Jackie A. Wilce

Prokaryotic origins for the mitochondrial alternative oxidase and plastid terminal oxidase nuclear genes

The mitochondrial alternative oxidase is a diiron carboxylate quinol oxidase (Dox) found in plants and some fungi and protists, but not animals. The plastid terminal oxidase is distantly related to alternative oxidase and is most likely also a Dox protein. Database searches revealed that the α‐proteobacterium Novosphingobium aromaticivorans and the cyanobacteria Nostoc sp. PCC7120, Synechococcus sp. WH8102 and Prochlorococcus marinus subsp. pastoris CCMP1378 each possess a Dox homolog. Each prokaryotic protein conforms to the current structural models of the Dox active site and phylogenetic analyses suggest that the eukaryotic Dox genes arose from an ancestral prokaryotic gene.

RNA-Binding Proteins That Target the Androgen Receptor mRNA

Recent efforts to elucidate mechanisms of posttranscriptional gene regulation have resulted in the description of both cis ‐ and trans ‐acting factors which affect the stability and translational efficiency of specific mRNAs. Here we summarise some of the concepts in this field, with particular attention to recently discovered protein/RNA interactions involving the human androgen receptor mRNA. Such systems are of interest for their potential as targets for the modulation of protein production.

Crystallization of the Bacillus subtilis RTP–DNA complex prepared using NMR spectroscopy

The replication terminator protein (RTP)-DNA complex of Bacillus subtilis is responsible for the arrest of DNA replication at terminator sites in the B. subtilis chromosome. The crystallization and preliminary diffraction data analysis for the complex of an (15)N-labelled mutant form of RTP and a symmetrical form of its DNA-binding site is reported. NMR spectroscopy was used to assess the stoichiometry of complex formation, with the sample containing the most homogeneous solution of complex giving rise to diffracting crystals. Synchrotron-radiation data to 2.5 A were collected from a crystal of space group P3(2)21, unit-cell parameters a = b = 44.780, c = 395.582 A, containing an RTP dimer within the asymmetric unit.

Synthesis and structural analysis of the N-terminal domain of the thyroid hormone-binding protein transthyretin.

Abstract Transthyretin (TTR) is a 55 kDa protein responsible for the transport of thyroid hormones and retinol in human serum. Misfolded forms of the protein are implicated in the amyloid diseases familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy and senile systemic amyloidosis. Its folding properties and stabilization by ligands are of current interest due to their importance in understanding and combating these diseases. To assist in such studies we developed a method for the solid phase synthesis of the monomeric unit of a TTR analogue and its folding to form a functional 55 kDa tetramer. The monomeric unit of the protein was chemically synthesized in three parts, comprising amino acid residues 1–51, 54–99 and 102–127, and ligated using chemoselective thioether ligation chemistry. The synthetic protein was folded and assembled to a tetrameric structure in the presence of the TTRs native ligand, thyroxine, as shown by gel filtration chromatography, native gel electrophoresis, TTR antibody recognition and thyroid hormone binding. In the current study the solution structure of the first of these fragment peptides, TTR(1–51) is examined to determine its intrinsic propensity to form β-sheet structure, potentially involved in amyloid fibril formation by TTR. Despite the presence of extensive β-structure in the native form of the protein, the N-terminal fragment adopts an essentially random coil conformation in solution.