Methanococcoides Burtonii Research Articles

Characterization of novel mevalonate kinases from the tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus and the psychrophilic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii.

Mevalonate kinase is central to the isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway. Here, high-resolution X-ray crystal structures of two mevalonate kinases are presented: a eukaryotic protein from Ramazzottius varieornatus and an archaeal protein from Methanococcoides burtonii. Both enzymes possess the highly conserved motifs of the GHMP enzyme superfamily, with notable differences between the two enzymes in the N-terminal part of the structures. Biochemical characterization of the two enzymes revealed major differences in their sensitivity to geranyl pyrophosphate and farnesyl pyrophosphate, and in their thermal stabilities. This work adds to the understanding of the structural basis of enzyme inhibition and thermostability in mevalonate kinases.

Structural characterisation of a MAPR-related archaeal cytochrome b5M protein.

We recently reported that the membrane-associated progesterone receptor (MAPR) protein family (mammalian members: PGRMC1, PGRMC2, NEUFC and NENF) originated from a new class of prokaryotic cytochrome b5 (cytb5 ) domain proteins, called cytb5M (MAPR-like). Relative to classical cytb5 proteins, MAPR and ctyb5M proteins shared unique sequence elements and a distinct heme-binding orientation at an approximately 90° rotation relative to classical cytb5 , as demonstrated in the archetypal crystal structure of a cytb5M protein (PDB accession number 6NZX). Here, we present the crystal structure of an archaeal cytb5M domain (Methanococcoides burtonii WP_011499504.1, PDB:6VZ6). It exhibits similar heme binding to the 6NZX cytb5M , supporting the deduction that MAPR-like heme orientation was inherited from the prokaryotic ancestor of the original eukaryotic MAPR gene.

Methanococcoides orientis sp. nov., a methylotrophic methanogen isolated from sediment of the East China Sea.

A novel methylotrophic methanogen Methanococcoides orientis sp. nov. was isolated from East China Sea sediment. Type strain LMO-1T of Methanococcoides orientis sp. nov. was irregular 1-2 µm cocci without flagella. Strain LMO-1T could utilize a variety of methylated compounds including methanol, methylamine, dimethylamine and trimethylamine for growth and methanogenesis, while H2/CO2 or acetate could not be used for growth or methanogenesis. Optimum growth temperature was 30-35 °C, optimum pH range for growth was 7.0-7.5, while the optimum salinity spectrum for growth was 1.0%-5.0% NaCl. Based on 16S rRNA gene similarity, strain LMO-1T belongs to Methanococcoides, with the highest sequence similarity to Methanococcoides methylutens DSM 2657T (99.8 %), Methanococcoides vulcani SLH33T(99.4 %), followed by Methanococcoides alaskense AK-5T(98.1 %), Methanococcoides burtonii DSM 6242T (98.0 %). Digital DNA-DNA hybridization also showed highest similarity with Methanococcoides methylutens DSM 2657T, with the value of 58.4 %. The average nucleotide identity between strain LMO-1T and Methanococcoides methylutens DSM 2657T was 94.06 %. In summary, LMO-1T represents a novel species of the genus Methaococcoides, for which the name Methanococcoides orientis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LMO-1T (=MCCC 4K00106T=JCM 39195T).

Exploring natural biodiversity to expand access to microbial terpene synthesis

BackgroundTerpenes are industrially relevant natural compounds the biosynthesis of which relies on two well-established—mevalonic acid (MVA) and methyl erythritol phosphate (MEP)-pathways. Both pathways are widely distributed in all domains of life, the former is predominantly found in eukaryotes and archaea and the latter in eubacteria and chloroplasts. These two pathways supply isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP), the universal building blocks of terpenes.ResultsThe potential to establish a semisynthetic third pathway to access these precursors has been investigated in the present work. We have tested the ability of a collection of 93 isopentenyl phosphate kinases (IPK) from the biodiversity to catalyse the double phosphorylation of isopentenol and dimethylallyl alcohol to give, respectively IPP and DMAPP. Five IPKs selected from a preliminary in vitro screening were evaluated in vivo in an engineered chassis E. coli strain producing carotenoids. The recombinant pathway leading to the synthesis of neurosporene and lycopene, allows a simple colorimetric assay to test the potential of IPKs for the synthesis of IPP and DMAPP starting from the corresponding alcohols. The best candidate identified was the IPK from Methanococcoides burtonii (UniProt ID: Q12TH9) which improved carotenoid and neurosporene yields ~ 18-fold and > 45-fold, respectively. In our lab scale conditions, titres of neurosporene reached up to 702.1 ± 44.7 µg/g DCW and 966.2 ± 61.6 µg/L. A scale up to 4 L in-batch cultures reached to 604.8 ± 68.3 µg/g DCW and 430.5 ± 48.6 µg/L without any optimisation shown its potential for future applications. Neurosporene was almost the only carotenoid produced under these conditions, reaching ~ 90% of total carotenoids both at lab and batch scales thus offering an easy access to this sophisticated molecule.ConclusionIPK biodiversity was screened in order to identify IPKs that optimize the final carotenoid content of engineered E. coli cells expressing the lycopene biosynthesis pathway. By simply changing the IPK and without any other metabolic engineering we improved the neurosporene content by more than 45 fold offering a new biosynthetic access to this molecule of upmost importance.

ADP-dependent phosphofructokinases from the archaeal order Methanosarcinales display redundant glucokinase activity

The genome of Methanosarcinales organisms presents both ADP-dependent glucokinase and phosphofructokinase genes. However, Methanococcoides burtonii has a truncate glucokinase gene with a large deletion at the C-terminal, where the catalytic GXGD motif is located. Characterization of its phosphofructokinase annotated protein shows that is a bifunctional enzyme able to supply the absence of the glucokinase activity. Moreover, kinetic analyses of the phosphofructokinase annotated enzyme from, Methanohalobium evestigatum demonstrated that this enzyme is also bifunctional. The high conservation of the active site residues of all the enzymes from the order Methanosarcinales suggest that they should be bifunctional, as was previously reported for the ADP-dependent kinases from Methanococcales, highlighting the redundancy of the glucokinase activity in this archaeal group. The presence of active glycolytic enzymes would be important when glycogen storage of these organisms needs to be degraded to be used as energy source. Kinetic and structural information allows us to establish a substrate specificity signature that identifies specific GK or PFK, and bifunctional enzymes in this family.

A unique structural domain in Methanococcoides burtonii ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) acts as a small subunit mimic

The catalytic inefficiencies of the CO2-fixing enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) often limit plant productivity. Strategies to engineer more efficient plant Rubiscos have been hampered by evolutionary constraints, prompting interest in Rubisco isoforms from non-photosynthetic organisms. The methanogenic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii contains a Rubisco isoform that functions to scavenge the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) by-product of purine/pyrimidine metabolism. The crystal structure of M. burtonii Rubisco (MbR) presented here at 2.6 Å resolution is composed of catalytic large subunits (LSu) assembled into pentamers of dimers, (L2)5, and differs from Rubiscos from higher plants where LSus are glued together by small subunits (SSu) into hexadecameric L8S8 enzymes. MbR contains a unique 29-amino acid insertion near the C terminus, which folds as a separate domain in the structure. This domain, which is visualized for the first time in this study, is located in a similar position to SSus in L8S8 enzymes between LSus of adjacent L2 dimers, where negatively charged residues coordinate around a Mg2+ ion in a fashion that suggests this domain may be important for the assembly process. The Rubisco assembly domain is thus an inbuilt SSu mimic that concentrates L2 dimers. MbR assembly is ligand-stimulated, and we show that only 6-carbon molecules with a particular stereochemistry at the C3 carbon can induce oligomerization. Based on MbR structure, subunit arrangement, sequence, phylogenetic distribution, and function, MbR and a subset of Rubiscos from the Methanosarcinales order are proposed to belong to a new Rubisco subgroup, named form IIIB.

Corrigendum: Characterization of a temperature-responsive two component regulatory system from the Antarctic archaeon, Methanococcoides burtonii.

Scientific Reports 6: Article number: 24278; published online: 07 April 2016; updated: 10 June 2016. This Article contains an error in Figure S3; where the labels ‘0 °C’ and ‘25 °C’ are inverted. The correct Figure S3 appears below as Figure 1.

Characterization of a temperature-responsive two component regulatory system from the Antarctic archaeon, Methanococcoides burtonii.

Cold environments dominate the Earth’s biosphere and the resident microorganisms play critical roles in fulfilling global biogeochemical cycles. However, only few studies have examined the molecular basis of thermosensing; an ability that microorganisms must possess in order to respond to environmental temperature and regulate cellular processes. Two component regulatory systems have been inferred to function in thermal regulation of gene expression, but biochemical studies assessing these systems in Bacteria are rare, and none have been performed in Archaea or psychrophiles. Here we examined the LtrK/LtrR two component regulatory system from the Antarctic archaeon, Methanococcoides burtonii, assessing kinase and phosphatase activities of wild-type and mutant proteins. LtrK was thermally unstable and had optimal phosphorylation activity at 10 °C (the lowest optimum activity for any psychrophilic enzyme), high activity at 0 °C and was rapidly thermally inactivated at 30 °C. These biochemical properties match well with normal environmental temperatures of M. burtonii (0–4 °C) and the temperature this psychrophile is capable of growing at in the laboratory (−2 to 28 °C). Our findings are consistent with a role for LtrK in performing phosphotransfer reactions with LtrR that could lead to temperature-dependent gene regulation.

Evolving Methanococcoides burtonii archaeal Rubisco for improved photosynthesis and plant growth.

In photosynthesis Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) catalyses the often rate limiting CO2-fixation step in the Calvin cycle. This makes Rubisco both the gatekeeper for carbon entry into the biosphere and a target for functional improvement to enhance photosynthesis and plant growth. Encumbering the catalytic performance of Rubisco is its highly conserved, complex catalytic chemistry. Accordingly, traditional efforts to enhance Rubisco catalysis using protracted “trial and error” protein engineering approaches have met with limited success. Here we demonstrate the versatility of high throughput directed (laboratory) protein evolution for improving the carboxylation properties of a non-photosynthetic Rubisco from the archaea Methanococcoides burtonii. Using chloroplast transformation in the model plant Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) we confirm the improved forms of M. burtonii Rubisco increased photosynthesis and growth relative to tobacco controls producing wild-type M. burtonii Rubisco. Our findings indicate continued directed evolution of archaeal Rubisco offers new potential for enhancing leaf photosynthesis and plant growth.

Enhancing recombinant protein solubility with ubiquitin-like small archeal modifying protein fusion partners

A variety of protein expression tags with different biochemical properties has been used to enhance the yield and solubility of recombinant proteins. Ubiquitin, SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier) and prokaryotic ubiquitin like MoaD (molybdopterin synthase, small subunit) fusion tags are getting more popular because of their small size. In this paper we report on the use of ubiquitin-like small archaeal modifier proteins (SAMPs) as fusion tags since they proved to increase expression yield, stability and solubility in our experiments. Equally important, they did not co-purify with proteins of the expression host and there was information that their specific JAB1/MPN/Mov34 metalloenzyme (JAMM) protease can recognize the C-terminal VSGG sequence when SAMPs fused, either branched or linearly to target proteins, and cleave it specifically. SAMPs and JAMM proteases from Haloferax volcanii, Thermoplasma acidophilum, Methanococcoides burtonii and Nitrosopumilus maritimus were selected, cloned, expressed heterologously in Escherichia coli and tested as fusion tags and cleaving proteases, respectively. Investigated SAMPs enhanced protein expression and solubility on a wide scale. T. acidophilum SAMPs Ta0895 and Ta01019 were the best performing tags and their effect was comparable to the widely used maltose binding protein (MBP) and N utilization substance protein A (NusA) tags. Moreover, H. volcanii SAMP Hvo_2619 contribution was mediocre, whereas M. burtonii Mbur_1415 could not be expressed. Out of four investigated JAMM proteases, only Hvo_2505 could cleave fusion tags. Interestingly, it was found active not only on its own partner substrate Hvo_2619, but it also cleaved off Ta0895.

Proteomic insights into the temperature responses of a cold-adaptive archaeon Methanolobus psychrophilus R15.

Cold-adaptive methanogens contribute significantly to methane emission from the cold area, while the cold-adaptive mechanisms used by Archaea remain elusive. Methanolobus psychrophilus R15, a cold-adaptive methanogen isolated from a Tibetan plateau wetland, grows at 0-25 °C and optimally at 18 °C when isolated; however, it grows optimally at 30 °C after culturing at 18 °C for several years. Aiming to gain insights into the protein profiles that are involved in optimal growth and cold adaptation of this methanogen, here, we performed a comparative proteomic study using 2D DIGE on the cultures grown at 30, 18 and 4 °C. 1439 protein spots (3167 ORFs annotated in the R15 genome) were detected, and 202 of 322 differentially expressed protein spots were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF. The protein abundance of most enzymes involved in methanogenesis, energy conservation and central metabolism were increased at 30 °C, while most ribosome proteins were decreased at 30 °C. Proteasome and ROS scavengers increased expressions at 4 °C, suggesting more aberrant proteins and ROS formed at lower temperatures. Different from the cold-adaptive Methanococcoides burtonii, some chaperones were increased at 4 °C, implying that protein folding was impaired at cold in this psychrophilic archaeon. This study indicates that diverse cold-adaptive mechanisms can be used by different methanogenic Archaea.

Methanogenic archaeon as biogas producer in psychrophilic conditions

Abstract The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of biogas production as a result of degradation of various organic compounds by psychrophilic methanogenic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii. Depending on experimental variant, fermented glucose, whey, bovine liquid manure and sewage sludge were used as substrates. The effectiveness of methane fermentation was measured using 500 mL respirometers incubated at a temperature of 20 °C for 50 days. The highest yield of biogas production was noted in the variant with sewage sludge provided in the quantity that ensured the initial tanks loading at 0.2 g COD/L (133 mL CH4/g CODfed). In this variant, analyses showed also one of the highest concentrations of CH4 in biogas produced (53.4%). The high content of methane and high production yield of this biogas component were also reported for the variants with sewage sludge at the loading of 2.0 g COD/L, with bovine liquid manure at the loading of 5.0 g COD/L and with glucose at the loading of 1.0 g COD/L. In these variants, the content of CH4 in biogas produced reached from 37.6 to 57.1%. Taking into account the quantity of produced biogas and CH4 concentration from various organic substrates during fermentation process in psychrophilic conditions run by M. burtonii strain, the results of this study may be considered promising for the perspective application.

Psychrotolerant methanogenic archaea: Diversity and cold adaptation mechanisms

Because of their diversity and abundance in a wide range of environments, particularly in cold regions, cold-adaptive archaea are expected to play a pivotal role in material recycling in cold environments. Methanogenic archaea are ubiquitous on earth and produce a large amount of methane (CH(4)) as their main carbon metabolite. Methanogens are the most laboratory amendable archaea. The few psychrophilic archaea that have been cultured to date are mainly affiliated with methanogens, thus make them a good model for investigating mechanisms of archaeal cold adaptation. Studies of psychrotolerant methanogens have been ongoing since the 1990s. Using Methanococcoides burtonii, a methanogen isolated from Ace Lake in Antarctica, extensive studies on the genomic characteristics associated with cold adaptation have been carried out by the Cavicchioli laboratory. We recently analyzed the genome of another psychrophilic methanogen and identified the gene repertoire associated with cold adaptation. This review summarizes recent studies of psychroactive methanogens, particularly their diversity, the genomics and proteomics associated with their cold adaptation, and the cellular components and proteins likely involved in their cold protection.

A modulator domain controlling thermal stability in the Group II chaperonins of Archaea

Archaeal Group II chaperonins (Cpns) are strongly conserved, considering that their growth temperatures range from 23 to 122 °C. The C-terminal 15–25 residues are hypervariable, and highly charged in thermophilic species. Our hypothesis is that the C-terminal is a key determinant of stabilization of the Cpn complex. The C-terminus of the Cpn from the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus was mutated to test this hypothesis. C-terminal deletions and replacement of charged residues resulted in destabilization. The stability of ATPase activity declined in proportion to the reduction in charged residues with Ala or Gly. An EK-rich motif ( 528EKEKEKEGEK5 37) proved to be a key domain for stabilization at or near 100 °C. Mutations “tuned” the Cpn for optimal protein folding at lower optimal temperatures, and Glu substitution was more potent than Lys replacement. Pf Cpn stability was enhanced by Ca 2+, especially in the mutant Cpn lacking C-terminal Lys residues. This suggests that Glu-Glu interactions between C termini might be mediated by Ca 2+. The C-terminal of a Cpn from the psychrophilic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii was replaced by a domain from the hyperthermophile, resulting in increased thermostability and thermoactivity. We conclude that localized evolutionary variation in the C-terminus modulates the temperature range of archaeal Cpns.

Chaperonins from an Antarctic archaeon are predominantly monomeric: crystal structure of an open state monomer

Archaea are abundant in permanently cold environments. The Antarctic methanogen, Methanococcoides burtonii, has proven an excellent model for studying molecular mechanisms of cold adaptation. Methanococcoides burtonii contains three group II chaperonins that diverged prior to its closest orthologues from mesophilic Methanosarcina spp. The relative abundance of the three chaperonins shows little dependence on organism growth temperature, except at the highest temperatures, where the most thermally stable chaperonin increases in abundance. In vitro and in vivo, the M. burtonii chaperonins are predominantly monomeric, with only 23-33% oligomeric, thereby differing from other archaea where an oligomeric ring form is dominant. The crystal structure of an N-terminally truncated chaperonin reveals a monomeric protein with a fully open nucleotide binding site. When compared with closed state group II chaperonin structures, a large-scale ≈ 30° rotation between the equatorial and intermediate domains is observed resulting in an open nucleotide binding site. This is analogous to the transition observed between open and closed states of group I chaperonins but contrasts with recent archaeal group II chaperonin open state ring structures. The predominance of monomeric form and the ability to adopt a fully open nucleotide site appear to be unique features of the M. burtonii group II chaperonins.

Defining the response of a microorganism to temperatures that span its complete growth temperature range (−2°C to 28°C) using multiplex quantitative proteomics

The growth of all microorganisms is limited to a specific temperature range. However, it has not previously been determined to what extent global protein profiles change in response to temperatures that incrementally span the complete growth temperature range of a microorganism. As a result it has remained unclear to what extent cellular processes (inferred from protein abundance profiles) are affected by growth temperature and which, in particular, constrain growth at upper and lower temperature limits. To evaluate this, 8-plex iTRAQ proteomics was performed on the Antarctic microorganism, Methanococcoides burtonii. Methanococcoides burtonii was chosen due to its importance as a model psychrophilic (cold-adapted) member of the Archaea, and the fact that proteomic methods, including subcellular fractionation procedures, have been well developed. Differential abundance patterns were obtained for cells grown at seven different growth temperatures (-2°C, 1°C, 4°C, 10°C, 16°C, 23°C, 28°C) and a principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to identify trends in protein abundances. The multiplex analysis enabled three largely distinct physiological states to be described: cold stress (-2°C), cold adaptation (1°C, 4°C, 10°C and 16°C), and heat stress (23°C and 28°C). A particular feature of the thermal extremes was the synthesis of heat- and cold-specific stress proteins, reflecting the important, yet distinct ways in which temperature-induced stress manifests in the cell. This is the first quantitative proteomic investigation to simultaneously assess the response of a microorganism to numerous growth temperatures, including the upper and lower growth temperatures limits, and has revealed a new level of understanding about cellular adaptive responses.

Temperature‐dependent global gene expression in the Antarctic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii

Methanococcoides burtonii is a member of the Archaea that was isolated from Ace Lake in Antarctica and is a valuable model for studying cold adaptation. Low temperature transcriptional regulation of global gene expression, and the arrangement of transcriptional units in cold-adapted archaea has not been studied. We developed a microarray for determining which genes are expressed in operons, and which are differentially expressed at low (4°C) or high (23°C) temperature. Approximately 55% of genes were found to be arranged in operons that range in length from 2 to 23 genes, and mRNA abundance tended to increase with operon length. Analysing microarray data previously obtained by others for Halobacterium salinarum revealed a similar correlation between operon length and mRNA abundance, suggesting that operons may play a similar role more broadly in the Archaea. More than 500 genes were differentially expressed at levels up to ≈ 24-fold. A notable feature was the upregulation of genes involved in maintaining RNA in a state suitable for translation in the cold. Comparison between microarray experiments and results previously obtained using proteomics indicates that transcriptional regulation (rather than translation) is primarily responsible for controlling gene expression in M. burtonii. In addition, certain genes (e.g. involved in ribosome structure and methanogenesis) appear to be regulated post-transcriptionally. This is one of few experimental studies describing the genome-wide distribution and regulation of operons in archaea.

Global Proteomic Analysis of the Insoluble, Soluble, and Supernatant Fractions of the Psychrophilic Archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii Part II: The Effect of Different Methylated Growth Substrates

Methanococcoides burtonii is a cold-adapted methanogenic archaeon from Ace Lake in Antarctica. Methanol and methylamines are the only substrates it can use for carbon and energy. We carried out quantitative proteomics using iTRAQ of M. burtonii cells grown on different substrates (methanol in defined media or trimethylamine in complex media), using techniques that enriched for secreted and membrane proteins in addition to cytoplasmic proteins. By integrating proteomic data with the complete, manually annotated genome sequence of M. burtonii, we were able to gain new insight into methylotrophic metabolism and the effects of methanol on the cell. Metabolic processing of methanol and methylamines is initiated by methyltransferases specific for each substrate, with multiple paralogs for each of the methyltransferases (similar to other members of the Methanosarcinaceae). In M. burtonii, most methyltransferases appear to have distinct roles in the metabolism of methylated substrates, although two methylamine methyltransferases appear to be nonfunctional. One set of methyltransferases for trimethylamine catabolism appears to be membrane associated, potentially providing a mechanism to directly couple trimethylamine uptake to demethylation. Important roles were highlighted for citrate synthase, glutamine synthetase, acetyl-CoA decarbonylase/synthase, and pyruvate synthase in carbon and nitrogen metabolism during growth on methanol. M. burtonii had only a marginal response to the provision of exogenous amino acids (from yeast extract), indicating that it is predisposed to the endogenous synthesis of amino acids. Growth on methanol appeared to cause oxidative stress in the cell, possibly through the formation of reactive nonoxygen species and formaldehyde, and the oxidative inactivation of corrinoid proteins, with the cell responding by elevating the synthesis of universal stress (Usp) proteins, several nucleic acid binding proteins, and a serpin. In addition, changes in levels of cell envelope proteins were linked to counteracting the disruptive solvent effects of methanol on cell membranes. This is the first global proteomic study to examine the effects of different carbon sources on the growth of an obligately methylotrophic methanogen.

Analyzing the Hydrophobic Proteome of the Antarctic Archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii Using Differential Solubility Fractionation

Proteomic studies have proven useful for studying the Antarctic archaeon Methanococcoides burtonii; however, little has been learned about the hydrophobic and membrane proteins, despite knowledge of their biological importance. In this study, new methods were developed to analyze and maximize the coverage of the hydrophobic proteome. Central to the analysis was a differential solubility fractionation (DSF) procedure using n-octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside. The study achieved a significant increase (330) in the total number of known expressed proteins. From 612 identified, 185 were predicted to contain transmembrane domains or be associated with the membrane and 190 to be hydrophobic. The DSF procedure increased the efficacy of identifying membrane proteins by up to 169% and was economical, requiring far fewer runs (12% of machine time) to analyze the proteome compared to procedures without DSF. The analysis of peptide spectral counts enabled the assessment of growth temperature specific proteins. This semiquantitative analysis was particularly useful for identifying low abundance proteins unable to be quantified using labeling strategies. The proteogenomic analysis of the newly identified proteins revealed many cellular processes not previously associated with adaptation of the cell. This DSF-based approach is likely to benefit proteomic analyses of hydrophobic proteins for a broad range of biological systems.

Substrate-induced Assembly of Methanococcoides burtoniid-Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase Dimers into Decamers

Like many enzymes, the biogenesis of the multi-subunit CO(2)-fixing enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) in different organisms requires molecular chaperones. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the large (L) subunits of the Rubisco from the archaeabacterium Methanococcoides burtonii assemble into functional dimers (L(2)). However, further assembly into pentamers of L(2) (L(10)) occurs when expressed in tobacco chloroplasts or E. coli producing RuBP. In vitro analyses indicate that the sequential assembly of L(2) into L(10) (via detectable L(4) and L(6) intermediates) occurs without chaperone involvement and is stimulated by protein rearrangements associated with either the binding of substrate RuBP, the tight binding transition state analog carboxyarabinitol-1,5-bisphosphate, or inhibitory divalent metal ions within the active site. The catalytic properties of L(2) and L(10) M. burtonii Rubisco (MbR) were indistinguishable. At 25 degrees C they both shared a low specificity for CO(2) over O(2) (1.1 mol x mol(-1)) and RuBP carboxylation rates that were distinctively enhanced at low pH (approximately 4 s(-1) at pH 6, relative to 0.8 s(-1) at pH 8) with a temperature optimum of 55 degrees C. Like other archaeal Rubiscos, MbR also has a high O(2) affinity (K(m)(O(2)) = approximately 2.5 microM). The catalytic and structural similarities of MbR to other archaeal Rubiscos contrast with its closer sequence homology to bacterial L(2) Rubisco, complicating its classification within the Rubisco superfamily.