Biomedical subjects

M Karpusas

Publications and source records attributed to M Karpusas.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1991

1.9-A structures of ternary complexes of citrate synthase with D- and L-malate: mechanistic implications.

The structures of four isomorphous crystals of ternary complexes of chicken heart citrate synthase with D- or L-malate and acetyl coenzyme A or carboxymethyl coenzyme A have been determined by X-ray crystallography and fully refined at 1.9-A resolution. The structures show that both L-malate and D-malate bind in a very similar way in the presence of acetylCoA and that the enzyme conformation is "closed". Hydrogen bond geometry is suggested to account for the difference in binding constants of the two stereoisomers. The structures suggest that steric hindrance can account for the observation that proton exchange of acetyl coenzyme A with solvent is catalyzed by citrate synthase in the presence of L-malate but not D-malate. The ternary complexes with malate reveal the mode of binding of the substrate acetylCoA in the ground state. The carbonyl oxygen of the acetyl group is hydrogen bonded to a water molecule and to histidine 274, allowing unambiguous identification of the orientation of this group. The structures support the hypothesis that carboxymethyl coenzyme A is a transition-state analogue for the enolization step of the reaction (Bayer et al., 1981) and additionally support proposed mechanisms for the condensation reaction (Karpusas et al., 1990; Alter et al., 1990).

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Crystal structure of an open conformation of citrate synthase from chicken heart at 2.8-A resolution.

The X-ray structure of a new crystal form of chicken heart muscle citrate synthase, grown from solutions containing citrate and coenzyme A or L-malate and acetyl coenzyme A, has been determined by molecular replacement at 2.8-A resolution. The space group is P4(3) with a = 58.9 A and c = 259.2 A and contains an entire dimer of molecular weight 100,000 in the asymmetric unit. Both "closed" conformation chicken heart and "open" conformation pig heart citrate synthase models (Brookhaven Protein Data Bank designations 3CTS and 1CTS) were used in the molecular replacement solution, with crystallographic refinement being initiated with the latter. The conventional crystallographic R factor of the final refined model is 19.6% for the data between 6- and 2.8-A resolution. The model has an rms deviation from ideal values of 0.034 A for bond lengths and of 3.6 degrees for bond angles. The conformation of the enzyme is essentially identical with that of a previously determined "open" form of pig heart muscle citrate synthase which crystallizes in a different space group, with one monomer in the asymmetric unit, from either phosphate or citrate solution. The crystalline environment of each subunit of the chicken enzyme is different, yet the conformation is the same in each. The open conformation is therefore not an artifact of crystal packing or crystallization conditions and is not species dependent. Both "open" and "closed" crystal forms of the chicken heart enzyme grow from the same drop, showing that both conformations of the enzyme are present at equilibrium in solution containing reaction products or substrate analogues.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1990

Proposed mechanism for the condensation reaction of citrate synthase: 1.9-A structure of the ternary complex with oxaloacetate and carboxymethyl coenzyme A.

The crystal structure of the ternary complex citrate synthase-oxaloacetate-carboxymethyl coenzyme A has been solved to a resolution of 1.9 A and refined to a conventional crystallographic R factor of 0.185. The structure resembles a proposed transition state of the condensation reaction and suggests that the condensation reaction proceeds through a neutral enol rather than an enolate intermediate. A mechanism for the condensation reaction is proposed which involves the participation of three key catalytic groups (Asp 375, His 274, and His 320) in two distinct steps. The proposed mechanism invokes concerted general acid-base catalysis twice to explain both the energetics of the reaction and the experimentally observed inversion of stereochemistry at the attacking carbon atom.

Acyl Coenzyme A↗

PubMed1989

Hydrophobic packing in T4 lysozyme probed by cavity-filling mutants.

To probe the nature of the hydrophobic cores of proteins and to test potential ways of increasing protein thermostability, an attempt was made to improve the packing within T4 bacteriophage lysozyme by engineered amino acid replacements. Two mutations, Leu-133----Phe and Ala-129----Val, which were designed to fill the largest cavities that exist in the folded structure of the native protein, were constructed. The mutant proteins have normal activities and their thermal stabilities are marginally lower than that of wild-type lysozyme. Crystal structure analysis of the mutant proteins shows that the introduced amino acids are accommodated with very little perturbation of the three-dimensional structure. Incorporation of the more bulky hydrophobic residues within the core of the protein is expected to provide an increase in hydrophobic stabilization, but this is seen to be offset by the introduction of strain. Inspection of the mutant structures shows that in each case the introduced amino acid side chain is forced to adopt a non-optimal dihedral angle X1. Strain is also observed in the form of bond angle distortion and in unfavorable van der Waals contacts. The results illustrate how the observed core structures of proteins represent a compromise between the hydrophobic effect, which will tend to maximize the core packing density, and the strain energy that would be incurred in eliminating all packing defects. The results also suggest that mutations designed to increase protein stability by filling existing cavities may be effective in some cases but are unlikely to provide a general method for increasing protein stability.

Alanine↗