Subramanian Karthikeyan

Crystal structure analysis of icosahedral lumazine synthase from Salmonella typhimurium, an antibacterial drug target.

Riboflavin biosynthesis is an essential pathway in bacteria, in contrast to animals, which obtain riboflavin from their diet. Therefore, the enzymes involved in the riboflavin-biosynthesis pathway are potential targets for the development of antibacterial drugs. Lumazine synthase, an enzyme that is involved in the penultimate step of riboflavin biosynthesis, catalyzes the formation of 6,7-dimethyl-8-ribityllumazine from 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate and 5-amino-6-ribitylamino-2,4-(1H,3H)-pyrimidinedione. Lumazine synthase from Salmonella typhimurium (sLS) has been cloned, overexpressed, purified and was crystallized in three forms, each with different crystal packing. The crystal structure of sLS in the monoclinic space group P2(1) has been determined with 60 subunits per asymmetric unit, packed as an icosahedron, at 3.57 Å resolution. Interestingly, sLS contains an N-terminal proline residue (Pro11) which had previously been suggested to disrupt the formation of the icosohedral assembly. In addition, comparison of the structure of sLS with known orthologous lumazine synthase structures allowed identification of the amino-acid residues involved in substrate binding and catalysis. The sLS structure reported here could serve as a starting point for the development of species-specific antibacterial drugs.

Potential anti-bacterial drug target: structural characterization of 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase from Salmonella typhimurium LT2.

3,4‐Dihydroxy‐2‐butanone‐4‐phosphate synthase (DHBPS) encoded by ribB gene is one of the first enzymes in riboflavin biosynthesis pathway and catalyzes the conversion of ribulose‐5‐phosphate (Ru5P) to 3,4‐dihydroxy‐2‐butanone‐4‐phosphate and formate. DHBPS is an attractive target for developing anti‐bacterial drugs as this enzyme is essential for pathogens, but absent in humans. The recombinant DHBPS enzyme of Salmonella requires magnesium ion for its activity and catalyzes the formation of 3,4‐dihydroxy‐2‐butanone‐4‐phosphate from Ru5P at a rate of 199 nmol min−1 mg−1 with Km value of 116 μM at 37°C. Further, we have determined the crystal structures of Salmonella DHBPS in complex with sulfate, Ru5P and sulfate‐zinc ion at a resolution of 2.80, 2.52, and 1.86 Å, respectively. Analysis of these crystal structures reveals that the acidic loop (residues 34–39) responsible for the acid‐base catalysis is disordered in the absence of substrate or metal ion at the active site. Upon binding either substrate or sulfate and metal ions, the acidic loop becomes stabilized, adopts a closed conformation and interacts with the substrate. Our structure for the first time reveals that binding of substrate Ru5P alone is sufficient for the stabilization of the acidic active site loop into a closed conformation. In addition, the Glu38 residue from the acidic active site loop undergoes a conformational change upon Ru5P binding, which helps in positioning the second metal ion that stabilizes the Ru5P and the reaction intermediates. This is the first structural report of DHBPS in complex with either substrate or metal ion from any eubacteria. Proteins 2010.

A Single-Amino-Acid Substitution in the C Terminus of PhoP Determines DNA-Binding Specificity of the Virulence-Associated Response Regulator from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis PhoP-PhoR two-component system is essential for virulence in animal models of tuberculosis. Genetic and biochemical studies indicate that PhoP regulates the expression of more than 110 genes in M. tuberculosis. The C-terminal effector domain of PhoP exhibits a winged helix-turn-helix motif with the molecular surfaces around the recognition helix (alpha 8) displaying strong positive electrostatic potential, suggesting its role in DNA binding and nucleotide sequence recognition. Here, the relative importance of interfacial alpha 8-DNA contacts has been tested through rational mutagenesis coupled with in vitro binding-affinity studies. Most PhoP mutants, each with a potential DNA contacting residue replaced with Ala, had significantly reduced DNA binding affinity. However, substitution of nonconserved Glu215 had a major effect on the specificity of recognition. Although lack of specificity does not necessarily correlate with gross change in the overall DNA binding properties of PhoP, structural superposition of the PhoP C-domain on the Escherichia coli PhoB C-domain-DNA complex suggests a base-specific interaction between Glu215 of PhoP and the ninth base of the DR1 repeat motif. Biochemical experiments corroborate these results, showing that DNA recognition specificity can be altered by as little as a single residue change of the protein or a single base change of the DNA. The results have implications for the mechanism of sequence-specific DNA binding by PhoP.

Biochemical and structural characterization of a novel halotolerant cellulase from soil metagenome

Cellulase catalyzes the hydrolysis of β-1,4-linkages of cellulose to produce industrially relevant monomeric subunits. Cellulases find their applications in pulp and paper, laundry, food and feed, textile, brewing industry and in biofuel production. These industries always have great demand for cellulases that can work efficiently even in harsh conditions such as high salt, heat, and acidic environments. While, cellulases with high thermal and acidic stability are already in use, existence of a high halotolerant cellulase is still elusive. Here, we report a novel cellulase Cel5R, obtained from soil metagenome that shows high halotolerance and thermal stability. The biochemical and functional characterization of Cel5R revealed its endoglucanase activity and high halostability. In addition, the crystal structure of Cel5R determined at 2.2 Å resolution reveals a large number of acidic residues on the surface of the protein that contribute to the halophilic nature of this enzyme. Moreover, we demonstrate that the four free and non-conserved cysteine residues (C65, C90, C231 and C273) contributes to the thermal stability of Cel5R by alanine scanning experiments. Thus, the newly identified endoglucanase Cel5R is a promising candidate for various industrial applications.

Structures of ternary complexes of aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (Rv3708c) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv

Aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (Asd; ASADH; EC 1.2.1.11) is the enzyme that lies at the first branch point in the biosynthetic pathway of important amino acids including lysine and methionine and the cell-wall component diaminopimelate (DAP). The enzymatic reaction of ASADH is the reductive dephosphorylation of aspartyl-β-phosphate (ABP) to aspartate β-semialdehyde (ASA). Since the aspartate pathway is absolutely essential for the survival of many microbes and is absent in humans, the enzymes involved in this pathway can be considered to be potential antibacterial drug targets. In this work, the structure of ASADH from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (Mtb-ASADH) has been determined in complex with glycerol and sulfate at 2.18 Å resolution and in complex with S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (SMCS) and sulfate at 1.95 Å resolution. The overall structure of Mtb-ASADH is similar to those of its orthologues. However, in the Mtb-ASADH-glycerol complex structure the glycerol molecule is noncovalently bound to the active-site residue Cys130, while in the Mtb-ASADH-SMCS complex structure the SMCS (Cys) is covalently linked to Cys130. The Mtb-ASADH-SMCS complex structurally mimics one of the intermediate steps in the proposed mechanism of ASADH enzyme catalysis. Comparison of the two complex structures revealed that the amino acids Glu224 and Arg249 undergo conformational changes upon binding of glycerol. Moreover, the structures reported here may help in the development of species-specific antibacterial drug molecules against human pathogens.

Evidence that phosphorylation of threonine in the GT motif triggers activation of PknA, a eukaryotic-type serine/threonine kinase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Phosphorylation of the activation loop in the catalytic domain of the RD family of bacterial eukaryotic‐type Ser/Thr protein kinases (STPK) induces their conformational transition from an inactive to active state. However, mechanistic insights into the phosphorylation‐mediated transition of these STPKs from an inactive to active state remain unknown. In the present study, we addressed this issue with PknA, an essential STPK from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We found that the catalytic activity of PknA is confined within the N‐terminal 283 amino acids (PknA‐283). The crystal structure of PknA‐283 in unphosphorylated form showed an ordered activation loop and existed in an inactive state preventing the phosphorylation of its cognate substrate(s). Peptide mass finger printing studies revealed that all activation loop threonines (Thr172, Thr174 and Thr180) were phosphorylated in the activated PknA‐283 protein. Substitution of Thr180 with Ala/Asp (T180A/T180D) resulted in catalytically defective mutants, whereas a double mutant replacing Thr172 and Thr174 with Ala (T172A‐T174A) was deficient in kinase activity. Analysis of PknA‐283 structure, together with biochemical studies, revealed the possibility of phosphorylation of Thr180 via a cis mechanism, whereas that of Thr172 and Thr174 occurs via a trans mechanism. Moreover, unlike wild‐type, these mutants did not show any drastic change in cell morphology in a phenotypic assay, implicating the role of all threonines in the activation loop towards the functionality of PknA. Thus, our findings offer a model for kinase activation showing that the phosphorylation of Thr180 triggers PknA to transphosphorylate Thr172/Thr174, thereby governing its functionality.

Structural basis for pH dependent monomer–dimer transition of 3,4-dihydroxy 2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase domain from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

3,4-dihydroxy 2-butanone 4-phosphate synthase (DHBPS) and GTP cyclohydrolase-II (GTPCH-II) are the two initial enzymes involved in riboflavin biosynthesis pathway, which has been shown to be essential for the pathogens. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the ribA2 gene (Rv1415) encodes for the bi-functional enzyme with DHBPS and GTPCH-II domains at N- and C-termini, respectively. We have determined three crystal structures of Mtb-DHBPS domain in complex with phosphate and glycerol at pH 6.0, with sulphate at pH 4.0 and with zinc and sulphate at pH 4.0 at 1.8, 2.06 and 2.06 Å resolution, respectively. The hydrodynamic volume and enzyme activity studies revealed that the Mtb-DHBPS domain forms a functional homo-dimer between the pH 6.0 and 9.0, however, at pH 5.0 and below, it forms a stable inactive monomer in solution. Furthermore, the functional activity of Mtb-DHBPS and its dimeric state could be restored by increasing the pH between 6.0 and 9.0. The comparison of crystal structures determined at different pH revealed that the overall three-dimensional structure of Mtb-DHBPS monomer remains the same. However, the length of the α6-helix at pH 6.0 has increased from 15 to 22 Å in pH 4.0 by increasing the number of amino acids contributing to the α6-helix from 11 to 15, achieving a higher structural stability at pH 4.0. Taken together our experiments strongly suggest that the Mtb-DHBPS domain can transit between inactive monomer to active dimer depending upon its pH values, both in solution as well in crystal structure.

ChaC2, an Enzyme for Slow Turnover of Cytosolic Glutathione

Glutathione degradation plays an important role in glutathione and redox homeostasis, and thus it is imperative to understand the enzymes and the mechanisms involved in glutathione degradation in detail. We describe here ChaC2, a member of the ChaC family of γ-glutamylcyclotransferases, as an enzyme that degrades glutathione in the cytosol of mammalian cells. ChaC2 is distinct from the previously described ChaC1, to which ChaC2 shows ∼50% sequence identity. Human and mouse ChaC2 proteins purified in vitro show 10–20-fold lower catalytic efficiency than ChaC1, although they showed comparable Km values (Km of 3.7 ± 0.4 mm and kcat of 15.9 ± 1.0 min−1 toward glutathione for human ChaC2; Km of 2.2 ± 0.4 mm and kcat of 225.2 ± 15 min−1 toward glutathione for human ChaC1). The ChaC1 and ChaC2 proteins also shared the same specificity for reduced glutathione, with no activity against either γ-glutamyl amino acids or oxidized glutathione. The ChaC2 proteins were found to be expressed constitutively in cells, unlike the tightly regulated ChaC1. Moreover, lower eukaryotes have a single member of the ChaC family that appears to be orthologous to ChaC2. In addition, we determined the crystal structure of yeast ChaC2 homologue, GCG1, at 1.34 Å resolution, which represents the first structure of the ChaC family of proteins. The catalytic site is defined by a fortuitous benzoic acid molecule bound to the crystal structure. The mechanism for binding and catalytic activity of this new enzyme of glutathione degradation, which is involved in continuous but basal turnover of cytosolic glutathione, is proposed.

Structural Basis for Competitive Inhibition of 3,4-Dihydroxy-2-Butanone-4-Phosphate Synthase from Vibrio cholerae

Background: 3,4-Dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase (DHBPS) is essential for many pathogens and is absent in humans. Results: We have characterized DHBPS from Vibrio cholerae in the presence of substrate d-ribulose 5-phosphate (Ru5P) and inhibitor 4-phospho-d-erythronohydroxamic acid (4PEH). Conclusion: 4PEH inhibits DHBPS competitively and interacts with enzyme similarly to the substrate. Significance: 4PEH can be used as a lead molecule for designing novel antibiotics. The riboflavin biosynthesis pathway has been shown to be essential in many pathogens and is absent in humans. Therefore, enzymes involved in riboflavin synthesis are considered as potential antibacterial drug targets. The enzyme 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone-4-phosphate synthase (DHBPS) catalyzes one of the two committed steps in the riboflavin pathway and converts d-ribulose 5-phosphate (Ru5P) to l-3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate and formate. Moreover, DHBPS is shown to be indispensable for Mycobacterium, Salmonella, and Helicobacter species. Despite the essentiality of this enzyme in bacteria, no inhibitor has been identified hitherto. Here, we describe kinetic and crystal structure characterization of DHBPS from Vibrio cholerae (vDHBPS) with a competitive inhibitor 4-phospho-d-erythronohydroxamic acid (4PEH) at 1.86-Å resolution. In addition, we also report the structural characterization of vDHBPS in its apo form and in complex with its substrate and substrate plus metal ions at 1.96-, 1.59-, and 2.04-Å resolution, respectively. Comparison of these crystal structures suggests that 4PEH inhibits the catalytic activity of DHBPS as it is unable to form a proposed intermediate that is crucial for DHBPS activity. Furthermore, vDHBPS structures complexed with substrate and metal ions reveal that, unlike Candida albicans, binding of substrate to vDHBPS induces a conformational change from an open to closed conformation. Interestingly, the position of second metal ion, which is different from that of Methanococcus jannaschii, strongly supports an active role in the catalytic mechanism. Thus, the kinetic and structural characterization of vDHBPS reveals the molecular mechanism of inhibition shown by 4PEH and that it can be explored further for designing novel antibiotics.

Amino Acids Involved in Polyphosphate Synthesis and Its Mobilization Are Distinct in Polyphosphate Kinase-1 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Background In bacteria polyphosphates (poly-P) are involved in cellular metabolism and development especially during stress. The enzyme, principally involved in polyphosphate biosynthesis and its mobilization leading to generation of NTPs, is known as polyphosphate kinase (PPK). Principal Findings Among two genes of polyphosphate kinases present in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we cloned and expressed PPK1 in Escherichia coli as histidine-tagged protein. This ∼86 kDa protein is capable of autophosphorylation and synthesis of poly-P as well as NTP. Among 22 conserved histidine residues, we found only His-491 is autophosphorylated and crucial for any enzymatic activity. Substitution of His-510 caused mPPK1 protein deficient but not defective in autophosphorylation, thereby contrary to earlier reports negating any role of this residue in the process. However, mutation of His-510 with either Ala or Gln affected ATP or poly-P synthesis depending on the substitution; while such effects were severe with H510A but mild with H510Q. Furthermore, mPPK1 also renders auxiliary nucleotide diphosphate kinase function by synthesizing virtually all NTPs/dNTPs from their cognate NDPs/dNDPs by utilizing poly-P as the phosphate donor albeit with varied efficiency. To assess the influence of other catalytic domain residues of mPPK1 towards its functionality, we designed mutations based on E. coli PPK1 crystal structure since it owes 68% amino acid sequence similarity with mPPK1. Interestingly, our results revealed that mutations in mPPK1 affecting poly-P synthesis always affected its ATP synthesizing ability; however, the reverse may not be true. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that amino acid residues involved in poly-P and ATP synthesizing activities of mPPK1 are distinct. Considering conserved nature of PPK1, it seems our observations have broader implications and not solely restricted to M. tuberculosis only.