these, actually not very restrictive, boundary constraints, a least-squares procedure yields a scattering pattern of the intermediate state. However, this solution is not unique: a whole class of possible solutions is derived by adding to the previous linear combination of the native and completely unfolded states. Varying the initial conditions of the least-squares calculation leads to very similar solutions. Whatever member of the class is considered, the conformation of this intermediate state appears to be weakly structured, probably less than the transition state should be according to some proposals. Finally, we tried and used the classical model of three thermodynamically well-defined states to account for our data. The failure of the simple thermodynamic model suggests that there is more than the single intermediate structure required by singular value decomposition analysis. Formally, there could be several discrete intermediate species at equilibrium, or an ensemble of conformations differently populated according to the temperature. In the latter case, a third state would be a weighted average of all non native and not completely unfolded states of the protein but, since the weights change with temperature, no meaningful curve is likely to be derived by a global analysis using the simple model of three thermodynamically well-defined states.

Structural polymorphism of the major capsid protein of rotavirus.

Rotaviruses are important human pathogens with a triple-layered icosahedral capsid. The major capsid protein VP6 is shown here to self-assemble into spherical or helical particles mainly depending upon pH. Assembly is inhibited either by low pH (<3.0) or by a high concentration (>100 mM) of divalent cations (Ca(2+) and Zn(2+)). The structures of two types of helical tubes were determined by electron cryomicroscopy and image analysis to a resolution of 2.0 and 2.5 nm. In both reconstructions, the molecular envelope of VP6 fits the atomic model determined by X-ray crystallography remarkably well. The 3-fold symmetry of the VP6 trimer, being incompatible with the helical symmetry, is broken at the level of the trimer contacts. One type of contact is maintained within all VP6 particles (tubes and virus), strongly suggesting that VP6 assemblies arise from different packings of a unique dimer of trimers. Our data show that the protonation state and thus the charge distribution are important switches governing the assembly of macromolecular assemblies.

Effects of ligand binding on the association properties and conformation in solution of retinoic acid receptors RXR and RAR.

In higher eukaryotes, vitamin A derived metabolites such as 9-cis and all-trans retinoic acid (RA), are involved in the regulation of several essential physiological processes. Their pleiotropic physiological effects are mediated through direct binding to cognate nuclear receptors RXRs and RARs that act as regulated transcription factors belonging to the superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors. Hormone binding to the structurally conserved ligand-binding domain (LBD) of these receptors triggers a conformational change that principally affects the conserved C-terminal transactivation helix H12 involved in transcriptional activation. We report an extensive biophysical solution study of RAR alpha, RXR alpha LBDs and their corresponding RXR alpha/RAR alpha LBD heterodimers combining analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS and SANS) and ab initio three-dimensional shape reconstruction at low resolution. We show that the crystal structures of RXRs and RARs LBDs correlate well with the average conformations observed in solution. Furthermore we demonstrate the effects of 9-cisRA and all-transRA binding on the association properties and conformations of RXR alpha and RAR alpha LBDs in solution. The present study shows that in solution RAR alpha LBD behaves as a monomer in both unliganded and liganded forms. It confirms the existence in solution of a ligand-induced conformational change towards a more compact form of the LBD. It also confirms the stability of the predicted RXR alpha/RAR alpha LBD heterodimers in solution. SAS measurements performed on three different types of RXR alpha/RAR alpha LBD heterodimers (apo/apo, apo/holo and holo/holo) with respect to their ligand-binding site occupancy show the existence of three conformational states depending on the progressive binding of RA stereoisomers on RAR alpha and RXR alpha LBD subunits in the heterodimeric context. These results suggest that the subunits are structurally independent within the heterodimers. Our study also underlines the particular behaviour of RXR alpha LBD. In solution unliganded RXR alpha LBD is observed as two species that are unambiguously identified as homotetramers and homodimers. Molecular modelling combined with SAS data analysis allows us to propose a structural model for this autorepressed apo-tetramer. In contrast to the monomeric state observed in the crystal structure, our data show that in solution active holo-RXR alpha LBD bound to 9-cisRA is a homodimer regardless of the protein concentration. This study demonstrates the crucial role of ligands in the regulation of homodimeric versus heterodimeric association state of RXR in the NR signalling pathways.

Physical structure of the excitable membrane of unmyelinated axons: X-ray scattering study and electrophysiological properties of pike olfactory nerve.

The aim of this work was to elicit correlations between physical structure and physiological functions in excitable membranes. Freshly dissected pike olfactory nerves were studied by synchrotron radiation X-ray scattering experiments and their physiological properties were tested by electrophysiological techniques. The scattering spectra contained a sharply oriented equatorial component (i.e. normal to the nerve axis), and an isotropic background. After background subtraction, the equatorial component displayed a weak and fairly sharp spectrum of oriented microtubules, and a strong and diffuse band of almost the same shape and position as the band computed for an isolated myelin membrane. We ascribed this spectrum to the axonal membranes. Under the action of temperature and of two local anesthetics, the spectrum underwent a contraction (or expansion) in the s-direction, equivalent to the structure undergoing an expansion (or contraction) in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the membrane. The main observations were: (i) with increasing temperature, membrane thickness decreased with a thermal expansion coefficient equal to -0.97(+/-0.19) 10(-3) degrees C(-1). The polarity and amplitude of this coefficient are typical of lipid-containing systems with the hydrocarbon chains in a disordered conformation. The amplitude and propagation velocity of the compound action potentials were drastically and reversibly reduced by lowering the temperature from 20 degrees C to 5 degrees C. (ii) Exposing the nerve to two local anesthetics (tetracaine and dibucaine) had the effect of decreasing membrane thickness. Action potentials were fully inhibited by these anesthetics. (iii) Upon depolarization, induced by replacing NaCl with KCl in the outer medium, approximately 25 % of the membranes were found to associate by apposing their outer faces. Electrophysiological activity was reversibly impaired by the KCl treatment. (iv) No detectable structural effect was observed upon exposing the nerves to tetrodotoxin or veratridine. Electrophysiological activity was fully impaired by tetrodotoxin and partially impaired by veratridine. The main conclusions of this work are that axonal membranes yield highly informative X-ray scattering spectra, and that these spectra are sensitive to the functional state of the nerve. These results pave the way to further studies of more direct physiological significance.

Detection and characterization of an intermediate conformation during the divalent ion-dependent swelling of tomato bushy stunt virus.

We have used time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in solution to study the swelling reaction of TBSV upon chelation of its constituent calcium at mildly basic pH. The reaction was initiated by rapid mixing of a virus solution with the same buffer containing a variable amount of EDTA. The X-ray scattering data sets recorded after mixing were submitted to a singular value decomposition analysis which demonstrated the existence of an intermediate state in addition to the compact and fully swollen forms of the virion. The kinetics of the reaction display an initial lag, and a linear combination of three exponential terms is required for a satisfactory analytical fit. Accordingly, a model is put forward involving three sequential irreversible processes between four species. Beyond the three structural species mentioned above, the fourth one, which is the second species along the time sequence, is proposed to represent those viruses which, although partially deprived of Ca2+ ions, are still in the compact conformation. Using the combination of the kinetic model and the structural data, an estimate of the intermediate scattering pattern can be derived from each time resolved frame. These patterns are all very similar after a slight drift towards the swollen pattern over the first 2 min. The curve presents well-resolved minima and maxima, corresponding to an isometric particle with an outer radius of about 172 A for the intermediate conformation.

The BPTI decamer observed in acidic pH crystal forms pre-exists as a stable species in solution.

Bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) crystallizes under acidic pH conditions in the presence of thiocyanate, chloride and sulfate ions, yielding three different polymorphs in P2(1), P6(4)22 and P6(3)22 space groups, respectively. In all three crystal forms, the same decamer is found in the packing (ten BPTI molecules organized through two perpendicular 2-fold and 5-fold axes as a well-defined and compact object) in contrast to the monomeric crystal forms observed at basic pH conditions. The crystallization of BPTI under acidic conditions (pH 4.5) was investigated by small angle X-ray scattering with both under- and supersaturated BPTI solutions. Data showed the oligomerization of BPTI molecules under all investigated conditions. Accordingly, various mixtures of discrete oligomers (n=1 to 10) were considered. Calculated scattering curves were obtained using models based on the crystallographic structures, and the experimental patterns were analyzed as a linear combination of the model curves using a non-linear curve fitting procedure. The results, confirmed by gel filtration experiments, unambiguously demonstrate the co-existence of two different BPTI particles in solution: a monomer and a decamer, with no evidence of any other intermediates. Moreover, using both approaches, the fraction of decamers was found to increase with increasing salt concentration, even beyond the solubility curve. We therefore propose that at acidic pH, BPTI crystallizes following a two step process: decamers are first built in under- and supersaturated solutions, upon which crystal growth proceeds by decamer stacking. Indeed, those BPTI crystals should best be described as "BPTI decamer" crystals.

2.9 A crystal structure of ligand-free tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase: domain movements fragment the adenine nucleotide binding site.

The crystal structure of ligand-free tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS) was solved at 2.9 A using a combination of molecular replacement and maximum-entropy map/phase improvement. The dimeric structure (R = 23.7, Rfree = 26.2) is asymmetric, unlike that of the TrpRS tryptophanyl-5'AMP complex (TAM; Doublié S, Bricogne G, Gilmore CJ, Carter CW Jr, 1995, Structure 3:17-31). In agreement with small-angle solution X-ray scattering experiments, unliganded TrpRS has a conformation in which both monomers open, leaving only the tryptophan-binding regions of their active sites intact. The amino terminal alphaA-helix, TIGN, and KMSKS signature sequences, and the distal helical domain rotate as a single rigid body away from the dinucleotide-binding fold domain, opening the AMP binding site, seen in the TAM complex, into two halves. Comparison of side-chain packing in ligand-free TrpRS and the TAM complex, using identification of nonpolar nuclei (Ilyin VA, 1994, Protein Eng 7:1189-1195), shows that significant repacking occurs between three relatively stable core regions, one of which acts as a bearing between the other two. These domain rearrangements provide a new structural paradigm that is consistent in detail with the "induced-fit" mechanism proposed for TyrRS by Fersht et al. (Fersht AR, Knill-Jones JW, Beduelle H, Winter G, 1988, Biochemistry 27:1581-1587). Coupling of ATP binding determinants associated with the two catalytic signature sequences to the helical domain containing the presumptive anticodon-binding site provides a mechanism to coordinate active-site chemistry with relocation of the major tRNA binding determinants.

Role of hydrophobic interactions in yeast phosphoglycerate kinase stability.

Cold denaturation of yeast phosphoglycerate kinase (yPGK) was investigated by a combination of far UV circular dichroism (CD), steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence, and small angle X-ray scattering. It was shown that cold denaturation of yPGK cannot be accounted for by a simple two-state process and that an intermediate state can be stabilized under mild denaturing conditions. Comparison between far UV CD and fluorescence shows that in this state the protein displays a fluorescence signal corresponding mainly to exposed tryptophans, whereas its CD signal is only partially modified. Comparison with spectroscopic data obtained from a mutant missing the last 12 amino-acids (yPGK delta404) suggests that lowering the temperature mainly results in a destabilization of hydrophobic interactions between the two domains. Small angle X-ray scattering measurements give further information about this stabilized intermediate. At 4 degrees C and in the presence of 0.45 M Gdn-HCl, the main species corresponds to a protein as compact as native yPGK, whereas a significant proportion of ellipticity has been lost. Although various techniques have shown the existence of residual structures in denatured proteins, this is one example of a compact denatured state devoid of its main content in alpha helices.

Crystallization and preliminary X-Ray analysis of rotavirus protein VP6.

As a first step to gain insight into the structure of the rotavirus virion at atomic resolution, we report here the expression, purification, and crystallization of recombinant rotavirus protein VP6. This protein has the property of polymerizing in the form of tubular structures in solution which have hindered crystallization thus far. Using a combination of electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering, we found that addition of Ca2+ at concentrations higher than 100 mM results in depolymerization of the tubes, leading to an essentially monodisperse solution of trimeric VP6 even at high protein concentrations (higher than 10 mg/ml), thereby enabling us to search for crystallization conditions. We have thus obtained crystals of VP6 which diffract to better than 2.4 A resolution and belong to the cubic space group P4132 with a cell dimension a of 160 A. The crystals contain a trimer of VP6 lying along the diagonal of the cubic unit cell, resulting in one VP6 monomer per asymmetric unit and a solvent content of roughly 70%.

Direct observation of an altered quaternary-structure transition in a mutant aspartate transcarbamoylase.

Time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering (TR-SAXS) was used to monitor the structural changes that occur upon the binding of the natural substrates to a mutant version of the allosteric enzyme aspartate transcarbamoylase from Escherichia coli, in which the creation of a critical link stabilizing the R state of the enzyme is hindered. Previously, SAXS experiments at equilibrium showed that the structures of the unligated mutant enzyme and the mutant enzyme saturated with a bisubstrate analog are indistinguishable from the T and R state structures, respectively, of the wild-type enzyme (Tauc et al., Protein Sci. 3:1998-2004, 1994). However, as opposed to the wild-type enzyme, the combination of one substrate, carbamoyl phosphate, and succinate, an analog of aspartate, did not convert the mutant enzyme into the R state. By using TR-SAXS we have been able to study the transient steady-state during catalysis using the natural substrates rather than the nonreactive substrate analogs. The steady-state in the presence of saturating amount of substrates is a mixture of 60% T and 40% R structures, which is further converted entirely to R in the additional presence of ATP. These results provide a structural explanation for the reduced cooperativity observed with the mutant enzyme as well as for the stimulation by ATP at saturating concentrations of substrates. They also illustrate the crucial role played by domain motions and quaternary-structure changes for both the homotropic and heterotropic aspects of allostery.

Large differences are observed between the crystal and solution quaternary structures of allosteric aspartate transcarbamylase in the R state.

Solution scattering curves evaluated from the crystal structures of the T and R states of the allosteric enzyme aspartate transcarbamylase from Escherichia coli were compared with the experimental x-ray scattering patterns. Whereas the scattering from the crystal structure of the T state agrees with the experiment, large deviations reflecting a significant difference between the quaternary structures in the crystal and in solution are observed for the R state. The experimental curve of the R state was fitted by rigid body movements of the subunits in the crystal R structure which displace the latter further away from the T structure along the reaction coordinates of the T-->R transition observed in the crystals. Taking the crystal R structure as a-reference, it was found that in solution the distance between the catalytic trimers along the threefold axis is 0.34 nm larger and the trimers are rotated by 11 degrees in opposite directions around the same axis; each of the three regulatory dimers is rotated by 9 degrees around the corresponding twofold axis and displaced by 0.14 nm away from the molecular center along this axis.

The allosteric activator ATP induces a substrate-dependent alteration of the quaternary structure of a mutant aspartate transcarbamoylase impaired in active site closure.

Aspartate transcarbamoylase from Escherichia coli shows homotropic cooperativity for aspartate as well as heterotropic regulation by nucleotides. Structurally, it consists of two trimeric catalytic subunits and three dimeric regulatory subunits, each chain being comprised of two domains. Glu-50 and Ser-171 are involved in stabilizing the closed conformation of the catalytic chain. Replacement of Glu-50 or Ser-171 by Ala in the holoenzyme has been shown previously to result in marked decreases in the maximal observed specific activity, homotropic cooperativity, and affinity for aspartate (Dembowski NJ, Newton CJ, Kantrowitz ER, 1990, Biochemistry 29:3716-3723; Newton CJ, Kantrowitz ER, 1990, Biochemistry 29:1444-1451). We have constructed a double mutant enzyme combining both mutations. The resulting Glu-50/ser-171-->Ala enzyme is 9-fold less active than the Ser-171-->Ala enzyme, 69-fold less active than the Glu-50-->Ala enzyme, and shows 1.3-fold and 1.6-fold increases in the [S]0.5Asp as compared to the Ser-171-->Ala and Glu-50-->Ala enzymes, respectively. However, the double mutant enzyme exhibits some enhancement of homotropic cooperativity with respect to aspartate, relative to the single mutant enzymes. At subsaturating concentrations of aspartate, the Glu-50/Ser-171 -->Ala enzyme is activated less by ATP than either the Glu-50-->Ala or Ser-171-->Ala enzyme, whereas CTP inhibition is intermediate between that of the two single mutants. As opposed to the wild-type enzyme, the Glu-50/Ser-171 -->Ala enzyme is activated by ATP and inhibited by CTP at saturating concentrations of aspartate. Structural analysis of the Ser-171-->Ala and Glu-50/Ser-171-->Ala enzymes by solution X-ray scattering indicates that both mutants exist in the same T quaternary structure as the wild-type enzyme in the absence of ligands, and in the same R quaternary structure in the presence of saturating N-(phosphonoacetyl)-L-aspartate. However, saturating concentrations of carbamoyl phosphate and succinate are unable to convert a significant fraction of either mutant enzyme population to the R quaternary structure, as has been observed previously for the Glu-50-->Ala enzyme. The curves for both the Ser-171-->Ala and Glu-50/Ser-171-->Ala enzymes obtained in the presence of substoichiometric amounts of PALA are linear combinations of the two extreme T and R states. The structural consequences of nucleotide binding to these two enzymes were also investigated. Most surprisingly, the direction and amplitude of the effect of ATP upon the double mutant enzyme were shown to vary depending upon the substrate analogue used.