Christine Evrard

Primary Structure of Selected Archaeal Mesophilic and Extremely Thermophilic Outer Surface Layer Proteins

The archaea are recognized as a separate third domain of life together with the bacteria and eucarya. The archaea include the methanogens, extreme halophiles, thermoplasmas, sulfate reducers and sulfur metabolizing thermophiles, which thrive in different habitats such as anaerobic niches, salt lakes, and marine hydrothermals systems and continental solfataras. Many of these habitats represent extreme environments in respect to temperature, osmotic pressure and pH-values and remind on the conditions of the early earth. The cell envelope structures were one of the first biochemical characteristics of archaea studied in detail. The most common archaeal cell envelope is composed of a single crystalline protein or glycoprotein surface layer (S-layer), which is associated with the outside of the cytoplasmic membrane. The S-layers are directly exposed to the extreme environment and can not be stabilized by cellular components. Therefore, from comparative studies of mesophilic and extremely thermophilic S-layer proteins hints can be obtained about the molecular mechanisms of protein stabilization at high temperatures. First crystallization experiments of surface layer proteins under microgravity conditions were successful. Here, we report on the biochemical features of selected mesophilic and extremely archaeal S-layer (glyco-) proteins.

Crystal Structures of Oxidized and Reduced Forms of Human Mitochondrial Thioredoxin 2.

Mammalian thioredoxin 2 is a mitochondrial isoform of highly evolutionary conserved thioredoxins. Thioredoxins are small ubiquitous protein–disulfide oxidoreductases implicated in a large variety of biological functions. In mammals, thioredoxin 2 is encoded by a nuclear gene and is targeted to mitochondria by a N‐terminal mitochondrial presequence. Recently, mitochondrial thioredoxin 2 was shown to interact with components of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and to play a role in the control of mitochondrial membrane potential, regulating mitochondrial apoptosis signaling pathway. Here we report the first crystal structures of a mammalian mitochondrial thioredoxin 2. Crystal forms of reduced and oxidized human thioredoxin 2 are described at 2.0 and 1.8 Å resolution. Though the folding is rather similar to that of human cytosolic/nuclear thioredoxin 1, important differences are observed during the transition between the oxidized and the reduced states of human thioredoxin 2, compared with human thioredoxin 1. In spite of the absence of the Cys residue implicated in dimer formation in human thioredoxin 1, dimerization still occurs in the crystal structure of human thioredoxin 2, mainly mediated by hydrophobic contacts, and the dimers are associated to form two‐dimensional polymers. Interestingly, the structure of human thioredoxin 2 reveals possible interaction domains with human peroxiredoxin 5, a substrate protein of human thioredoxin 2 in mitochondria.

PCAM: a multi-user facility-based protein crystallization apparatus for microgravity

A facility-based protein crystallization apparatus for microgravity (PCAM) has been constructed and flown on a series of Space Shuttle Missions. The hardware development was undertaken largely because of the many important examples of quality improvements gained from crystal growth in the diffusion-limited environment in space. The concept was based on the adaptation for microgravity of a commonly available crystallization tray to increase sample density, to facilitate co-investigator participation and to improve flight logistics and handling. A co-investigator group representing scientists from industry, academia, and government laboratories has been established. Microgravity applications of the hardware have produced improvements in a number of structure-based crystallographic studies and include examples of enabling research. Additionally, the facility has been used to support fundamental research in protein crystal growth which has delineated factors contributing to the effect of microgravity on the growth and quality of protein crystals.

A crystal of a typical EF-hand protein grown under microgravity diffracts X-rays beyond 0.9 Å resolution

We report on our recent observation that crystals of a typical EF-hand protein (parvalbumin or Pa; Ca-loaded component from pike muscle with isoelectric point 4.10) grown under microgravity conditions diffract X-rays to a resolution better than 0.9 A. The crystals were grown in the US space shuttle and characterized at 100 K, using an X-ray synchrotron beam. An effective atomic resolution has been achieved and substates in the conformation of the protein are observed. Large crystals up to 3 mm were also obtained.

Structure of PBP-A from Thermosynechococcus elongatus, a Penicillin-Binding Protein Closely Related to Class A β-Lactamases

Molecular evolution has always been a subject of discussions, and researchers are interested in understanding how proteins with similar scaffolds can catalyze different reactions. In the superfamily of serine penicillin-recognizing enzymes, D-alanyl-D-alanine peptidases and beta-lactamases are phylogenetically linked but feature large differences of reactivity towards their respective substrates. In particular, while beta-lactamases hydrolyze penicillins very fast, leading to their inactivation, these molecules inhibit d-alanyl-d-alanine peptidases by forming stable covalent penicilloyl enzymes. In cyanobacteria, we have discovered a new family of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) presenting all the sequence features of class A beta-lactamases but having a six-amino-acid deletion in the conserved Omega-loop and lacking the essential Glu166 known to be involved in the penicillin hydrolysis mechanism. With the aim of evolving a member of this family into a beta-lactamase, PBP-A from Thermosynechococcus elongatus has been chosen because of its thermostability. Based on sequence alignments, introduction of a glutamate in position 158 of the shorter Omega-loop afforded an enzyme with a 50-fold increase in the rate of penicillin hydrolysis. The crystal structures of PBP-A in the free and penicilloylated forms at 1.9 A resolution and of L158E mutant at 1.5 A resolution were also solved, giving insights in the catalytic mechanism of the proteins. Since all the active-site elements of PBP-A-L158E, including an essential water molecule, are almost perfectly superimposed with those of a class A beta-lactamase such as TEM-1, the question why our mutant is still 5 orders of magnitude less active as a penicillinase remains and our results emphasize how far we are from understanding the secrets of enzymes. Based on the few minor differences between the active sites of PBP-A and TEM-1, mutations were introduced in the L158E enzyme, but while activities on D-Ala-D-Ala mimicking substrates were severely impaired, further improvement in penicillinase activity was unsuccessful.

5-(thien-2-yl) uracil analogs : 5-(5-methylthien-2-yl)-2'-deoxyuridine, 5-(5-thien-2-yl)-2'-deoxyuridine, and 5-(5-bromothien-2-yl)-2'-deoxyuridine

Crystal structures of 5-(5-methylthien-2-yl)-2′-deoxyuridine (I), 5-(5-thien-2-yl)-2′-deoxyuridine (II) and 5-(5-bromothien-2-yl)-2′-deoxyuridine (III) have been obtained from data collected on a four-circle Enraf-Nonius diffractometer (CAD-4 system). Space group, unit/cell parameters and finalR indices are:I, monoclinic,P21,a=9.105(2),b=20.819(2),c=7.932(2) Å, β=98.79(2)°,R=5.7%;II, monoclinic,P21,a=8.720(4),b=20.793(4),c=7.884(4) Å, β=95.06(2)°,R=5.8%;III, monoclinic,P21,a=9.260(2),b=41.655(7),c=7.926(2) Å, β=97.996(13)°,R=9.4%. Structural properties of the title compounds are compared with those of 5-(5-chlorothien-2-yl)-2′-deoxyuridine (IV) previously reported in order to explain their affinity for HSV-1 thymidine kinase and their eventual interaction with viral DNA polymerase. The main structural features observed are the coplanarity of the uracil and thienyl cycles stabilized by a S−O intramolecular interaction and the formation of dimeric intermolecular H bonds between two uracil moieties.

Engineering an allosteric binding site for aminoglycosides into TEM1-β-Lactamase.

Allosteric regulation of enzyme activity is a remarkable property of many biological catalysts. Up till now, engineering an allosteric regulation into native, unregulated enzymes has been achieved by the creation of hybrid proteins in which a natural receptor, whose conformation is controlled by ligand binding, is inserted into an enzyme structure. Here, we describe a monomeric enzyme, TEM1‐β‐lactamase, that features an allosteric aminoglycoside binding site created de novo by directed‐evolution methods. β‐Lactamases are highly efficient enzymes involved in the resistance of bacteria against β‐lactam antibiotics, such as penicillin. Aminoglycosides constitute another class of antibiotics that prevent bacterial protein synthesis, and are neither substrates nor ligands of the native β‐lactamases. Here we show that the engineered enzyme is regulated by the binding of kanamycin and other aminoglycosides. Kinetic and structural analyses indicate that the activation mechanism involves expulsion of an inhibitor that binds to an additional, fortuitous site on the engineered protein. These analyses also led to the defining of conditions that allowed an aminoglycoside to be detected at low concentration.

X-ray crystal structures of three nonbenzodiazepinic ligands for the benzodiazepine receptor sites: SR95926, CMW1842, and L16317:nab initio MO study of the electronic properties

The crystal structures ofp-methoxyphenyl-3-triazolo [4,3-a] isoquinoline (SR95926),p-methoxyphenyl-3-triazolophtalazine (CMW1842), andp-methoxyphenyl-3-N-dimethoxyethylamino-6-triazolophtalazine (L16317) have been solved by direct methods from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, and refined by full-matrix least squares. SR95926: monoclinic,P21/n,a=20.950(3),b=6.769(1),c=9.465(2) Å,β=100.90(1)°. CMW1842: triclinic,P¯1,a=8.784(1),b=9.160(4),c=8.555(1) Å,α=99.10(2),β=93.90(1), γ=106.77(1)°. L16317: monoclinic,P21/n,a=20.124(3),b=9.586(1),c=10.788(1) Å,β=91.91(1)°. FinalR factors are 0.034, 0.037, and 0.053, respectively. Experimental geometries were used to perform STO-3Gab initio molecular-orbital calculations. A relationship between the electronic pattern within the molecules and the affinity of the benzodiazepine receptor sites is pointed out.