STRUCTURAL BASIS FOR MULTIPLE LIGAND SPECIFICITY OF THE PERIPLASMIC LYSINE, ARGININE, ORNITHINE-BINDING PROTEIN

The substrate-binding site of a protein with multiple specificity should satisfy geometric and energetic complementarity for several different substrates. The structural basis of the multiple ligand specificity of the periplasmic lysine-, arginine-, ornithine-binding protein (LAO) was investigated by determining and analyzing the structures of the protein unliganded and liganded with each of the three high-affinity ligands (L-lysine, L-arginine, and L-ornithine) and with one low-affinity ligand (L-histidine). The geometric complementarity is achieved primarily by virtue of the large size of the ligand-binding site which can accommodate the maximum common volume of the four ligands plus three water molecules. The optimization of energetic complementarity is achieved by the relocation of protein-bound water molecules and by the movement of the Asp-11 side chain. The structure of the LAO-histidine complex indicates that the 30-fold reduced affinity of the protein for histidine is primarily due to unavailability of one ionic interaction of the histidine side chain with the protein which is present in the other three complexes.X1153sciescopu

THE BACTERIAL PERIPLASMIC HISTIDINE-BINDING PROTEIN - STRUCTURE/FUNCTION ANALYSIS OF THE LIGAND-BINDING SITE AND COMPARISON WITH RELATED PROTEINS

Bacterial periplasmic binding proteins are initial receptors in the process of active transport across cell membranes and/or chemotaxis. Among them, the histidine-binding protein (HisJ) has been extensively studied from the biochemical, physiological, and genetic points of view. The three dimensional crystal structure of the histidine binding protein complexed with histidine has been determined at 2.5-Angstrom resolution by the molecular replacement method using as a probe structure the previously solved lysine liganded structure of the lysine-, arginine-, ornithine binding protein (LAG), which shares 70% sequence identity with HisJ. The structure is bi-lobate; the two lobes, one bigger than the other, are connected by two short strands and are in contact with each other (closed) enclosing the histidine. Charged, polar, and non-polar side chains, as well as the peptide backbone, are involved in tight binding of the histidine. The bound histidine is involved in eight direct hydrogen bonds, six with the bigger lobe and two with the smaller lobe, in one potential water-mediated hydrogen bond with the bigger lobe, as well as in ionic interactions. The HisJ residues surrounding the ligand are the same as the LAO residues interacting with lysine, except for residue 52 which is leucine in HisJ and phenylalanine in LAG. The Leu-52 in HisJ makes a hydrophobic interaction with the imidazole ring of histidine. Of seven mutations affecting the ligand-binding site, five are located in the ligand-binding site, one in a con strand, and one at the domains interface. Based on comparisons among related binding proteins, the specific interactions between the ligands and the respective binding protein residues are predicted for the glutamine-binding protein and the opines-binding proteinX1188sciescopu

3-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURES OF THE PERIPLASMIC LYSINE ARGININE ORNITHINE-BINDING PROTEIN WITH AND WITHOUT A LIGAND

Many proteins exhibit a large-scale movement of rigid globular domains. Among these, bacterial periplasmic binding proteins involved in substrate transport, or transport and chemotaxis, can be used as prototypes for understanding the mechanism of the movement. Such movements have been found to be associated with specific functions, such as substrate binding, catalysis, and recognition by other biomolecules. We have determined the three-dimensional structures of the lysine/arginine/ornithine-binding protein (LAO) from Salmonella typhimurium with and without lysine by x-ray crystallographic methods at 1.8- and 1.9-angstrom resolution, respectively. The structures are composed of two lobes held together by two short connecting strands. The two lobes are far apart in the unliganded structure, but in contact with each other in the lysine-liganded structure. The large movement of the lobes is a consequence of a 52-degrees rotation of a single backbone torsion angle in the first connecting strand and of distributed smaller changes of three backbone torsion angles of the second connecting strand. The absence of contact between the lysine and the connecting strands suggests that the ligand does not induce the conformational change directly. We instead propose that the unliganded protein undergoes a dynamic change between an ''open'' and a ''closed'' conformation and that the role of the ligand is to stabilize the closed conformation. We discuss the nature of a surface area which might be recognized by the membrane-bound complex of these amino acids transport systems.X11264sciescopu