Crystal structure of methenyltetrahydrofolate synthetase from Mycoplasma pneumoniae (GI: 13508087) at 2.2 A resolution.
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Amino Acid Sequence↗
Biomedical subjects
Shengfeng Chen
Publications and source records attributed to Shengfeng Chen.
Crystal structure of a protein associated with cell division from Mycoplasma pneumoniae (GI: 13508053): a novel fold with a conserved sequence motif.
UPF0040 is a family of proteins implicated in a cellular function of bacteria cell division. There is no structure information available on protein of this family. We have determined the crystal structure of a protein from Mycoplasma pneumoniae that belongs to this family using X-ray crystallography. Structural homology search reveals that this protein has a novel fold with no significant similarity to any proteins of known three-dimensional structure. The crystal structures of the protein in three different crystal forms reveal that the protein exists as a ring of octamer. The conserved protein residues, including a highly conserved DXXXR motif, are examined on the basis of crystal structure.
Amino Acid Motifs↗
Structural and functional characterization of a novel phosphodiesterase from Methanococcus jannaschii.
Methanococcus jannaschii MJ0936 is a hypothetical protein of unknown function with over 50 homologs found in many bacteria and Archaea. To help define the molecular (biochemical and biophysical) function of MJ0936, we determined its crystal structure at 2.4-A resolution and performed a series of biochemical screens for catalytic activity. The overall fold of this single domain protein consists of a four-layered structure formed by two beta-sheets flanked by alpha-helices on both sides. The crystal structure suggested its biochemical function to be a nuclease, phosphatase, or nucleotidase, with a requirement for some metal ions. Crystallization in the presence of Ni(2+) or Mn(2+) produced a protein containing a binuclear metal center in the putative active site formed by a cluster of conserved residues. Analysis of MJ0936 against a panel of general enzymatic assays revealed catalytic activity toward bis-p-nitrophenyl phosphate, an indicator substrate for phosphodiesterases and nucleases. Significant activity was also found with two other phosphodiesterase substrates, thymidine 5'-monophosphate p-nitrophenyl ester and p-nitrophenylphosphorylcholine, but no activity was found for cAMP or cGMP. Phosphodiesterase activity of MJ0936 had an absolute requirement for divalent metal ions with Ni(2+) and Mn(2+) being most effective. Thus, our structural and enzymatic studies have identified the biochemical function of MJ0936 as that of a novel phosphodiesterase.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Structure of the hypothetical protein AQ_1354 from Aquifex aeolicus.
The crystal structure of a hypothetical protein AQ_1354 (gi 2983779) from the hyperthermophilic bacteria Aquifex aeolicus has been determined using X-ray crystallography. As found in many structural genomics studies, this protein is not associated with any known function based on its amino-acid sequence. PSI-BLAST analysis against a non-redundant sequence database gave 68 similar sequences referred to as 'conserved hypothetical proteins' from the uncharacterized protein family UPF0054 (accession No. PF02310). Crystallographic analysis revealed that the overall fold of this protein consists of one central alpha-helix surrounded by a four-stranded beta-sheet and four other alpha-helices. Structure-based homology analysis with DALI revealed that the structure has a moderate to good resemblance to metal-dependent proteinases such as collagenases and gelatinases, thus suggesting its possible molecular function. However, experimental tests for collagenase and gelatinase-type function show no detectable activity under standard assay conditions. Therefore, we suggest either that the members of the UPF0054 family have a similar fold but different biochemical functions to those of collagenases and gelatinases or that they have a similar function but perform it under different conditions.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Structure-based functional inference in structural genomics.
The dramatically increasing number of new protein sequences arising from genomics and proteomics requires the need for methods to rapidly and reliably infer the molecular and cellular functions of these proteins. One such approach, structural genomics, aims to delineate the total repertoire of protein folds in nature, thereby providing three-dimensional folding patterns for all proteins and to infer molecular functions of the proteins based on the combined information of structures and sequences. The goal of obtaining protein structures on a genomic scale has motivated the development of high throughput technologies and protocols for macromolecular structure determination that have begun to produce structures at a greater rate than previously possible. These new structures have revealed many unexpected functional inferences and evolutionary relationships that were hidden at the sequence level. Here, we present samples of structures determined at Berkeley Structural Genomics Center and collaborators' laboratories to illustrate how structural information provides and complements sequence information to deduce the functional inferences of proteins with unknown molecular functions. Two of the major premises of structural genomics are to discover a complete repertoire of protein folds in nature and to find molecular functions of the proteins whose functions are not predicted from sequence comparison alone. To achieve these objectives on a genomic scale, new methods, protocols, and technologies need to be developed by multi-institutional collaborations worldwide. As part of this effort, the Protein Structure Initiative has been launched in the United States (PSI; www.nigms.nih.gov/funding/psi.html). Although infrastructure building and technology development are still the main focus of structural genomics programs, a considerable number of protein structures have already been produced, some of them coming directly out of semiautomated structure determination pipelines. The Berkeley Structural Genomics Center (BSGC) has focused on the proteins of Mycoplasma or their homologues from other organisms as its structural genomics targets because of the minimal genome size of the Mycoplasmas as well as their relevance to human and animal pathogenicity (http://www.strgen.org). Here we present several protein examples encompassing a spectrum of functional inferences obtainable from their three-dimensional structures in five situations, where the inferences are new and testable, and are not predictable from protein sequence information alone.
Adenosine Triphosphate↗