Thermotoga Maritima Research Articles

Structure of the inositol-1-phosphate cytidylyltransferase fromThermotoga maritima

The unique steps in the synthesis of an unusual osmolyte in hyperthermophiles, di-myo-inositol-1,1'-phosphate (DIP), involve the production of CDP-inositol and its condensation with an inositol-1-phosphate molecule to form phosphorylated DIP. While many organisms fuse both activities into a single enzyme, the two are separate in Thermotoga maritima. The crystal structure of the T. maritima inositol-1-phosphate cytidylyltransferase, which as a soluble protein may transiently associate with its membrane-embedded partner phospho-DIP synthase (P-DIPS), has now been obtained. The structure shows a conserved motif of sugar nucleotide transferases (COG1213) with a structurally reinforced C-terminal Cys bonded to the core of the protein. A bound arsenosugar identifies the location of the active site for inositol 1-phosphate. Based on homologous structures from several species and the identification of the crucial conserved aspartate residue, a catalytic mechanism for this enzyme is proposed as well as a mode for its association with P-DIPS. This structure imposes constraints on the mode of association, communication and temperature activation of two separate enzymes in T.maritima. For the first time, a working model for the membrane-bound P-DIPS unit has been constructed. This sheds light on the functioning of the phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol synthases involved in many physiological processes that are homologous to P-DIPS. This work provides fresh insights into the synthesis of the unusual thermoprotective compound DIP in hyperthermophiles.

Differential contributions of the latch in Thermotoga maritima reverse gyrase to the binding of single-stranded DNA before and after ATP hydrolysis

Reverse gyrase catalyzes the ATP-dependent introduction of positive supercoils into DNA. Supercoiling requires the functional cooperation of its N-terminal helicase domain with the C-terminal topoisomerase domain. The helicase domain contains a superfamily 2 helicase core formed by two RecA domains, H1 and H2. We show here that a helicase domain lacking the latch, an insertion in H2, fails to close the cleft in the helicase core in response to nucleotide and DNA binding at the beginning of the catalytic cycle. In the presence of the pre-hydrolysis ATP analog ADP·BeFx, however, the closed conformer can still be formed in the absence of the latch. The helicase domain lacking the latch exhibits reduced DNA affinities. The energetic difference between the two nucleotide states involved in duplex separation is diminished, rationalizing the unwinding deficiency of reverse gyrase lacking the latch. The latch most strongly contributes to binding of single-stranded DNA in the post-hydrolysis state, before phosphate release. Our results are in line with contributions of the latch in determining the direction of strand passage, and in orienting the cleaved single-stranded DNA for re-ligation. At the same time, the latch may coordinate the re-ligation reaction with strand passage and with the nucleotide cycle.

Structural Basis of a Rationally Rewired Protein-Protein Interface Critical to Bacterial Signaling

Two-component signal transduction systems typically involve a sensor histidine kinase that specifically phosphorylates a single, cognate response regulator. This protein-protein interaction relies on molecular recognition via a small set of residues in each protein. To better understand how these residues determine the specificity of kinase-substrate interactions, we rationally rewired the interaction interface of a Thermotoga maritima two-component system, HK853-RR468, to match that found in a different two-component system, Escherichia coli PhoR-PhoB. The rewired proteins interacted robustly with each other, but no longer interacted with the parent proteins. Analysis of the crystal structures of the wild-type and mutant protein complexes and a systematic mutagenesis study reveal how individual mutations contribute to the rewiring of interaction specificity. Our approach and conclusions have implications for studies of other protein-protein interactions and protein evolution and for the design of novel protein interfaces.

Catalytic mechanism and origin of high activity of cellulase TmCel12A at high temperature: a quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical study

Understanding the factors that determine the catalytic efficiency of cellulases is of considerable importance in cellulosic ethanol production, especially at high temperature. The cellulase 12A from the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima (TmCel12A) is a possible candidate for accelerating the rate of hydrolysis via temperature elevation up to as high as 95 °C. However, the details of the catalytic mechanism and origin of the activity of TmCel12A at high temperature have not been well studied. Here, the enzyme-catalyzed reaction is explored using free energy simulations (potential of mean force) with umbrella sampling and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (SCC-DFTB/MM) potential at both relatively low (37 °C) and high (85 °C) temperatures. The free energy barriers for glycosylation and deglycosylation are calculated to be 22.5 ± 0.4 and 24.5 ± 0.7 kcal · mol−1 at 85 °C, respectively. The barrier for deglycosylation is found to decrease with increasing temperature or as a result of the Y61 → G mutation, consistent with experimental observations. The transition state for glycosylation and deglycosylation obtained from the simulations is in an oxocarbonium state with the −1 glucose ring having an E3 envelop (or 4H3 half-chair) conformation. A unique characteristic of the TmCel12A structure seems to be the existence of a stable moiety that may play a role in “holding” cellulose at the binding site with the correct orientation for the reaction even at 85 °C. This stable moiety (comprising hydrogen-bonded E116, E134, E227 and an active-site water molecule) may be one of the important factors for the relatively high activity of TmCel12A at high temperature.

Allosteric inhibitor specificity of Thermotoga maritima 3-deoxy-d-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase

3-Deoxy-d-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate synthase (DAH7PS) catalyses the first step of the shikimate pathway for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids. Allosteric regulation of Thermotoga maritima DAH7PS is mediated by l-Tyr binding to a discrete ACT regulatory domain appended to a core catalytic (β/α)8 barrel. Variants of T. maritima DAH7PS (TmaDAH7PS) were created to probe the role of key residues in inhibitor selection. Substitution Ser31Gly severely reduced inhibition by l-Tyr. In contrast both l-Tyr and l-Phe inhibited the TmaHis29Ala variant, while the variant where Ser31 and His29 were interchanged (His29Ser/Ser31His), was inhibited to a greater extent by l-Phe than l-Tyr. These studies highlight the role and importance of His29 and Ser31 for determining both inhibitory ligand selectivity and the potency of allosteric response by TmaDAH7PS.

Why Is the GMN Motif Conserved in the CorA/Mrs2/Alr1 Superfamily of Magnesium Transport Proteins?

Members of the CorA/Mrs2/Alr1 superfamily of transport proteins mediate magnesium uptake in all kingdoms of life. Family members have a low degree of sequence conservation but are characterized by a conserved extracellular loop. While the degree of sequence conservation in the loop deviates to some extent between family members, the GMN family signature motif is always present. Structural and functional data imply that the loop plays a central role in magnesium selectivity, and recent biochemical data suggest it is crucial for stabilizing the pentamer in the magnesium-free (putative open) conformation. In this study, we present a detailed structure-function analysis of the extracellular loop of CorA from Thermotoga maritima, which provides molecular insight into how the loop mediates these two functions. The data show that loop residues outside of the GMN motif can be substituted if they support the pentameric state, but the residues of the GMN motif are intolerant to substitution. We conclude that G(312) is absolutely required for magnesium uptake, M(313) is absolutely required for pentamer integrity in the putative open conformation, and N(314) plays a role in both of these functions. These observations suggest a molecular reason why the GMN motif is conserved throughout the CorA/Mrs2/Alr1 superfamily.

Development of a novel fluorescent protein construct by genetically fusing green fluorescent protein to the N‐terminal of aspartate dehydrogenase

We developed a fluorescent protein construct by genetically fusing green fluorescent protein (GFP) to aspartate dehydrogenase from Thermotoga maritima. The fusion protein was cloned, heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli cells, and purified by Ni-chelate affinity chromatography. It was then introduced into a measurement cuvette to monitor its fluorescence signal. Aspartate dehydrogenase functioned as the biorecognition element, and aspartate-induced conformational change was converted to a fluorescence signal by GFP. The recombinant protein responded to l-aspartate (l-Asp) linearly within the concentration range of 1-50 mM, and it was capable of giving a fluorescence signal in 1 Min. Although a linear response was also observed for l-Glu, the fluorescence signal was 2.7 times lower than that observed for l-Asp. In the present study, we describe two novelties: development of a genetically encoded fluorescent protein construct for monitoring of l-Asp in vitro, and employment of aspartate dehydrogenase scaffold as a biorecognition element. A few genetically encoded amino-acid biosensors have been described in the literature, but to our knowledge, a protein has not been constructed solely for determination of l-Asp. Periplasmic ligand binding proteins offer high binding affinity in the micromolar range, and they are frequently used as biorecognition elements. Instead of choosing a periplasmic l-Asp binding protein, we attempted to use the substrate specificity of aspartate dehydrogenase enzyme.

Discovery and characterization of a novel ATP/polyphosphate xylulokinase from a hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima

Xylulokinase (XK, E.C. 2.7.1.17) is one of the key enzymes in xylose metabolism and it is essential for the activation of pentoses for the sustainable production of biocommodities from biomass sugars. The open reading frame (TM0116) from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima MSB8 encoding a putative xylulokinase were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 Star (DE3) in the Luria-Bertani and auto-inducing high-cell-density media. The basic biochemical properties of this thermophilic XK were characterized. This XK has the optimal temperature of 85 °C. Under a suboptimal condition of 60 °C, the k cat was 83 s⁻¹, and the K(m) values for xylulose and ATP were 1.24 and 0.71 mM, respectively. We hypothesized that this XK could work on polyphosphate possibly because this ancestral thermophilic microorganism utilizes polyphosphate to regulate the Embden-Meyerhof pathway and its substrate-binding residues are somewhat similar to those of other ATP/polyphosphate-dependent kinases. This XK was found to work on low-cost polyphosphate, exhibiting 41 % of its specific activity on ATP. This first ATP/polyphosphate XK could have a great potential for xylose utilization in thermophilic ethanol-producing microorganisms and cell-free biosystems for low-cost biomanufacturing without the use of ATP.

Biomimetic assembly and activation of [FeFe]-hydrogenases

Hydrogenases are the most active molecular catalysts for hydrogen production and uptake, and could therefore facilitate the development of new types of fuel cell. In [FeFe]-hydrogenases, catalysis takes place at a unique di-iron centre (the [2Fe] subsite), which contains a bridging dithiolate ligand, three CO ligands and two CN(-) ligands. Through a complex multienzymatic biosynthetic process, this [2Fe] subsite is first assembled on a maturation enzyme, HydF, and then delivered to the apo-hydrogenase for activation. Synthetic chemistry has been used to prepare remarkably similar mimics of that subsite, but it has failed to reproduce the natural enzymatic activities thus far. Here we show that three synthetic mimics (containing different bridging dithiolate ligands) can be loaded onto bacterial Thermotoga maritima HydF and then transferred to apo-HydA1, one of the hydrogenases of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii algae. Full activation of HydA1 was achieved only when using the HydF hybrid protein containing the mimic with an azadithiolate bridge, confirming the presence of this ligand in the active site of native [FeFe]-hydrogenases. This is an example of controlled metalloenzyme activation using the combination of a specific protein scaffold and active-site synthetic analogues. This simple methodology provides both new mechanistic and structural insight into hydrogenase maturation and a unique tool for producing recombinant wild-type and variant [FeFe]-hydrogenases, with no requirement for the complete maturation machinery.

Comparative molecular dynamics simulation studies for determining factors contributing to the thermostability of chemotaxis protein “CheY”

Comparative molecular dynamics simulations of chemotaxis protein “CheY” from thermophilic origin Thermotoga maritima and its mesophilic counterpart Salmonella enterica have been performed for 10 ns each at 300 and 350 K, and 20 ns each at 400 and 450 K. The trajectories were analyzed in terms of different factors like root-mean-square deviation, root-mean-square fluctuation, radius of gyration, solvent accessible surface area, H-bonds, salt bridge content, and protein–solvent interactions which indicate distinct differences between the two of them. The two proteins also follow dissimilar unfolding pathways. The overall flexibility calculated by the trace of the diagonalized covariance matrix displays similar flexibility of both the proteins near their optimum growth temperatures. However, at higher temperatures mesophilic protein shows increased overall flexibility than its thermophilic counterpart. Principal component analysis also indicates that the essential subspaces explored by the simulations of two proteins at different temperatures are nonoverlapping and they show significantly different directions of motion. However, there are significant overlaps within the trajectories and similar direction of motions are observed for both proteins at 300 K. Overall, the mesophilic protein leads to increased conformational sampling of the phase space than its thermophilic counterpart. This is the first ever study of thermostability of CheY protein homologs by using protein dynamism as a main impact. Our study might be used as a model for studying the molecular basis of thermostability of two homologous proteins from two organisms living at different temperatures with less visible differences.

Improved recombinant cellulase expression in chloroplast of tobacco through promoter engineering and 5′ amplification promoting sequence

Economical production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass still faces many technical limitations. Cost-effective production of fermentable sugars is still not practical for large-scale production of bioethanol due to high costs of lignocellulolytic enzymes. Therefore, plant molecular farming, where plants are used as bioreactors, was developed for the mass production of cell wall degrading enzymes that will help reduce costs. Subcellular targeting is also potentially more suitable for the accumulation of recombinant cellulases. Herein, we generated transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum cv. SR1) that accumulated Thermotoga maritima BglB cellulase, which was driven by the alfalfa RbcsK-1A promoter and contained a small subunit of the rubisco complex transit peptide. The generated transformants possessed high specific BglB activity and did not show any abnormal phenotypes. Furthermore, we genetically engineered the RbcsK-1A promoter (MRbcsK-1A) and fused the amplification promoting sequence (aps) to MRbcsK-1A promoter to obtain high expression of BglB in transgenic plants. AMRsB plant lines with aps-MRbcsK-1A promoter showed the highest specific activity of BglB, and the accumulated BglB protein represented up to 9.3% of total soluble protein. When BglB was expressed in Arabidopsis and tobacco plants, the maximal production capacity of recombinant BglB was 0.59 and 1.42mg/g wet weight, respectively. These results suggests that suitable recombinant expression of cellulases in subcellular compartments such as chloroplasts will contribute to the cost-effective production of enzymes, and will serve as the solid foundation for the future commercialization of bioethanol production via plant molecular farming.

Carboxyl terminal domain basic amino acids of mycobacterial topoisomerase I bind DNA to promote strand passage

Bacterial DNA topoisomerase I (topoI) carries out relaxation of negatively supercoiled DNA through a series of orchestrated steps, DNA binding, cleavage, strand passage and religation. The N-terminal domain (NTD) of the type IA topoisomerases harbor DNA cleavage and religation activities, but the carboxyl terminal domain (CTD) is highly diverse. Most of these enzymes contain a varied number of Zn2+ finger motifs in the CTD. The Zn2+ finger motifs were found to be essential in Escherichia coli topoI but dispensable in the Thermotoga maritima enzyme. Although, the CTD of mycobacterial topoI lacks Zn2+ fingers, it is indispensable for the DNA relaxation activity of the enzyme. The divergent CTD harbors three stretches of basic amino acids needed for the strand passage step of the reaction as demonstrated by a new assay. We also show that the basic amino acids constitute an independent DNA-binding site apart from the NTD and assist the simultaneous binding of two molecules of DNA to the enzyme, as required during the catalytic step. Although the NTD binds to DNA in a site-specific fashion to carry out DNA cleavage and religation, the basic residues in CTD bind to non-scissile DNA in a sequence-independent manner to promote the crucial strand passage step during DNA relaxation. The loss of Zn2+ fingers from the mycobacterial topoI could be associated with Zn2+ export and homeostasis.

Reinterpreting the Action of ATP Analogs on KATP Channels

Neuroendocrine-type K(ATP) channels, (SUR1/Kir6.2)4, couple the transmembrane flux of K(+), and thus membrane potential, with cellular metabolism in various cell types including insulin-secreting β-cells. Mutant channels with reduced activity are a cause of congenital hyperinsulinism, whereas hyperactive channels are a cause of neonatal diabetes. A current regulatory model proposes that ATP hydrolysis is required to switch SUR1 into post-hydrolytic conformations able to antagonize the inhibitory action of nucleotide binding at the Kir6.2 pore, thus coupling enzymatic and channel activities. Alterations in SUR1 ATPase activity are proposed to contribute to neonatal diabetes and type 2 diabetes risk. The regulatory model is partly based on the reduced ability of ATP analogs such as adenosine 5'-(β,γ-imino)triphosphate (AMP-PNP) and adenosine 5'-O-(thiotriphosphate) (ATPγS) to stimulate channel activity, presumably by reducing hydrolysis. This study uses a substitution at the catalytic glutamate, SUR(1E1507Q), with a significantly increased affinity for ATP, to probe the action of these ATP analogs on conformational switching. ATPγS, a slowly hydrolyzable analog, switches SUR1 conformations, albeit with reduced affinity. Nonhydrolyzable AMP-PNP and adenosine 5'-(β,γ-methylenetriphosphate) (AMP-PCP) alone fail to switch SUR1, but do reverse ATP-induced switching. AMP-PCP displaces 8-azido-[(32)P]ATP from the noncanonical NBD1 of SUR1. This is consistent with structural data on an asymmetric bacterial ABC protein that shows that AMP-PNP binds selectively to the noncanonical NBD to prevent conformational switching. The results imply that MgAMP-PNP and MgAMP-PCP (AMP-PxP) fail to activate K(ATP) channels because they do not support NBD dimerization and conformational switching, rather than by limiting enzymatic activity.

Novel bacterial groups dominate in a thermophilic methanogenic hexadecane-degrading consortium

A methanogenic hexadecane-degrading consortium designated SK originating from the Shengli oil field was cultured at 55 °C. The structure and dynamics of the microbial community during successive transfers were examined using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) fingerprinting and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments. The archaeal community was mainly composed of hydrogenotrophic methanogens affiliated with Methanothermobacter crinale and acetoclastic methanogens related to Methanosaeta thermophila. Over four-fifths of the bacterial clones in the hexadecane-degrading subcultures exhibited < 90% similarity to sequences of known type strains, and clones were mainly grouped into unclassified bacteria (66.3-66.7%), Firmicutes (9.6-10.6%), Thermotogae (7.0-7.7%), and Nitrospira (5.3-5.8%). The dominant operating taxonomic unit (OTU) (41.3-43.0% of all clones) representing terminal restriction fragment (T-RF) 125 bp exhibited only 82.6% sequence similarity to Thermotoga maritime and clustered in a monophyletic, deep-branching lineage (designated Shengli cluster). Two other OTUs (T-RFs 66 and 67 bp) were assigned to uncultured members of the candidate phylum OP8 and Firmicutes, respectively. These novel bacterial assemblages are likely to be involved in the process of hexadecane degradation because of their high abundance in the enrichments. These result substantially expand the knowledge of the extent of bacterial diversity associated with the anaerobic degradation of alkanes under thermophilic conditions.

Modular system for assessment of glycosyl hydrolase secretion in Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius

The facultatively anaerobic, thermophilic bacterium Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius is being developed as an industrial micro-organism for cellulosic bioethanol production. Process improvement would be gained by enhanced secretion of glycosyl hydrolases. Here we report the construction of a modular system for combining promoters, signal peptide encoding regions and glycosyl hydrolase genes to facilitate selection of the optimal combination in G. thermoglucosidasius. Initially, a minimal three-part E. coli-Geobacillus sp. shuttle vector pUCG3.8 was constructed using Gibson isothermal DNA assembly. The three PCR amplicons contained the pMB1 E. coli origin of replication and multiple cloning site (MCS) of pUC18, the Geobacillus sp. origin of replication pBST1 and the thermostable kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase gene (knt), respectively. G. thermoglucosidasius could be transformed with pUCG3.8 at an increased efficiency [2.8×10(5) c.f.u. (µg DNA)(-1)] compared to a previously reported shuttle vector, pUCG18. A modular cassette for the inducible expression and secretion of proteins in G. thermoglucosidasius, designed to allow the simple interchange of parts, was demonstrated using the endoglucanase Cel5A from Thermotoga maritima as a secretion target. Expression of cel5A was placed under the control of a cellobiose-inducible promoter (Pβglu) together with a signal peptide encoding sequence from a G. thermoglucosidasius C56-YS93 endo-β-1,4-xylanase. The interchange of parts was demonstrated by exchanging the cel5A gene with the 3' region of a gene with homology to celA from Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus and substituting Pβglu for the synthetic, constitutive promoter PUp2n38, which increased Cel5A activity five-fold. Cel5A and CelA activities were detected in culture supernatants indicating successful expression and secretion. N-terminal protein sequencing of Cel5A carrying a C-terminal FLAG epitope confirmed processing of the signal peptide sequence.

The 3.2 Å resolution structure of a receptor: CheA:CheW signaling complex defines overlapping binding sites and key residue interactions within bacterial chemosensory arrays.

Bacterial chemosensory arrays are composed of extended networks of chemoreceptors (also known as methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins, MCPs), the histidine kinase CheA, and the adaptor protein CheW. Models of these arrays have been developed from cryoelectron microscopy, crystal structures of binary and ternary complexes, NMR spectroscopy, mutational, data and biochemical studies. A new 3.2 Å resolution crystal structure of a Thermotoga maritima MCP protein interaction region in complex with the CheA kinase-regulatory module (P4-P5) and adaptor protein CheW provides sufficient detail to define residue contacts at the interfaces formed among the three proteins. As in a previous 4.5 Å resolution structure, CheA-P5 and CheW interact through conserved hydrophobic surfaces at the ends of their β-barrels to form pseudo 6-fold symmetric rings in which the two proteins alternate around the circumference. The interface between P5 subdomain 1 and CheW subdomain 2 was anticipated from previous studies, whereas the related interface between CheW subdomain 1 and P5 subdomain 2 has only been observed in these ring assemblies. The receptor forms an unexpected structure in that the helical hairpin tip of each subunit has "unzipped" into a continuous α-helix; four such helices associate into a bundle, and the tetramers bridge adjacent P5-CheW rings in the lattice through interactions with both P5 and CheW. P5 and CheW each bind a receptor helix with a groove of conserved hydrophobic residues between subdomains 1 and 2. P5 binds the receptor helix N-terminal to the tip region (lower site), whereas CheW binds the same helix with inverted polarity near the bundle end (upper site). Sequence comparisons among different evolutionary classes of chemotaxis proteins show that the binding partners undergo correlated changes at key residue positions that involve the lower site. Such evolutionary analyses argue that both CheW and P5 bind to the receptor tip at overlapping positions. Computational genomics further reveal that two distinct CheW proteins in Thermotogae utilize the analogous recognition motifs to couple different receptor classes to the same CheA kinase. Important residues for function previously identified by mutagenesis, chemical modification and biophysical approaches also map to these same interfaces. Thus, although the native CheW-receptor interaction is not observed in the present crystal structure, the bioinformatics and previous data predict key features of this interface. The companion study of the P5-receptor interface in native arrays (accompanying paper Piasta et al. (2013) Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/bi400385c) shows that, despite the non-native receptor fold in the present crystal structure, the local helix-in-groove contacts of the crystallographic P5-receptor interaction are present in native arrays and are essential for receptor regulation of kinase activity.

Effect of Dimerization on Dihydrofolate Reductase Catalysis

Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) from the hyperthermophile Thermotoga maritima (TmDHFR) forms a very stable homodimer, while DHFRs from other organisms are monomers. We investigated the effect of dimerization on DHFR catalysis by preparing a dimeric variant, Xet-3, of DHFR from Escherichia coli (EcDHFR). Introducing residues located at the TmDHFR dimer interface into EcDHFR increases the melting temperature to ∼60 °C, approximately 9 °C higher than that measured for EcDHFR. The steady-state and pre-steady-state rate constants measured for Xet-3 were similar to those of dimeric TmDHFR but significantly lower than those of the parent EcDHFR. This reduction in the degree of catalytic competence is likely a consequence of the loss of flexibility of catalytically important loop regions of EcDHFR on dimerization and a compromise of the electrostatic environment of the active site. In contrast, the reduced catalytic ability of TmDHFR relative to that of EcDHFR is not simply a consequence of reduced loop flexibility in the dimeric enzyme. Our studies demonstrate that EcDHFR is not a good model for understanding the properties of other DHFRs, including TmDHFR.

Site-directed mutagenesis of methionine residues for improving the oxidative stability of α-amylase from Thermotoga maritima

The oxidative stability of α-amylase (AmyC) from Thermotoga maritima was improved by mutating the methionine residues at positions 43 and 44, 55, and 62 to oxidative-resistant alanine residues. The most resistant M55A variant showed 50% residual activity in the presence of 100 mM H₂O₂, whereas the wild-type enzyme was inactive.

Ultrafast real-time visualization of active site flexibility of flavoenzyme thymidylate synthase ThyX.

In many bacteria the flavoenzyme thymidylate synthase ThyX produces the DNA nucleotide deoxythymidine monophosphate from dUMP, using methylenetetrahydrofolate as carbon donor and NADPH as hydride donor. Because all three substrates bind in close proximity to the catalytic flavin adenine dinucleotide group, substantial flexibility of the ThyX active site has been hypothesized. Using femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, we have studied the conformational heterogeneity and the conformational interconversion dynamics in real time in ThyX from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima. The dynamics of electron transfer to excited flavin adenine dinucleotide from a neighboring tyrosine residue are used as a sensitive probe of the functional dynamics of the active site. The fluorescence decay spanned a full three orders of magnitude, demonstrating a very wide range of conformations. In particular, at physiological temperatures, multiple angstrom cofactor-residue displacements occur on the picoseconds timescale. These experimental findings are supported by molecular dynamics simulations. Binding of the dUMP substrate abolishes this flexibility and stabilizes the active site in a configuration where dUMP closely interacts with the flavin cofactor and very efficiently quenches fluorescence itself. Our results indicate a dynamic selected-fit mechanism where binding of the first substrate dUMP at high temperature stabilizes the enzyme in a configuration favorable for interaction with the second substrate NADPH, and more generally have important implications for the role of active site flexibility in enzymes interacting with multiple poly-atom substrates and products. Moreover, our data provide the basis for exploring the effect of inhibitor molecules on the active site dynamics of ThyX and other multisubstrate flavoenzymes.

Exploring the structure and function of Thermotoga maritima CorA reveals the mechanism of gating and ion selectivity in Co2+/Mg2+ transport

Exploring the structure and function of <i>Thermotoga maritima</i> CorA reveals the mechanism of gating and ion selectivity in Co2+/Mg2+ transport