title: The 1.5-A resolution crystal structure of bacterial luciferase in low salt conditions.
abstract: Bacterial luciferase is a flavin monooxygenase that catalyzes the oxidation of a long-chain aldehyde and releases energy in the form of visible light. A new crystal form of luciferase cloned from Vibrio harveyi has been grown under low-salt concentrations, which diffract x-rays beyond 1.5-A resolution. The x-ray structure of bacterial luciferase has been refined to a conventional R-factor of 18.2% for all recorded synchrotron data between 30.0 and 1.50-A resolution. Bacterial luciferase is an alpha-beta heterodimer, and the individual subunits fold into a single domain (beta/alpha)8 barrel. The high resolution structure reveals a non-prolyl cis peptide bond that forms between Ala74 and Ala75 in the alpha subunit near the putative active site. This cis peptide bond may have functional significance for creating a cavity at the active site. Bacterial luciferase employs reduced flavin as a substrate rather than a cofactor. The structure presented was determined in the absence of substrates. A comparison of the structural similarities between luciferase and a nonfluorescent flavoprotein, which is expressed in the lux operon of one genus of bioluminescent bacteria, suggests that the two proteins originated from a common ancestor. However, the flavin binding sites of the nonfluorescent protein are likely not representative of the flavin binding site on luciferase. The structure presented here will furnish a detailed molecular model for all bacterial luciferases.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Enzyme Research and Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Thoden
authors.forename: T O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rayment
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D005415:Flavins / Q000378:metabolism; D008156:Luciferases / Q000737:chemistry*; D008274:Magnesium / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012984:Software; D013696:Temperature; D014733:Vibrio
chemical_list: D005415:Flavins; D008156:Luciferases; D008274:Magnesium