title: Crystal structure of beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase II from E.coli reveals the molecular architecture of condensing enzymes.
abstract: In the biosynthesis of fatty acids, the beta-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) synthases catalyze chain elongation by the addition of two-carbon units derived from malonyl-ACP to an acyl group bound to either ACP or CoA. The crystal structure of beta-ketoacyl synthase II from Escherichia coli has been determined with the multiple isomorphous replacement method and refined at 2.4 A resolution. The subunit consists of two mixed five-stranded beta-sheets surrounded by alpha-helices. The two sheets are packed against each other in such a way that the fold can be described as consisting of five layers, alpha-beta-alpha-beta-alpha. The enzyme is a homodimer, and the subunits are related by a crystallographic 2-fold axis. The two active sites are located near the dimer interface but are approximately 25 A apart. The proposed nucleophile in the reaction, Cys163, is located at the bottom of a mainly hydrophobic pocket which is also lined with several conserved polar residues. In spite of very low overall sequence homology, the structure of beta-ketoacyl synthase is similar to that of thiolase, an enzyme involved in the beta-oxidation pathway, indicating that both enzymes might have a common ancestor.
authors.affiliation: Division of Structural Biology, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dehesh
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lindqvist
mesh_terms: D015099:3-Oxoacyl-(Acyl-Carrier-Protein) Synthase / Q000737:chemistry*; D000101:Acetyl-CoA C-Acetyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry; D019281:Dimerization; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015003:Yeasts / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D015099:3-Oxoacyl-(Acyl-Carrier-Protein) Synthase; D000101:Acetyl-CoA C-Acetyltransferase; D003545:Cysteine