title: Site-directed mutagenesis of dicarboxylic acids near the active site of Bacillus cereus 5/B/6 beta-lactamase II.
abstract: An amino acid residue functioning as a general base has been proposed to assist in the hydrolysis of beta-lactam antibiotics by the zinc-containing Bacillus cereus beta-lactamase II [Bicknell & Waley (1985) Biochemistry 24, 6876-6887]. Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis of cloned Bacillus cereus 5/B/6 beta-lactamase II was used in an 'in vivo' study to investigate the role of carboxy-group-containing amino acids near the active site of the enzyme. Substitution of asparagine for the wild-type aspartic acid residue at position 81 resulted in fully functional enzyme. An aspartic acid residue at position 90 is essential for beta-lactamase II to confer any detectable ampicillin and cephalosporin C resistance to Escherichia coli. Conversion of Asp90 into Asn90 or Glu90 lead to the synthesis of inactive enzyme, suggesting that the spatial position of the beta-carboxy group of Asp90 is critical for enzyme function.
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark 19716.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Iyer
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Pène
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001216:Asparagine; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002510:Cephalosporinase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010641:Phenotype; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D001216:Asparagine; D002510:Cephalosporinase