Molecular properties of two proteins homologous to PduO-type ATP:cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferase from Sulfolobus tokodaii

Coiled-Coil Design: Updated and Upgraded

α-Helical coiled coils are ubiquitous protein-folding and protein-interaction domains in which two or more α-helical chains come together to form bundles. Through a combination of bioinformatics analysis of many thousands of natural coiled-coil sequences and structures, plus empirical protein engineering and design studies, there is now a deep understanding of the sequence-to-structure relationships for this class of protein architecture. This has led to considerable success in rational design and what might be termed in biro de novo design of simple coiled coils, which include homo- and hetero-meric parallel dimers, trimers and tetramers. In turn, these provide a toolkit for directing the assembly of both natural proteins and more complex designs in protein engineering, materials science and synthetic biology. Moving on, the increased and improved use of computational design is allowing access to coiled-coil structures that are rare or even not observed in nature, for example α-helical barrels, which comprise five or more α-helices and have central channels into which different functions may be ported. This chapter reviews all of these advances, outlining improvements in our knowledge of the fundamentals of coiled-coil folding and assembly, and highlighting new coiled coil-based materials and applications that this new understanding is opening up. Despite considerable progress, however, challenges remain in coiled-coil design, and the next decade promises to be as productive and exciting as the last.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies of a PduO-type ATP:cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferase from Bacillus cereus

Cobalamin adenosyltransferases transfer a 5'-deoxyadenosyl moiety from ATP and covalently attach it to the cobalt(I) ion of the corrin ring of cobalamin to generate adenosylcobalamin. The PduO-type adenosyltransferase from Bacillus cereus was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized as the apoenzyme as well as in complex with Mg(2+) and ATP (MgATP). Diffraction data were collected to 1.9 A resolution for the native crystals and 2.0 A resolution for the complexed crystals. Both crystals belonged to the orthorhombic space group C222(1); the native crystals have unit-cell parameters a = 64.93, b = 137.08, c = 158.55 A. The asymmetric unit contained one trimer, with a corresponding V(M) of 2.69 A(3) Da(-1).

Structural characterization of a human-type corrinoid adenosyltransferase confirms that coenzyme B12 is synthesized through a four-coordinate intermediate

ATP:cob(I)alamin adenosyltransferases (ACAs) catalyze the transfer of the 5'-deoxyadenosyl moiety from ATP to the upper axial ligand position of cobalamin in the synthesis of coenzyme B 12. For the ACA-catalyzed reaction to proceed, cob(II)alamin must be reduced to cob(I)alamin in the enzyme active site. This reduction is facilitated through the generation of a four-coordinate cob(II)alamin intermediate on the enzyme. We have determined the high-resolution crystal structure of a human-type ACA from Lactobacillus reuteri with a four-coordinate cob(II)alamin bound in the enzyme active site and with the product, adenosylcobalamin, partially occupied in the active site. The assembled structures represent snapshots of the steps in the ACA-catalyzed formation of the cobalt-carbon bond of coenzyme B 12. The structures define the corrinoid binding site and provide visual evidence for a base-off, four-coordinate cob(II)alamin intermediate. The complete structural description of ACA-mediated catalysis reveals the molecular features of four-coordinate cob(II)alamin stabilization and provides additional insights into the molecular basis for dysfunction in human patients suffering from methylmalonic aciduria.