Site residues

In free CDK2 the active site cleft is blocked by the T-loop and Thr 160 is buried (Figure 6.20a). Substrates cannot bind and Thr 160 cannot be phosphorylated consequently free CDK2 is inactive. The conformational changes induced by cyclin A binding not only expose the active site cleft so that ATP and protein substrates can bind but also rearrange essential active site residues to make the enzyme catalytically competent (Figure 6.20b). In addition Thr... 

Figure 6.18 The PSTAIRE helix undergoes a major conformational change when CDK2 binds to cyclin A. In the inactive free CDK2 (yellow) the active site residue Glu 51 is far from the active site. Upon binding of cyclin A to CDK2 the PSTAIRE helix (hiue) rotates 90° and changes its position so that Glu 51 becomes positioned into the active site. (Adapted from P.D. Jeffry et al.. Nature 376 313-320, 1995.)...

Figure 11.10 Topological diagram of the two domains of chymotrypsin, illustrating that the essential active-site residues are part of the same two loop regions (3-4 and 5-6, red) of the two domains. These residues form the catalytic triad, the oxyanion hole (green), and the substrate binding regions (yellow and blue) including essential residues in the specificity pocket.

From a map at low resolution (5 A or higher) one can obtain the shape of the molecule and sometimes identify a-helical regions as rods of electron density. At medium resolution (around 3 A) it is usually possible to trace the path of the polypeptide chain and to fit a known amino acid sequence into the map. At this resolution it should be possible to distinguish the density of an alanine side chain from that of a leucine, whereas at 4 A resolution there is little side chain detail. Gross features of functionally important aspects of a structure usually can be deduced at 3 A resolution, including the identification of active-site residues. At 2 A resolution details are sufficiently well resolved in the map to decide between a leucine and an isoleucine side chain, and at 1 A resolution one sees atoms as discrete balls of density. However, the structures of only a few small proteins have been determined to such high resolution. 

FIGURE 16.16 Comparison of the amino acid sequences of chymotrypsinogen, trypsino-gen, and elastase. Each circle represents one amino acid. Nmnbering is based on the sequence of chymotrypsinogen. Filled circles indicate residues that are identical in all three proteins. Disnlfide bonds are indicated in yellow. The positions of the three catalytically important active-site residues (His, Asp °-, and Ser ) are indicated. 

Definitive identification of lysine as the modified active-site residue has come from radioisotope-labeling studies. NaBH4 reduction of the aldolase Schiff base intermediate formed from C-labeled dihydroxyacetone-P yields an enzyme covalently labeled with C. Acid hydrolysis of the inactivated enzyme liberates a novel C-labeled amino acid, N -dihydroxypropyl-L-lysine. This is the product anticipated from reduction of the Schiff base formed between a lysine residue and the C-labeled dihydroxy-acetone-P. (The phosphate group is lost during acid hydrolysis of the inactivated enzyme.) The use of C labeling in a case such as this facilitates the separation and identification of the telltale amino acid. 

A different mechanism operates in the wheat germ enzyme. 2,3-Bisphosphoglycerate is not a cofactor. Instead, the enzyme carries out intra-molecular phosphoryl group transfer (Figure 19.25). The C-3 phosphate is transferred to an active-site residue and then to the C-2 position of the original substrate molecule to form the product, 2-phosphoglycerate. 

Branchini, B. R., et al. (2003). A mutagenesis study of the putative luciferin binding site residues of firefly luciferase. Biochemistry 42 10429-10436. 

Determining active site residues, and residues specific for subfamilies... 

Threonine peptidases (and some cysteine and serine peptidases) have only one active site residue, which is the N-terminus of the mature protein. Such a peptidase is known as an N-terminal nucleophile hydrolase or Ntn-hydrolase. The amino group of the N-terminal residue performs the role of the general base. The catalytic subunits of the proteasome are examples of Ntn-hydrolases. 

The order and nature of the active site residues and metal ligands is conserved between homologous peptidases. All the members of a family will have the same catalytic type. 

Peptidases have been classified by the MEROPS system since 1993 [2], which has been available viatheMEROPS database since 1996 [3]. The classification is based on sequence and structural similarities. Because peptidases are often multidomain proteins, only the domain directly involved in catalysis, and which beais the active site residues, is used in comparisons. This domain is known as the peptidase unit. Peptidases with statistically significant peptidase unit sequence similarities are included in the same family. To date 186 families of peptidase have been detected. Examples from 86 of these families are known in humans. A family is named from a letter representing the catalytic type ( A for aspartic, G for glutamic, M for metallo, C for cysteine, S for serine and T for threonine) plus a number. Examples of family names are shown in Table 1. There are 53 families of metallopeptidases (24 in human), 14 of aspartic peptidases (three of which are found in human), 62 of cysteine peptidases (19 in human), 42 of serine peptidases (17 in human), four of threonine peptidases (three in human), one of ghitamicpeptidases and nine families for which the catalytic type is unknown (one in human). It should be noted that within a family not all of the members will be peptidases. Usually non-peptidase homologues are a minority and can be easily detected because not all of the active site residues are conserved. 

All peptidases within a family will have a similar tertiary structure, and it is not uncommon for peptidases in one family to have a similar structure to peptidases in another family, even though there is no significant sequence similarity. Families of peptidases with similar structures and the same order of active site residues are included in the same clan. A clan name consists of two letters, the first representing the catalytic type as before, but with the extra letter P , and the second assigned sequentially. Unlike families, a clan may contain peptidases of more than one catalytic type. So far this has only been seen for peptidases with protein nucleophiles, and these clans are named with an initial P . Only three such clans are known. Clan PA includes peptidases with a chymotrypsin-like fold, which besides serine peptidases such as chymotrypsin... 

Similar reaction mechanisms, involving general base and metal ion catalysis, in conjunction with an OH nucleophilic attack, have been proposed for thermolysin (Ref. 12) and carboxypeptidase A (Refs. 12 and 13). Both these enzymes use Zn2+ as their catalytic metal and they also have additional positively charged active site residues (His 231 in thermolysin and... 

Fig. 3 Sialidase inhibitor Neu5Ac2en 4 bound in the active site of influenza A virus sialidase (from PDB structure IfSb (Smith et al, 2001)), Left Stick model of 4 surrounded by some important active site residues. Right Electrostatic potential surface rendering of the active site (blue -positive, red - negative), (Amino acid numbering for influenza A/N2 sialidase is used throughout this review)...

Fig. 6 Superimposition of inhibitors and key active site residues from crystal structures of oseltamivir carboxylate 18 brown carbons, PDB - 2qwk) and Neu5Ac2en 4 (green carbons, PDB - IfSb) in complex with influenza A virus siaMdase. Note the alternative conformations of the...

Importantly, the crystal structure of 34 complexed with N9 sialidase (Fig. 8) indicated differences in the orientation of the guanidino group in subsite S2, and in its interaction with the active site residues, compared to that of zanamivir (Babu et al. 2000). These differences have implications for cross-reactivity of 34 with zanamivir-resistant influenza viruses that have Glul 19 mutations in the sialidase S2 subsite (see Sect. 5.1). 

Lewis DFV, Eddershaw PJ, Goldfarb PS, Tarbit MH. Molecular modelling of CYP3A4 from an alignment with CYP102 identification of key interactions between putative active site residues and CYP3A- specific chemicals. Xenobiotica 1996 10 1067-86. 

Fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase, a regulatory enzyme of gluconeogenesis (Chapter 19), catalyzes the hydrolytic release of the phosphate on carbon 2 of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate. Figure 7-8 illustrates the roles of seven active site residues. Catalysis involves a catalytic triad of one Glu and two His residues and a covalent phos-phohistidyl intermediate. 

Selenocysteine, an essential active site residue in several mammahan enzymes, arises by co-translational insertion of a previously modified tRNA. 

The crystal structure of the HNL isolated from S. bicolor (SbHNL) was determined in a complex with the inhibitor benzoic acid." The folding pattern of SbHNL is similar to that of wheat serine carboxypeptidase (CP-WII)" and alcohol dehydrogenase." A unique two-amino acid deletion in SbHNL, however, is forcing the putative active site residues away from the hydrolase binding site toward a small hydrophobic cleft, thereby defining a completely different active site architecture where the triad of a carboxypeptidase is missing. 

Figure 1 Structure of selected active site residues of MeHNL complexed with...

This study proposes amino acids most likely involved in the Ca -binding site, two putative distinct active sites, residues that probably fold in parallel behx or constitute the Asn ladder. 

The method is more sensitive due to the higher proton multiplicity and is suitable for screening proteins up to 40kDa. The key binding site residues of a protein can be identified by using a known inhibitor to identify cross-peaks in the HSQC spectrum [38]. 

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