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Yoshiaki Yasutake

Publications and source records attributed to Yoshiaki Yasutake.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Structural characterization of the Acetobacter xylinum endo-beta-1,4-glucanase CMCax required for cellulose biosynthesis.

Previous studies have demonstrated that endoglucanase is required for cellulose biosynthesis both in bacteria and plants. However, it has yet to be elucidated how the endoglucanases function in the mechanism of cellulose biosynthesis. Here we describe the crystal structure of the cellulose biosynthesis-related endo-beta-1,47-glucanase (CMCax; EC 3.2.1.4) from the cellulose-producing Gramnegative bacterium, Acetobacter xylinum (= Gluconacetobacter xylinus), determined at 1.65-A resolution. CMCax falls into the glycoside hydrolase family 8 (GH-8), and the structure showed that the overall fold of the CMCax is similar to those of other glycoside hydrolases belonging to GH-8. Structure comparison with Clostridium thermocellum CelA, the best characterized GH-8 endoglucanase, revealed that sugar recognition subsite +3 is completely missing in CMCax. The absence of the subsite +3 leads to significant broadness of the cleft at the cellooligosaccharide reducing-end side. CMCax is known to be a secreted enzyme and is present in the culture medium. However, electron microscopic analysis using immunostaining clearly demonstrated that a portion of CMCax is localized to the cell surface, suggesting a link with other known membrane-anchored endoglucanases that are required for cellulose biosynthesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of NAD+-preferring aldohexose dehydrogenase from the thermoacidophilic archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum.

The aldohexose dehydrogenase from the thermoacidophilic archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum (AldT) is a 28 kDa molecular-weight enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of various aldohexoses, with a preference for NAD+ rather than NADP+ as a cofactor. The recombinant AldT was crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion technique at 293 K under several acidic conditions with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and ammonium sulfate as precipitants. Optimization of the initial crystallizations conditions yielded single crystals in solution containing 0.1 M sodium acetate pH 4.6, 18%(w/v) PEG 4000, 0.2 M ammonium sulfate and 15%(v/v) glycerol. An X-ray diffraction data set was collected to a resolution of 2.8 A.

Archaeal Proteins↗
PubMed2005

Structure of the type I L-asparaginase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii at 2.16 angstroms resolution.

The crystal structure of the L-asparaginase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii (PhA) was determined by the multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) method and was refined to a resolution of 2.16 angstroms with a crystallographic R factor and free R factor of 21.1 and 25.3%, respectively. This is the first report of the three-dimensional structure of a type I L-asparaginase. These enyzmes are known as cytosolic L-asparaginases with lower affinities for substrate than the type II L-asparaginases. Although the overall fold of PhA was closely related to the structure of the well characterized type II L-asparaginase, structural differences were also detected. PhA forms a homodimer that corresponds to half the homotetramer of type II L-asparaginases. Structure comparison at the active site reveals that most catalytic residues are conserved except for two residues that recognize the amino group of the substrate. Additionally, a remarkable structural difference is found in the so-called 'active-site flexible loop'. In PhA this loop is stabilized by beta-hairpin formation and by elaborate interactions with the type-I-specific alpha-helical region derived from the other subunit forming the PhA dimer. The flexible loop of the type II enzyme is considered to serve as a mobile gate to the active site. Therefore, the loop stabilization observed in the PhA structure may cause limitation of the access of the substrate to the active site.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of the cellulose biosynthesis-related protein CMCax from Acetobacter xylinum.

The cellulose biosynthesis-related protein CMCax from Acetobacter xylinum was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized. Single crystals of selenomethionine (SeMet) substituted CMCax were obtained by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method at 293 K, primarily using polyethylene glycol 4000 as a precipitant. The crystals belong to the primitive hexagonal space group P6(1) or P6(5), with unit-cell parameters a = b = 89.1, c = 94.2 A. The predicted Matthews coefficient (VM) value is 3.0 A3 Da(-1) for one CMCax monomer in the asymmetric unit. A single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) data set was collected to a resolution of 2.3 A using synchrotron radiation.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed2005

Elucidation of stability determinants of cold-adapted monomeric isocitrate dehydrogenase from a psychrophilic bacterium, Colwellia maris, by construction of chimeric enzymes.

To elucidate determinants of differences in thermostability between mesophilic and psychrophilic monomeric isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDHs) from Azotobacter vinelandii (AvIDH) and Colwellia maris (CmIDH), respectively, chimeric enzymes derived from the two IDHs were constructed based on the recently resolved three-dimensional structure of AvIDH, and several characteristics of the two wild-type and six chimeric IDHs were examined. These characteristics were then compared with those of dimeric IDH from Escherichia coli (EcIDH). All recombinant enzymes with a (His)(6)-tag attached to the N-terminal were overexpressed in the E. coli cells and purified by Ni(2+)-affinity chromatography. The catalytic activity (k(cat)) and catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) of the wild-type AvIDH and CmIDH were higher than those of EcIDH, implying that an improved catalytic rate more than compensates for the loss of a catalytic site in the former two IDHs due to monomerization. Analyses of the thermostability and kinetic parameters of the chimeric enzymes indicated that region 2, corresponding to domain II, and particularly region 3 located in the C-terminal part of domain I, are involved in the thermolability of CmIDH, and that the corresponding two regions of AvIDH are important for exhibiting higher catalytic activity and affinity for isocitrate than CmIDH. The relationships between the stability, catalytic activity and structural characteristics of AvIDH and CmIDH are discussed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2004

Crystal structure of the Pyrococcus horikoshii isopropylmalate isomerase small subunit provides insight into the dual substrate specificity of the enzyme.

Recent studies have implied that the isopropylmalate isomerase small subunit of the hyperthermophilic archaea Pyrococcus horikoshii (PhIPMI-s) functions as isopropylmalate isomerase in the leucine biosynthesis pathway, and as homoaconitase (HACN) in the lysine biosynthesis pathway via alpha-aminoadipic acid. PhIPMI is thus considered a key to understanding the fundamental metabolism of the earliest organisms. We describe for the first time the crystal structure of PhIPMI-s, which displays dual substrate specificity. The crystal structure unexpectedly shows that four molecules create an interlocked assembly with intermolecular disulfide linkages having a skewed 222 point-group symmetry. Although the overall fold of the PhIPMI-s monomer is related closely to domain 4 of the aconitase (ACN), one alpha-helix in the ACN structure is replaced by a short loop with relatively high temperature factor values. Because this region is essential for discriminating the structurally similar substrate based on interactions with its diversified gamma-moiety, the loop structure in the PhIPMI-s must be dependent on the presence of a substrate. The flexibility of the loop region might be a structural basis for recognizing both hydrophobic and hydrophilic gamma-moieties of two distinct substrates, isopropylmalate and homocitrate.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

Structural evidence for guanidine-protein side chain interactions: crystal structure of CutA from Pyrococcus horikoshii in 3 M guanidine hydrochloride.

This study was carried out to investigate the structural perturbation of the protein's local structure by the denaturants under non-denaturing conditions. Crystal structure of CutA from an archaeon Pyrococcus horikosii (PhoCutA), a heavy-metal binding protein, was determined at 1.6-angstroms resolution in the presence of 3 M guanidine HCl (GdnHCl). Native PhoCutA has a large number of short intramolecular hydrogen bonds and salt bridges on the protein surface, of which greater than 90% of hydrogen bonds and all salt bridges were retained in 3 M GdnHCl. Hydrogen bonds that disappeared in the GdnHCl crystal structure were mainly located on the protein surface, especially around the structurally perturbed loop, suggesting interactions between peptide groups and GdnHCl. Only a few GdnH+ ions were observed in the crystal structure, although none at the surface, of the protein. Two GdnH+ ions were observed in the center of the trimeric structure, replacing water molecules, and were hydrogen bonded with Asp84 and Asp86 of each chain. The exterior loop from Tyr39 to Lys44, including Trp40-Trp41, was perturbed structurally. Decreases in temperature factors were observed in beta strand 5 and the N terminus of helix 3. These results suggest the specific bindings of GdnH+ with some acidic residues and the non-specific bindings around Trp residues and peptide groups on the protein surface and that binding of GdnHCl to the native protein is limited, resulting in local structural perturbation.

Archaeal Proteins↗
PubMed2004

How oligomerization contributes to the thermostability of an archaeon protein. Protein L-isoaspartyl-O-methyltransferase from Sulfolobus tokodaii.

To study how oligomerization may contribute to the thermostability of archaeon proteins, we focused on a hexameric protein, protein L-isoaspartyl-O-methyltransferase from Sulfolobus tokodaii (StoPIMT). The crystal structure shows that StoPIMT has a distinctive hexameric structure composed of monomers consisting of two domains: an S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase fold domain and a C-terminal alpha-helical domain. The hexameric structure includes three interfacial contact regions: major, minor, and coiled-coil. Several C-terminal deletion mutants were constructed and characterized. The hexameric structure and thermostability were retained when the C-terminal alpha-helical domain (Tyr(206)-Thr(231)) was deleted, suggesting that oligomerization via coiled-coil association using the C-terminal alpha-helical domains did not contribute critically to hexamerization or to the increased thermostability of the protein. Deletion of three additional residues located in the major contact region, Tyr(203)-Asp(204)-Asp(205), led to a significant decrease in hexamer stability and chemico/thermostability. Although replacement of Thr(146) and Asp(204), which form two hydrogen bonds in the interface in the major contact region, with Ala did not affect hexamer formation, these mutations led to a significant decrease in thermostability, suggesting that two residues in the major contact region make significant contributions to the increase in stability of the protein via hexamerization. These results suggest that cooperative hexamerization occurs via interactions of "hot spot" residues and that a couple of interfacial hot spot residues are responsible for enhancing thermostability via oligomerization.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

Structural implications for heavy metal-induced reversible assembly and aggregation of a protein: the case of Pyrococcus horikoshii CutA.

CutA is a small protein that appears to be involved in the mechanism of divalent metal cation tolerance in microorganisms. Here we report the crystal structure of Pyrococcus horikoshii CutA (PhoCutA), with and without Cu(2+), and its metal-binding properties. Crystallographic analyses revealed that PhoCutA forms a stable trimeric structure with intertwined antiparallel beta-strands. The crystal structure of the Cu(2+)-PhoCutA complex shows that the Cu(2+) is located at a trimer-trimer interface and is recognized by the side chains of one Asp(48) from each trimer. In an in vitro experiment, PhoCutA bound to several heavy metals, most of which led to reversible aggregation of the protein; i.e. the aggregates could be completely solubilized by addition of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) or dialysis against metal free buffer. Substitution of Asp(48) with Ala led to a decrease in the amount of aggregates, suggesting the significant contribution of Asp(48) to the reversible aggregation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report which provides the structural evidence for heavy metal-induced multimerization of a protein.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2003

Flash-cooling of macromolecular crystals in a capillary to overcome increased mosaicity.

This paper describes the usefulness of flash-cooling in a capillary (FCC) for X-ray diffraction data collection from macromolecular crystals. FCC may be applied when conventional cooling using a cryoloop fails. This technique cools crystals in a capillary instead of in a cryoloop and thus cools crystals more slowly than conventional cooling. Measurements of cooling rates have shown that the time taken to reach the final temperature is two to eight times longer using FCC than using a cryoloop, depending on the volume of cryoprotectant solution around the crystal. Using this cooling technique, the crystal structures of isocitrate dehydrogenase and protein L-isoaspartate O-methyltransferase have been solved at 1.95 and at 2.50 A resolution, respectively. Both crystals could not be cooled by the conventional method using a cryoloop. Moreover, diffraction data from crystals of the hypothetical proteins PH-A and PH-B were also collected successfully using the FCC method. These results show that some crystals, especially larger ones, need to be cooled slowly.

Crystallography, X-Ray↗
PubMed2003

Crystal structure of the monomeric isocitrate dehydrogenase in the presence of NADP+: insight into the cofactor recognition, catalysis, and evolution.

NADP+-dependent monomeric isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) from the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii (AvIDH) is one of members of the beta-decarboxylating dehydrogenase family and catalyzes the dehydration and decarboxylation of isocitrate to yield 2-oxoglutrate and CO2 in the Krebs cycle. We solved the crystal structure of the AvIDH in complex with cofactor NADP+ (AvIDH-NADP+ complex). The final refined model shows the closed form that has never been detected in any previously solved structures of beta-decarboxylating dehydrogenases. The structure also reveals all of the residues that interact with NADP+. The structure-based sequence alignment reveals that these residues were not conserved in any other dimeric NADP+-dependent IDHs. Therefore the NADP+ specificity of the monomeric and dimeric IDHs was independently acquired through the evolutional process. The AvIDH was known to show an exceptionally high turnover rate. The structure of the AvIDH-NADP+ complex indicates that one loop, which is not present in the Escherichia coli IDHs, reliably stabilizes the conformation of the nicotinamide mononucleotide of the bound NADP+ by forming a few hydrogen bonds, and such interactions are considered to be important for the monomeric enzyme to initiate the hydride transfer reaction immediately. Finally, the structure of the AvIDH is compared with that of other dimeric NADP-IDHs. Several structural features demonstrate that the monomeric IDHs are structurally more related to the eukaryotic dimeric IDHs than to the bacterial dimeric IDHs.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Structure of the monomeric isocitrate dehydrogenase: evidence of a protein monomerization by a domain duplication.

NADP(+)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase is a member of the beta-decarboxylating dehydrogenase family and catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation reaction from 2R,3S-isocitrate to yield 2-oxoglutarate and CO(2) in the Krebs cycle. Although most prokaryotic NADP(+)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenases (IDHs) are homodimeric enzymes, the monomeric IDH with a molecular weight of 80-100 kDa has been found in a few species of bacteria. The 1.95 A crystal structure of the monomeric IDH revealed that it consists of two distinct domains, and its folding topology is related to the dimeric IDH. The structure of the large domain repeats a motif observed in the dimeric IDH. Such a fusional structure by domain duplication enables a single polypeptide chain to form a structure at the catalytic site that is homologous to the dimeric IDH, the catalytic site of which is located at the interface of two identical subunits.

Amino Acid Sequence↗