Solution NMR of signal peptidase, a membrane protein

Bacterial Signal Peptidases

Signal peptidases are the membrane bound enzymes that cleave off the amino-terminal signal peptide from secretory preproteins . There are two types of bacterial signal peptidases . Type I signal peptidase utilizes a serine/lysine catalytic dyad mechanism and is the major signal peptidase in most bacteria. Type II signal peptidase is an aspartic protease specific for prolipoproteins. This chapter will review what is known about the structure, function and mechanism of these unique enzymes.

Structure and mechanism of Escherichia coli type I signal peptidase

Type I signal peptidase is the enzyme responsible for cleaving off the amino-terminal signal peptide from proteins that are secreted across the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane. It is an essential membrane bound enzyme whose serine/lysine catalytic dyad resides on the exo-cytoplasmic surface of the bacterial membrane. This review discusses the progress that has been made in the structural and mechanistic characterization of Escherichia coli type I signal peptidase (SPase I) as well as efforts to develop a novel class of antibiotics based on SPase I inhibition. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Protein trafficking and secretion in bacteria. Guest Editors: Anastassios Economou and Ross Dalbey.

Bacterial type I signal peptidases as antibiotic targets

Despite an alarming increase in morbidity and mortality caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria, the number of antibiotics available to efficiently combat them is dwindling. Consequently, there is a pressing need for new drugs, preferably with novel modes of action to avert the problem of cross-resistance. Several new targets have been proposed, including proteins essential in the protein secretion pathway such as the type I signal peptidase (SPase), indispensable for the release of the signal peptide during secretion of Sec- and Tat-dependent proteins. The type I SPase is considered to be an attractive target because it is essential, substantially different from the eukaryotic counterpart, and its active site is located at the outer leaflet of the cytoplasmic membrane, permitting relatively easy access to potential inhibitors. A few SPase inhibitors have already been identified, but their suitability as drugs is yet to be confirmed. An overview is given on the currently known SPase inhibitors, how they can give valuable information on the structural, biochemical and target validation aspects of the SPases, the approaches to identify them, and their future potential as drugs.

Membrane protein fragments reveal both secondary and tertiary structure of membrane proteins

Structural data on membrane proteins, while crucial to understanding cellular function, are scarce due to difficulties in applying to membrane proteins the common techniques of structural biology. Fragments of membrane proteins have been shown to reflect, in many cases, the secondary structure of the parent protein with fidelity and are more amenable to study. This chapter provides many examples of how the study of membrane protein fragments has provided new insight into the structure of the parent membrane protein.

Evaluation of the type I signal peptidase as antibacterial target for biofilm-associated infections of Staphylococcus epidermidis

The development of antibacterial resistance is inevitable and is a major concern in hospitals and communities. Moreover, biofilm-grown bacteria are less sensitive to antimicrobial treatment. In this respect, the Gram-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis is an important source of nosocomial biofilm-associated infections. In the search for new antibacterial therapies, the type I signal peptidase (SPase I) serves as a potential target for development of antibacterials with a novel mode of action. This enzyme cleaves off the signal peptide from secreted proteins, making it essential for protein secretion, and hence for bacterial cell viability. S. epidermidis encodes three putative SPases I (denoted Sip1, Sip2 and Sip3), of which Sip1 lacks the catalytic lysine. In this report, we investigated the active S. epidermidis SPases I in more detail. Sip2 and Sip3 were found to complement a temperature-sensitive Escherichia coli lepB mutant, demonstrating their in vivo functional activity. In vitro functional activity of purified Sip2 and Sip3 proteins and inhibition of their activity by the SPase I inhibitor arylomycin A(2) were further illustrated using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based assay. Furthermore, we demonstrated that SPase I not only is an attractive target for development of novel antibacterials against free-living bacteria, but also is a feasible target for biofilm-associated infections.

Enzymatic investigation of the Staphylococcus aureus type I signal peptidase SpsB - implications for the search for novel antibiotics

Staphylococcus aureus has one essential type I signal peptidase (SPase), SpsB, which has emerged as a potential target in the search for antibiotics with a new mode of action. In this framework, the biochemical properties of SpsB are described and compared with other previously characterized SPases. Two different substrates have been used to assess the in vitro processing activity of SpsB: (a) a native preprotein substrate immunodominant staphylococcal antigen A and (b) an intramolecularly quenched fluorogenic synthetic peptide based on the sequence of the SceD preprotein of Staphylococcus epidermidis for fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based analysis. Activity testing at different pH showed that the enzyme has an optimum pH of approximately 8. The pH-rate profile revealed apparent pK(a) values of 6.6 and 8.7. Similar to the other SPases, SpsB undergoes self-cleavage and, although the catalytic serine is retained in the self-cleavage product, a very low residual enzymatic activity remained. In contrast, a truncated derivative of SpsB, which was nine amino acids longer at the N-terminus compared to the self-cleavage product, retained activity. The specificity constants (k(cat)/K(m)) of the full-length and the truncated derivative were 1.85 +/- 0.13 x 10(3) m(-1).s(-1) and 59.4 +/- 6.4 m(-1).s(-1), respectively, as determined using the fluorogenic synthetic peptide substrate. These observations highlight the importance of the amino acids in the transmembrane segment and also those preceding the catalytic serine in the sequence of SpsB. Interestingly, we also found that the activity of the truncated SpsB increased in the presence of a non-ionic detergent.

Biosynthesis and NMR-studies of a double transmembrane domain from the Y4 receptor, a human GPCR

The human Y4 receptor, a class A G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) primarily targeted by the pancreatic polypeptide (PP), is involved in a large number of physiologically important functions. This paper investigates a Y4 receptor fragment (N-TM1-TM2) comprising the N-terminal domain, the first two transmembrane (TM) helices and the first extracellular loop followed by a (His)(6) tag, and addresses synthetic problems encountered when recombinantly producing such fragments from GPCRs in Escherichia coli. Rigorous purification and usage of the optimized detergent mixture 28 mM dodecylphosphocholine (DPC)/118 mM% 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-[phospho-rac-(1-glycerol)] (LPPG) resulted in high quality TROSY spectra indicating protein conformational homogeneity. Almost complete assignment of the backbone, including all TM residue resonances was obtained. Data on internal backbone dynamics revealed a high secondary structure content for N-TM1-TM2. Secondary chemical shifts and sequential amide proton nuclear Overhauser effects defined the TM helices. Interestingly, the properties of the N-terminal domain of this large fragment are highly similar to those determined on the isolated N-terminal domain in the presence of DPC micelles.