Conservative mutation

The globin fold has been used to study evolutionary constraints for maintaining structure and function. Evolutionary divergence is primarily constrained by conservation of the hydrophobicity of buried residues. In contrast, neither conserved sequence nor size-compensatory mutations in the hydrophobic core are important. Proteins adapt to mutations in buried residues by small changes of overall structure that in the globins involve movements of entire helices relative to each other. 

Substances that do not target the active site but display inhibition by allosteric mechanisms are associated with a lower risk of unwanted interference with related cellular enzymes. Allosteric inhibition of the viral polymerase is employed in the case of HIV-1 nonnucleosidic RT inhibitors (NNRTl, see chapter by Zimmermann et al., this volume) bind outside the RT active site and act by blocking a conformational change of the enzyme essential for catalysis. A potential disadvantage of targeting regions distant from the active site is that these may be subject to a lower selective pressure for sequence conservation than the active site itself, which can lower the threshold for escape of the virus by mutation. 

In the Rieske proteins from bci or b f complexes, a third loop ( Pro loop, part of (38-/39 containing the highly conserved sequence Gly-Pro-Ala-Pro) covers the cluster from the other side. Mutations in the Pro loop have shown that this loop is critical for cluster stability... 

Early mutational studies of the Rieske protein from 6ci complexes have been performed with the intention of identifying the ligands of the Rieske cluster. These studies have shown that the four conserved cysteine residues as well as the two conserved histidine residues are essential for the insertion of the [2Fe-2S] cluster (44, 45). Small amounts of a Rieske cluster with altered properties were obtained in Rhodobacter capsulatus when the second cysteine in the cluster binding loop II (Cys 155, corresponding to Cys 160 in the bovine ISF) was replaced by serine (45). The fact that all four cysteine residues are essential in Rieske clusters from be complexes, but that only two cysteines are conserved in Rieske-type clusters, led to the suggestion that the Rieske protein may contain a disulfide bridge the disulfide bridge was finally shown to exist in the X-ray structure (9). 

Rifampicin is the semisynthetic derivative used widely in the UK. Resistance to rifampicin is primarily due to chromosomal mutations resulting in an altered RNA polymerase which is less well inhibited by the drug. The mutations tend to be clustered within short conserved regions of the J3 subunit gene of RNA polymerase. Similar mutations have been found in all bacterial species studied thus far. 

TKase is a homodimeric protein with a subunit of about 70kDa. The X-ray structures of TKase of E. colif S. cerevisiaeX Leishmania mexicana and mize have been solved. In addition, the crystal structures of a number of site-directed mutants have been determined. Schneider and co-workers have reported a series of studies in which they have mutated important residues of active site of TKase to elucidate the reaction mechanism and explain the origin of the stereospecificity of the C—C bond-forming process (Table The conserved... 

Mutations in Conserved Amino Acids in vWiDH region ... 

The functional consequences of mutations in other amino acids within the conserved sequence around Asp351,... 

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