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C Betzel

Publications and source records attributed to C Betzel.

97 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Synchrotron X-ray data collection and restrained least-squares refinement of the crystal structure of proteinase K at 1.5 A resolution.

The structure of the serine endopeptidase proteinase K (279 amino acid residues; 28,790 daltons) has been refined by restrained least-squares methods to a conventional R value of 16.7% employing synchrotron film data of 30,812 reflections greater than 3 sigma in the 5.0 to 1.5 A resolution range. During refinement, the molecular structure was restrained to known stereochemistry, with root-mean-square (r.m.s.) deviation of 0.015 A from ideal bond lengths. The average atomic temperature factor, B, is 11.1 A2 for all atoms. The final model comprises 2020 protein atoms and 174 solvent molecules (which were given unit occupancies). Four corrections to the amino acid sequence were made, which were confirmed later by sequence analysis of the proteinase K gene: a deletion of one glycine in position 80; a change of sequence in position 207-208 and insertions of the dipeptide 210-211 and of residue 270. The r.m.s. deviation in the alpha-C atomic positions between the final refined model and the initial model built on the basis of a 3.3 A mini-map is 1.72 A for 227 out of 266 residues, which were originally traced in the mini-map without sequence information. The positions of the remaining 39 residues deviate by more than 8 A from the original ones and are located in regions where extensive revision of the structural model was necessary.

Crystallization↗

X-ray and model-building studies on the specificity of the active site of proteinase K.

Proteinase K, the extracellular serine endopeptidase (E.C.3.4.21.14) from the fungus Tritirachium album limber, is homologous to the bacterial subtilisin proteases. The binding geometry of the synthetic inhibitor carbobenzoxy-Ala-Phechloromethyl ketone to the active site of proteinase K was first determined from a Fourier synthesis based on synchrotron X-ray diffraction data between 1.8 A and 5.0 A resolution. The protein inhibitor complex was refined by restrained least-squares minimization with the data between 10.0 and 1.8 A. The final R factor was 19.1%, and the model contained 2,018 protein atoms, 28 inhibitor atoms, 125 water molecules, and two Ca2+ ions. The peptide portion of the inhibitor is bound to the active center of proteinase K by means of a three-stranded antiparallel pleated sheet, with the side chain of the phenylalanine located in the P1 site. Model building studies, with lysine replacing phenylalanine in the inhibitor, explain the relatively unspecific catalytic activity of the enzyme.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Active-site geometry of proteinase K. Crystallographic study of its complex with a dipeptide chloromethyl ketone inhibitor.

Proteinase K (EC 3.4.21.14) from the fungus Tritirachium album Limber is the most active known serine endopeptidase. The sequence of its 275-residue long polypeptide chain and its three-dimensional folding show a high degree of homology with the bacterial subtilisin proteases. Using difference Fourier methods, the binding mode of the synthetic carbobenzoxy-Ala-Ala-chloromethyl ketone inhibitor to the active site of proteinase K was determined. In several cycles of restrained least-squares, the enzyme-inhibitor complex was refined to a current R = 22% for 9400 X-ray diffraction data between 2.2 and 5.0 A resolution. The inhibitor is attached to proteinase K by two covalent bonds: one between the methylene carbon of the inhibitor and N epsilon 2 of the catalytic His 68, the other between the ketone carbon atom of the inhibitor and O gamma of the catalytic Ser 221. In addition, two hydrogen bonds donated by the peptide NH of Ser 221 and by the side chain NH2 of Asn 160 hold the hemiketal O- in the oxyanion hole. The peptide inhibitor is further hydrogen bonded to the proteinase polypeptide chain in a three-stranded antiparallel pleated sheet.

Amino Acid Chloromethyl Ketones↗

Crystallization of the bifunctional proteinase/amylase inhibitor PKI-3 and of its complex with proteinase K.

One of the three wheat germ inhibitors of proteinase K is bifunctional and inhibits simultaneously proteinase K (or subtilisin but not enzymes of the trypsin family) and insect alpha-amylase. The molecular mass of this inhibitor called PKI-3 is 21 kDa, and the binding constant for proteinase K is 0.8 nM at pH 8.2, 25 degrees C, in 1:1 molar ratio. PKI-3 was crystallized by microdialysis against 10-12% polyethylene glycol 6000, 50 mM NaH2PO4, pH 6.7. The crystals have monoclinic space group P2(1) with a = 42.5, b = 65.3, c = 31.5 A, beta = 110 degrees, and diffract beyond 2.0 A resolution. The complex proteinase K X PKI-3 was crystallized by equilibrium vapor diffusion under the same conditions. The crystals are needle-shaped and still too small for X-ray analysis. Gel electrophoresis established the composition of the crystals.

Chemical Phenomena↗

Neutron diffraction of alpha, beta and gamma cyclodextrins: hydrogen bonding patterns.

Cyclodextrins (CD's) have proved useful as model systems for the study of hydrogen bonding. They are torus-shaped molecules composed of six(alpha), seven(beta) or eight(gamma) (1----4) linked glucoses. Because of their particular geometry, they are able to act as a "host" to form inclusion complexes with "guest" molecules very much like enzymes. Cyclodextrins have been shown to exert catalytic activity on suitable included-substrate molecules; they catalyze the hydrolysis of phenylacetates, of organic pyrophosphates and of penicillin derivatives. They also accelerate aromatic chlorinations and diazo coupling by means of their primary and/or secondary hydroxyl groups, so that the rates of hydrolysis are enhanced by up to a factor of 400. In order to understand the hydrogen bonding in these enzyme models, neutron diffraction data were collected to unambiguously determine the hydrogen atom positions, which could not be done from the x-ray diffraction data. alpha-CD has been shown to have two different structures with well-defined hydrogen bonds, one "tense" and the other "relaxed". An "induced-fit"-like mechanism for alpha-CD complex formation has been proposed. Circular hydrogen bond networks have also been found for alpha-CD due to the energetically favored cooperative effect. beta-CD with a disordered water structure possesses an unusual flip-flop hydrogen bonding system of the type O-H...H-O representing an equilibrium between two states: O-H...O in equilibrium O...H-O. gamma-CD with a disordered water structure similar to beta-CD also possesses the flip-flop hydrogen bond. This study demonstrates that hydrogen bonds are operative in disordered systems and display dynamics even in the solid state.

Crystallography↗

[A comparative structure-function analysis and molecular mechanism of action of endonucleases from Serratia marcescens and Physarum polycephalum].

Structural and functional characteristics were compared for wild-type nuclease from Serratia marcescens, which belongs to the family of DNA/RNA nonspecific endonucleases, its mutational forms, and the nuclease I-PpoI from Physarum polycephalum, which is a representative of the Cys-His box-containing subgroup of the superfamily of extremely specific intron-encoded homing DNases. Despite the lack of sequence homology and the overall different topology of the Serratia marcescens and I-PpoI nucleases, their active sites have a remarkable structural similarity. Both of them have a unique magnesium atom in the active site, which is a part of the coordinatively bonded water-magnesium complex involved in their catalytic acts. In the enzyme-substrate complexes, the Mg2+ ion is chelated by an Asp residue, coordinates two oxygen atoms of DNA, and stabilizes the transition state of the phosphate anion and 3'-OH group of the leaving nucleotide. A new mechanism of the phosphodiester bond cleavage, which is common for the Serratia marcescens and I-PpoI nucleases and differs from the known functioning mechanism of the restriction and homing endonucleases, was proposed. It presumes a His residue as a general base for the activation of a non-cluster water molecule at the nucleophilic in line displacement of the 3'-leaving group. A strained metalloenzyme-substrate complex is formed during hydrolysis and relaxes to the initial state after the reaction. The English version of the paper.

Amino Acid Sequence↗