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The xylose reductase (AKR2B5) structure: homology and divergence from other aldo-keto reductases and opportunities for protein engineering.

The structure of xylose reductase from Candida tenuis (AKR2B5) has been determined and refined to 2.2 A resolution, both in holo and apo forms. These structures allow the recognition of numerous hydrophilic residues responsible for dimerization, a novel feature for the superfamily of enzymes. The residues allowing for dual NADH/NADPH cosubstrate specificity are also identified. Since xylose reductase functions in conjunction with an NAD(+)-specific xylitol dehydrogenase in the xylose assimilation pathway, this is a key step in engineering an enzyme specific for only NADH which will permit cosubstrate recycling between the two enzymes in a high-flux pathway. The structure of xylose reductase, combined with others in the superfamily provides an opportunity to examine and compare structural divergence as a function of sequence homology. It also suggests that the dimeric aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) from families 2 and 7 evolved from a common dimeric ancestor.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases↗

Alteration of enzyme specificity and catalysis by protein engineering.

New substrate specificities can be introduced into existing enzymes for the purpose of making them more suitable for the chemoenzymic synthesis of single compound drugs and other chiral compounds. The most productive route used in the past year has involved the utilization of the catalytic and substrate-binding properties from homologous enzymes found in nature, one example being the broadening of the substrate specificity of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase. Other highlights include the creation of thermostable dehydrogenases that will interconvert NADPH and NADH, and the design of mutant enzymes with improved catalytic rates compared with their wild-type counterparts.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Transient folding intermediates characterized by protein engineering.

Kinetic experiments on engineered mutants of barnase detect an intermediate on the folding pathway and allow the mapping of the tertiary interactions of the side chains and their energetics. Many of the interactions present in the final folded state tend to be either fully formed or not formed at all in the intermediate or subsequent transition state for folding, but the hydrophobic core becomes progressively consolidated. These methods in combination with NMR provide extensive structural characterization of the folding intermediate and the sequence of events in the folding pathway.

Bacillus↗

Protein engineering to create biologically active peptides: recombinant human rhinoviruses that display peptide sequences.

This paper describes the use of human rhinovirus to display peptides corresponding to biologically active sequences. While this system can be used to reconstruct essentially any biologically active sequence for which there is a corresponding ligand that can be used for its selection, we have focused on using this system to display immunogens from dangerous pathogens as a means to develop vaccines. Five mutagenesis approaches are illustrated as ways to generate functionally active moieties. The mutagenesis approaches illustrated can be employed with any of a large number of possible display vectors; however, human rhinovirus might be especially useful in cases where it will be important to derive the benefits of delivery by a live-virus approach. Examples are shown in which reconstruction of immunogens corresponding to the V3 loop of the gp120 glycoprotein of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) on the surface of rhinovirus has yielded apparently effective mimics of the HIV-1 immunogens (as measured by their ability to be neutralized by anti-HIV-1 antibodies as well as their ability to elicit the production of antibodies capable of neutralizing HIV-1 in cell culture). This system offers the opportunity to reconstruct functionally important moieties that derive from proteins or pathogens that are either too dangerous or difficult to isolate for use as vaccine preparations themselves.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Development of a novel glucose enzyme fuel cell system employing protein engineered PQQ glucose dehydrogenase.

Glucose dehydrogenase harboring pyrroloquinoline quinone as the prosthetic group (PQQGDH) from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus is an ideal enzyme for the anode of biofuel cell, because of its oxygen insensitivity and high catalytic efficiency. However, the application of PQQGDH for the bioanode is inherently limited because of its instability. Using Ser415Cys mutant whose stability was greatly improved, we constructed the biofuel cell system employing the engineered PQQGDH as the bioanode enzyme and bilirubin oxidase (BOD) as the biocathode, and compared the stability of the biofuel cell with that employing wild-type PQQGDH. The maximum power density was 17.6 microW/cm2 at an external optimal load of 200 k omega. Using Ser415Cys mutant, the lifetime of the biofuel cell system was greatly extended to 152 h, more than six times as that of the biofuel cell employing the wild-type.

Acinetobacter calcoaceticus↗

Enhancing the thermostability of glucose isomerase by protein engineering.

We have engineered recombinant glucose isomerase (GI) from Actinoplanes missouriensis by site-directed mutagenesis to enhance its thermal stability in both the soluble and immobilized forms. Substitution of arginine for lysine at position 253, which lies at the dimer/dimer interface of the GI tetramer, produced the largest stabilization under model industrial conditions. We discuss our results in terms of a model in which chemical glycation of lysines by sugars in the industrial corn syrup substrate represents a major pathway of destabilization.

Aldose-Ketose Isomerases↗

Protein engineering reveals ancient adaptive replacements in isocitrate dehydrogenase.

Evolutionary analysis indicates that eubacterial NADP-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenases (EC 1.1.1.42) first evolved from an NAD-dependent precursor about 3.5 billion years ago. Selection in favor of utilizing NADP was probably a result of niche expansion during growth on acetate, where isocitrate dehydrogenase provides 90% of the NADPH necessary for biosynthesis. Amino acids responsible for differing coenzyme specificities were identified from x-ray crystallographic structures of Escherichia coli isocitrate dehydrogenase and the distantly related Thermus thermophilus NAD-dependent isopropylmalate dehydrogenase. Site-directed mutagenesis at sites lining the coenzyme binding pockets has been used to invert the coenzyme specificities of both enzymes. Reconstructed ancestral sequences indicate that these replacements are ancestral. Hence the adaptive history of molecular evolution is amenable to experimental investigation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Protein engineering of cellulases.

Cellulases are enzymes which hydrolyse the beta-1,4-glucosidic linkages of cellulose. They fall into 13 of the 82 glycoside hydrolase families identified by sequence analysis, but they are traditionally divided into two classes termed 'endoglucanases' (EC 3.2.1.4) and 'cellobiohydrolases' (3.2.1.91). Both types of cellulases degrade soluble cellodextrins and amorphous cellulose but, with a few notable exceptions, it is only the cellobiohydrolases which degrade crystalline cellulose efficiently. Site-directed mutagenesis has been central to the characterisation of cellulases, ranging from the identification and characterisation of putative catalytic and binding residues, the trapping of enzyme-substrate complexes by crystallography through to the construction of new and improved biocatalysts including 'glycosynthases'. Whilst studies on soluble substrates and substrate analogues have provided a wealth of information, understanding the mechanism of degradation of the natural substrate, crystalline cellulose, remains a great challenge.

Cellulase↗

Structure-based design and protein engineering of intersubunit disulfide bonds in gonadotropins.

Pairs of cystine residues were introduced in the alpha- and beta-subunits of human choriogonadotropin at positions with optimal geometries for the formation of disulfide bonds. Using the homology with luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone, similar mutations were carried out in these glycoprotein hormones. In nearly all mutants the corresponding disulfide bonds were formed leading to a non-natural, covalent linkage between the alpha- and beta-subunits. The mutants typically display wild-type receptor binding and bioactivity. The mutants with non-natural intersubunit disulfide bonds display enhanced thermostabilities relative to the corresponding heterodimeric glycoprotein hormones, rendering them candidates for long acting gonadotropins with enhanced shelf lives.

Animals↗

Noncompetitive antibody neutralization of IL-10 revealed by protein engineering and x-ray crystallography.

IL-10 is a dimeric cytokine that must engage its high-affinity cell surface receptor, IL-10R1, to induce multiple cellular activities. Here we report the 1.9 A crystal structure of an engineered IL-10 monomer (IL-10M1) in complex with a neutralizing Fab fragment (9D7Fab). 9D7Fab and IL-10R1 bind distinct nonoverlapping surfaces on IL-10M1. Antagonism of the IL-10M1/IL-10R1 interaction is the result of 9D7Fab-induced conformational changes in the CD loop of IL-10M1 that indirectly alter the structure of the IL-10R1 binding site. A single mutation (Ile87Ala) in the same CD loop region of the Epstein-Barr virus IL-10 (ebvIL-10) also reduces IL-10R1 binding affinity, suggesting that ebvIL-10 and 9D7Fab use similar allosteric mechanisms to modulate IL-10R1 affinity and biological activity.

Allosteric Regulation↗

Protein engineering of chymosin; modification of the optimum pH of enzyme catalysis.

The aspartic proteinase chymosin exhibits a local network of hydrogen bonds involving the active site aspartates and surrounding residues which may have an influence on the rate and optimal pH of substrate cleavage. We have introduced into chymosin B the following substitutions: Asp304 to Ala (D304A), Thr218 to Ala (T218A) and Gly244 to Asp (G244D, chymosin A), using oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. Kinetic analysis of these active mutants shows shifts in their pH optima to 4.4 D304A, 4.2 T218A and 4.0 G244D compared with 3.8 for chymosin B using a synthetic octapeptide substrate. The upward shift of the D304A and T218A may be due to the loss of hydrogen bond interactions indirectly affecting the catalytic aspartates 32 and 215. The G244D mutation which is in a flexible loop on the surface of the enzyme may alter the conformation of the specificity pockets on the prime side of the scissile bond.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[A study of protein engineering for human cardionatrin. II. Construction of two new human cardionatrin analog genes, RH-2 & RH-3 by intragenic recombination in vitro].

Two new analog genes of the alpha-human atrial natriuretic polypeptide (alpha-hANP) were constructed by accurate intragenic recombination of analog RH-1 gene with ANP gene in vitro, both of which had been synthesized and reported. One recombined analog gene, RH-2, was designed to contain an equivalent of the alpha-hANP gene, capping the peptidase inhibitor SQ20881 sequence at its 5'end. The other analog gene, RH-3, was designed to contain an equivalent of the alpha-hANP gene, wedging in two proline codons CCG & CCG at the 3' end. The recombinants bearing the genes, bacteriophage RH-2/M13mp18 & RH-3/M13mp18, were identified by DNA domain combination analysis--in situ hybridization and dot blotting with three probes matching three specific DNA domains, and by restriction analysis. The DNA sequences of RH-2 and RH-3 were confirmed by the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A productive NADP+ binding mode of ferredoxin-NADP + reductase revealed by protein engineering and crystallographic studies.

The flavoenzyme ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase (FNR) catalyzes the production of NADPH during photosynthesis. Whereas the structures of FNRs from spinach leaf and a cyanobacterium as well as many of their homologs have been solved, none of these studies has yielded a productive geometry of the flavin-nicotinamide interaction. Here, we show that this failure occurs because nicotinamide binding to wild type FNR involves the energetically unfavorable displacement of the C-terminal Tyr side chain. We used mutants of this residue (Tyr 308) of pea FNR to obtain the structures of productive NADP+ and NADPH complexes. These structures reveal a unique NADP+ binding mode in which the nicotinamide ring is not parallel to the flavin isoalloxazine ring, but lies against it at an angle of approximately 30 degrees, with the C4 atom 3 A from the flavin N5 atom.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Alteration of axial coordination by protein engineering in myoglobin. Bisimidazole ligation in the His64-->Val/Val68-->His double mutant.

Pig and human myoglobin have been engineered to reverse the positions of the distal histidine and valine (i.e. His64(E7)-->Val and Val68(E11)-->His). Spectroscopic and ligand binding properties have been measured for human and pig H64V/V68H myoglobin, and the structure of the pig H64V/V68H double mutant has been determined to 2.07-A resolution by x-ray crystallography. The crystal structure shows that the N epsilon of His68 is located 2.3 A away from the heme iron, resulting in the formation of a hexacoordinate species. The imidazole plane of His68 is tilted relative to the heme normal; moreover it is not parallel to that of His93, in agreement with our previous proposal (Qin, J., La Mar, G. N., Dou, Y., Admiraal, S. J., and Ikeda-Saito, M. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 1083-1090). At cryogenic temperatures, the heme iron is in a low spin state, which exhibits a highly anisotropic EPR spectrum (g1 = 3.34, g2 = 2.0, and g3 < 1), quite different from that of the imidazole complex of metmyoglobin. The mean iron-nitrogen distance is 2.01 A for the low spin ferric state as determined by x-ray spectroscopy. The ferrous form of H64V/V68H myoglobin shows an optical spectrum that is similar to that of b-type cytochromes and consistent with the hexacoordinate bisimidazole hemin structure determined by the x-ray crystallography. The double mutation lowers the ferric/ferrous couple midpoint potential from +54 mV of the wild-type protein to -128 mV. Ferrous H64V/V68H myoglobin binds CO and NO to form stable complexes, but its reaction with O2 results in a rapid autooxidation to the ferric species. All of these results demonstrate that the three-dimensional positions of His64 and Val68 in the wild-type myoglobin are as important as the chemical nature of the side chains in facilitating reversible O2 binding and inhibiting autooxidation.

Animals↗

Improved enantioselectivity of a lipase by rational protein engineering.

A model based on two different binding modes for alcohol enantiomers in the active site of a lipase allowed rational redesign of its enantioselectivity. 1-Halo-2-octanols were poorly resolved by Candida antarctica lipase B. Interactions between the substrates and the lipase were investigated with molecular modeling. Unfavorable interactions were found between the halogen moiety of the fast-reacting S enantiomer and a region situated at the bottom of the active site (stereoselectivity pocket). The lipase was virtually mutated in this region and energy contour maps of some variants displayed better interactions for the target substrates. Four selected variants of the lipase were produced and kinetic resolution experiments were undertaken with these mutants. Single point mutations gave rise to one variant with doubled enantioselectivity as well as one variant with annihilated enantioselectivity towards the target halohydrins. An increased volume of the stereoselectivity pocket caused a decrease in enantioselectivity, while changes in electrostatic potential increased enantioselectivity. The enantioselectivity of these new lipase variants towards other types of alcohols was also investigated. The changes in enantioselectivity caused by the mutations were well in agreement with the proposed model concerning the chiral recognition of alcohol enantiomers by this lipase.

Binding Sites↗

Protein engineering of epoxide hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 for enhanced activity and enantioselective production of (R)-1-phenylethane-1,2-diol.

DNA shuffling and saturation mutagenesis of positions F108, L190, I219, D235, and C248 were used to generate variants of the epoxide hydrolase of Agrobacterium radiobacter AD1 (EchA) with enhanced enantioselectivity and activity for styrene oxide and enhanced activity for 1,2-epoxyhexane and epoxypropane. EchA variant I219F has more than fivefold-enhanced enantioselectivity toward racemic styrene oxide, with the enantiomeric ratio value (E value) for the production of (R)-1-phenylethane-1,2-diol increased from 17 for the wild-type enzyme to 91, as well as twofold-improved activity for the production of (R)-1-phenylethane-1,2-diol (1.96 +/- 0.09 versus 1.04 +/- 0.07 micromol/min/mg for wild-type EchA). Computer modeling indicated that this mutation significantly alters (R)-styrene oxide binding in the active site. Another three variants from EchA active-site engineering, F108L/C248I, I219L/C248I, and F108L/I219L/C248I, also exhibited improved enantioselectivity toward racemic styrene oxide in favor of production of the corresponding diol in the (R) configuration (twofold enhancement in their E values). Variant F108L/I219L/C248I also demonstrated 10-fold- and 2-fold-increased activity on 5 mM epoxypropane (24 +/- 2 versus 2.4 +/- 0.3 micromol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme) and 5 mM 1,2-epoxyhexane (5.2 +/- 0.5 versus 2.6 +/- 0.0 micromol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme). Both variants L190F (isolated from a DNA shuffling library) and L190Y (created from subsequent saturation mutagenesis) showed significantly enhanced activity for racemic styrene oxide hydrolysis, with 4.8-fold (8.6 +/- 0.3 versus 1.8 +/- 0.2 micromol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme) and 2.7-fold (4.8 +/- 0.8 versus 1.8 +/- 0.2 micromol/min/mg for the wild-type enzyme) improvements, respectively. L190Y also hydrolyzed 1,2-epoxyhexane 2.5 times faster than the wild-type enzyme.

DNA Shuffling↗

Improvement of the applicability of carboxypeptidase Y in peptide synthesis by protein engineering.

Asn51 and Glu145 of (serine) carboxypeptidase Y function as binding sites for the C-terminal carboxylate group of peptide substrates, and Glu65 is involved in orienting these two amino acid residues. A series of mutants of carboxypeptidase Y where these three amino acid residues have been replaced were investigated for their applicability in transacylation reactions with amino acid esters as acceptors. With H-Val-OMethyl as the nucleophile, the fraction of aminolysis is significantly higher than with the corresponding amino acid, suggesting a beneficial effect of blocking the alpha-carboxylate group. Increasing the size of the alcohol moiety, i.e., -OEthyl, -OPropyl or OButyl, has an adverse effect on the binding of the nucleophile and on the maximum yield of aminolysis. Replacement of Asn51 and Glu145 with Ala or Gly has a pronounced beneficial effect both on binding and the maximum fraction of aminolysis. However, the results do not establish a specific type of interaction between the enzyme and these valine esters. It is probable that the rotational freedom around the ester bond allows multiple binding modes, depending on both the leaving group and type of structural change within the binding site. From a synthetic point of view, some of the mutant enzymes are much better than the wildtype enzyme when amino acid esters are used as nucleophiles.

Acylation↗

Protein engineering of a cold-active beta-galactosidase from Arthrobacter sp. SB to increase lactose hydrolysis reveals new sites affecting low temperature activity.

We examined variants of an especially cold-active beta-galactosidase (BgaS) to better understand features affecting enzyme activity at temperature extremes. We targeted locations corresponding to a region in the LacZ enzyme previously shown to increase activity and decrease thermostability. Changes in this region of BgaS consistently caused the elimination or reduction of activity. A gene (bgaS3) encoding a loss of function variant was subjected to random mutagenesis to restore activity and discover potential interactions important in cold activity. Gene sequences from the resulting library indicated that only two amino acid alterations, E229D and V405A, were required to restore activity. Genes with combinations of these mutations were constructed and their enzymes purified. Enzymes with the E229D/V405A/G803D alterations (BgaS6), or E229D/V405A (BgaS7) had similar thermal optima and thermostabilities as BgaS. BgaS7, however, showed a 2.5-fold increase in catalytic activity at 15 degrees C and hydrolyzed 80% of lactose in skim milk in less than half the time of BgaS at 2.5 degrees C. Computer-generated models predicted that the substitutions at positions 229 and 405 yielded fewer contacts at the enzyme's activating interface. Results from regional saturation mutagenesis supported this hypothesis and suggested that not easily predicted, subtle, cooperative intramolecular interactions contributed to thermal adaptation.

Adaptation, Physiological↗