Characterization of active-site residues of the NIa protease from tobacco vein mottling virus

Nuclear inclusion a (NIa) protease of tobacco vein mottling virus is responsible for the processing of the viral polyprotein into functional proteins. In order to identify the active-site residues of the TVMV NIa protease, the putative active-site residues, His-46, Asp-81 and Cys-151, were mutated individually to generate H46R, H46A, D81E, D81N, C151S, and C151A, and their mutational effects on the proteolytic activities were examined. Proteolytic activity was completely abolished by the mutations of H46R, H46A, D81N, and C151A, suggesting that the three residues are crucial for catalysis. The mutation of D81E decreased kcat marginally by about 4.7-fold and increased Km by about 8-fold, suggesting that the aspartic acid at position 81 is important for substrate binding but can be substituted by glutamate without any significant decrease in catalysis. The replacement of Cys-151 by Ser to mimic the catalytic triad of chymotrypsin-like serine protease resulted in the drastic decrease in kcat by about 1,260-fold. This result might be due to the difference of the active-site geometry between the NIa protease and chymotrypsin. The protease exhibited a bell-shaped pH-dependent profile with a maximum activity approximately at pH 8.3 and with the abrupt changes at the respective pKa values of approximately 6.6 and 9.2, implying the involvement of a histidine residue in catalysis. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the three residues, His-46, Asp-81, and Cys-151, play a crucial role in catalysis of the TVMV NIa protease.

Proteolytic processing of oligopeptides containing the target sequences by the recombinant tobacco vein mottling virus NIa proteinase

Tobacco vein mottling virus (TVMV) belongs to the potyviridae that consists of about 200 plant viruses. Potyviruses have RNA genomes of approximately 10,000 bases from which a single polyprotein is expressed from each virus upon infection. The NIa proteinase is known to process the polyprotein at seven distinct junctions between proteins. Kinetic constants were determined for the reactions of the recombinant TVMV NIa protease (27 kDa) with synthetic oligopeptides containing the sequences for the cleavage sites. For optimum activity, the substrate needs to have six amino acids (P6-P1) in the amino region and four (P1'-P4') in the carboxy region, including four conserved amino acids (V-R-F-Q) in P4-P1 positions. Mutation of any of four conserved amino acids to Gly made the substrate inert to the enzyme. Among the substrates, the oligopeptides containing the sequences for junctions, P3-6K1, NIa (VPg-Pro), and NIa-NIb were not processed by the NIa protease. Those junctions have Glu at P3, Glu at P1, and Thr at P2. The implications of high substrate specificity and size dependence in polyprotein processing and viral replication are discussed.

Molecular cloning, expression, and purification of nuclear inclusion A protease from tobacco vein mottling virus

The gene encoding the C-terminal protease domain of the nuclear inclusion protein a (NIa) of tobacco vein mottling virus (TVMV) was cloned from an isolated virus particle and expressed as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase in Escherichia coli XL1-blue. The 27-kDa protease was purified from the fusion protein by glutathione affinity chromatography and Mono S chromatography. The purified protease exhibited the specific proteolytic activity towards the nonapeptide substrates, Ac-Glu-Asn-Asn-Val-Arg-Phe-Gln-Ser-Leu-amide and Ac-Arg-Glu-Thr-Val-Arg-Phe-Gln-Ser-Asp-amide, containing the junction sequences between P3 protein and cylindrical inclusion protein and between nuclear inclusion protein b and capsid protein, respectively. The Km and k(cat) values were about 0.2 mM and 0.071 s(-1), respectively, which were approximately five-fold lower than those obtained for the NIa protease of turnip mosaic potyvirus (TuMV), suggesting that the TVMV NIa protease is different in the binding affinity as well as in the catalytic power from the TuMV NIa protease. In contrast to the NIa proteases from TuMV and tobacco etch virus, the TVMV NIa protease was not autocatalytically cleaved into smaller proteins, indicating that the C-terminal truncation is not a common phenomenon occurring in all potyviral NIa proteases. These results suggest that the TVMV NIa protease has a unique biochemical property distinct from those of other potyviral proteases.

Effects of mutations in the C-terminal region of NIa protease on cis-cleavage between NIa and NIb

Mutational analyses were carried out to investigate whether the nuclear inclusion protein a (NIa) C-terminal amino acids of turnip mosaic potyvirus play any roles in the cis-cleavage between NIa and NIb. The processing rate of the NIa-NIb junction sequence was decreased significantly by either V240D or Q243A mutation while little affected by F226D, V228E, K230E, I232D, or L235D mutation. The mutation of W212S, G213S, or I217D abolishing the cleavage at the NIb-CP or 6K1-cylindrical inclusion protein junction sequence decreased the processing rate to half the level of that of the wild type. Deletion of the C-terminal one (K230), two (S229 and K230), three (S229 to L231), or six amino acids (S229 to D234) as well as the insertion of five glycines between S229 and K230 or between S220 and Q221 did not affect significantly the cleavage while the deletion of 20 amino acids (Q218 to S237) decreased the processing rate to 73% of that of the wild type. These results rule out the possibility that the C-terminal region plays a role as a spacer in right placement of the NIa-NIb junction sequence and demonstrate that the C-terminal 20 amino acids from Q218 to S237 are not crucial for the cis-cleavage of the NIa-NIb junction sequence.

Effects of internal cleavages and mutations in the C-terminal region of NIa protease of turnip mosaic potyvirus on the catalytic activity

The nuclear inclusion protein a (NIa) of turnip mosaic potyvirus is a protease processing the viral polyprotein into functional proteins. It has been shown that the NIa C-terminal 27-kDa protease cleaves itself between Ser-223 and Gly-224 to generate a 25-kDa protein lacking the C-terminal 20 amino acids. We have found a second internal cleavage near the C-terminus resulting in the degradation of the 25-kDa protein into a 24-kDa protein. Substitution of the active site Asp-81 or Cys-151 with Asn or Ser, respectively, prevented the second cleavage, suggesting that the internal cleavage is also due to the proteolytic activity of the NIa protease. This second internal cleavage was found to occur between Thr-207 and Ser-208, eliminating the C-terminal 36 amino acids from the 27-kDa protease. The proteolytic activity of the 24-kDa protein was not detected at all when it was measured using a nonapeptide containing the cleavage site between 6K1 and Cl as a substrate, suggesting that the C-terminal region between residues 208 and 223 contains essential amino acids for the processing of 6K1-Cl polyprotein. The deletion analyses of the C-terminal region revealed that at least 217 amino acids from the N-terminus are required for the catalytic activity of the NIa protease. The point mutation of Trp-212 to Ser, Gly-213 to Ser, or Ile-217 to Asp drastically abolished the catalytic activity, demonstrating that Trp-212, Gly-213, and Ile-217 are important for the processing of 6K1-Cl polyprotein.

Characterization of Nla protease from turnip mosaic potyvirus exhibiting a low-temperature optimum catalytic activity

Nuclear inclusion protein a (Nla) protease of turnip mosaic potyvirus is responsible for the processing of the viral polyprotein into functional proteins. The Nla protease was found to exhibit its optimum catalytic activity at approximately 15 degrees and a bell-shaped pH-dependent activity profile with a maximum at approximately pH 8.5. Kinetic studies showed that both Km and V(max) values were lower at 12 than at 25 degrees in all three different pH conditions, pH 7.0, 7.4, and 8.3, indicating that the higher activity at 12 degrees is due to the lower value of Km. Interestingly, the self-cleavage of the 27-kDa protease to generate the 25-kDa protease occurred more rapidly at 25 than at 12 degrees, implying that the C-terminal self-cleavage site may interfere with the binding of the peptide substrate to the active site of the protease. Mutations and deletions at the C-terminal cleavage site had no effect on the temperature dependence of the proteolytic activity, demonstrating that the C-terminal self-cleavage is not related to the low-temperature optimum catalytic activity. The fluorescence measurement of the Nla protease upon temperature variation revealed that the protease undergoes a large conformational change between 2 and 42 degrees and a drastic transition near 45 degrees, suggesting that the low-temperature optimum catalytic activity is due to the highly flexible structure of the Nla protease.

Cloning, sequencing and heterologous expression of a Klebsiella pneumoniae gene encoding an FAD-independent acetolactate synthase

The gene encoding the valine-resistant and FAD-independent acetolactate synthase of Klebsiella pneumoniae was isolated and expressed in Escherichia coli. The nucleotide sequence of this gene was determined and it exhibited an open reading frame of 1680 bp in length. In vivo expression of the acetolactate synthase-encoding gene in E. coli revealed a single 60-kDa protein which is consistent with the molecular weight calculated from the deduced amino acid sequence of the gene product. The gene product shares about 20-30% homology with the acetolactate synthases of E. coli, yeast and higher plants.