A Novel Two-domain Architecture Within the Amino Acid Kinase Enzyme Family Revealed by the Crystal Structure of Escherichia coli Glutamate 5-kinase

Glutamate 5-kinase (G5K) makes the highly unstable product glutamyl 5-phosphate (G5P) in the initial, controlling step of proline/ornithine synthesis, being feedback-inhibited by proline or ornithine, and causing, when defective, clinical hyperammonaemia. We determined two crystal structures of G5K from Escherichia coli, at 2.9 Å and 2.5 Å resolution, complexed with glutamate and sulphate, or with G5P, sulphate and the proline analogue 5-oxoproline. E. coli G5K presents a novel tetrameric (dimer of dimers) architecture. Each subunit contains a 257 residue AAK domain, typical of acylphosphate-forming enzymes, with characteristic α3β8α4 sandwich topology. This domain is responsible for catalysis and proline inhibition, and has a crater on the β sheet C-edge that hosts the active centre and bound 5-oxoproline. Each subunit contains a 93 residue C-terminal PUA domain, typical of RNA-modifying enzymes, which presents the characteristic β5β4 sandwich fold and three α helices. The AAK and PUA domains of one subunit associate non-canonically in the dimer with the same domains of the other subunit, leaving a negatively charged hole between them that hosts two Mg ions in one crystal, in line with the G5K requirement for free Mg. The tetramer, formed by two dimers interacting exclusively through their AAK domains, is flat and elongated, and has in each face, pericentrically, two exposed active centres in alternate subunits. This would permit the close apposition of two active centres of bacterial glutamate-5-phosphate reductase (the next enzyme in the proline/ornithine-synthesising route), supporting the postulated channelling of G5P. The structures clarify substrate binding and catalysis, justify the high glutamate specificity, explain the effects of known point mutations, and support the binding of proline near glutamate. Proline binding may trigger the movement of a loop that encircles glutamate, and which participates in a hydrogen bond network connecting active centres, which is possibly involved in the cooperativity for glutamate. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work was supported by grants BFU2004-05159, BFU2004-04472 from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and PI052838 from the Spanish Ministry of Health.Peer Reviewe

Additional binding sites for anionic phospholipids and calcium ions in the crystal structures of complexes of the C2 domain of protein kinase Cα

The C2 domain of protein kinase Cα (PKCα) corresponds to the regulatory sequence motif, found in a large variety of membrane trafficking and signal transduction proteins, that mediates the recruitment of proteins by phospholipid membranes. In the PKCα isoenzyme, the Ca2+-dependent binding to membranes is highly specific to 1,2-sn-phosphatidyl-L-serine. Intrinsic Ca2+ binding tends to be of low affinity and non-cooperative, while phospholipid membranes enhance the overall affinity of Ca2+ and convert it into cooperative binding. The crystal structure of a ternary complex of the PKCα-C2 domain showed the binding of two calcium ions and of one 1,2-dicaproyl-sn-phosphatidyl-L-serine (DCPS) molecule that was coordinated directly to one of the calcium ions. The structures of the C2 domain of PKCα crystallised in the presence of Ca2+ with either 1,2-diacetyl-sn-phosphatidyl-L-serine (DAPS) or 1,2-dicaproyl-sn-phosphatidic acid (DCPA) have now been determined and refined at 1.9 Å and at 2.0 Å, respectively. DAPS, a phospholipid with short hydrocarbon chains, was expected to facilitate the accommodation of the phospholipid ligand inside the Ca2+-binding pocket. DCPA, with a phosphatidic acid (PA) head group, was used to investigate the preference for phospholipids with phosphatidyl-L-serine (PS) head groups. The two structures determined show the presence of an additional binding site for anionic phospholipids in the vicinity of the conserved lysine-rich cluster. Site-directed mutagenesis, on the lysine residues from this cluster that interact directly with the phospholipid, revealed a substantial decrease in C2 domain binding to vesicles when concentrations of either PS or PA were increased in the absence of Ca2+. In the complex of the C2 domain with DAPS a third Ca2+, which binds an extra phosphate group, was identified in the calcium-binding regions (CBRs). The interplay between calcium ions and phosphate groups or phospholipid molecules in the C2 domain of PKCα is supported by the specificity and spatial organisation of the binding sites in the domain and by the variable occupancies of ligands found in the different crystal structures. Implications for PKCα activity of these structural results, in particular at the level of the binding affinity of the C2 domain to membranes, are discussed. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.This research was supported by grants PB98-0389 to the Universidad de Murcia, and BIO099-0865 to the IBMB and by 1FD97-1558 from DGESIC (Spain) to a collaborative project between the Universidad de Murcia and the IBMB. Data were collected at the EMBL protein crystallography beamlines at ESRF (Grenoble) within a Block Allocation Group (BAG Barcelona), as at ESRF BM14. This work was supported financially by the ESRF and by grant HPRI-CT-1999-00022 of the European Union.Peer Reviewe

Structure of the complex of an Fab fragment of a neutralizing antibody with foot-and-mouth disease virus: Positioning of a highly mobile antigenic loop

Data from cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography have been combined to study the interactions of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype C (FMDV-C) with a strongly neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) SD6. The mAb SD6 binds to the long flexible GH-loop of viral protein 1 (VP1) which also binds to an integrin receptor. The structure of the virus-Fab complex was determined to 30 Å resolution using cryo-electron microscopy and image analysis. The known structure of FMDV-C, and of the SD6 Fab co-crystallized with a synthetic peptide corresponding to the GH-loop of VP1, were fitted to the cryo-electron microscope density map. The SD6 Fab is seen to project almost radially from the viral surface in an orientation which is only compatible with monovalent binding of the mAb. Even taking into account the mAb hinge and elbow flexibility, it is not possible to model bivalent binding without severely distorting the Fabs. The bound GH-loop is essentially in what has previously been termed the 'up' position in the best fit Fab orientation. The SD6 Fab interacts almost exclusively with the GH-loop of VP1, making very few other contacts with the viral capsid. The position and orientation of the SD6 Fab bound to FMDV-C is in accord with previous immunogenic data.Peer Reviewe

Tumor mesenquimático fosfatúrico de pelvis: abordaje multidisciplinario

El tumor mesenquimático fosfatúrico es una entidad clinicopatológica sumamente infrecuente. Además de provocar dolor óseo insidioso y polimialgias, se acompaña de alteraciones del metabolismo fosfocálcico de difícil manejo clínico. El abordaje multidisciplinario resulta la clave del éxito en esta enfermedad. Presentamos una paciente de 52 años de edad con antecedente de tumor mesenquimático fosfatúrico en la hemipelvis derecha con extensión a la cadera homolateral de 10 años de evolución. Clínicamente presentaba osteomalacia oncogénica (hipofosfatemia e hiperfosfaturia) que no se corregía, pese a un agente de última generación, el burosumab, un inhibidor del factor de crecimiento fibroblástico 23, que aumenta la  tubular renal de fosfatos. En un comité multidisciplinario, se decidió la resección con márgenes oncológicos y se logró una mejoría clínica franca. Comunicamos este caso, debido a que es un cuadro infrecuent