title: Structure of a NifS homologue: X-ray structure analysis of CsdB, an Escherichia coli counterpart of mammalian selenocysteine lyase.
abstract: Escherichia coli CsdB, a NifS homologue with a high specificity for L-selenocysteine, is a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent dimeric enzyme that belongs to aminotransferases class V in fold-type I of PLP enzymes and catalyzes the decomposition of L-selenocysteine into selenium and L-alanine. The crystal structure of the enzyme has been determined by the X-ray crystallographic method of multiple isomorphous replacement and refined to an R-factor of 18.7% at 2.8 A resolution. The subunit structure consists of three parts: a large domain of an alpha/beta-fold containing a seven-stranded beta-sheet flanked by seven helices, a small domain containing a four-stranded antiparallel beta-sheet flanked by three alpha-helices, and an N-terminal segment containing two alpha-helices. The overall fold of the subunit is similar to those of the enzymes belonging to the fold-type I family represented by aspartate aminotransferase. However, CsdB has several structural features that are not observed in other families of the enzymes. A remarkable feature is that an alpha-helix in the lobe extending from the small domain to the large domain in one subunit of the dimer interacts with a beta-hairpin loop protruding from the large domain of the other subunit. The extended lobe and the protruded beta-hairpin loop form one side of a limb of each active site in the enzyme. The most striking structural feature of CsdB lies in the location of a putative catalytic residue; the side chain of Cys364 on the extended lobe of one subunit is close enough to interact with the gamma-atom of a modeled substrate in the active site of the subunit. Moreover, His55 from the other subunit is positioned so that it interacts with the gamma- or beta-atom of the substrate and may be involved in the catalytic reaction. This is the first report on three-dimensional structures of NifS homologues.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mihara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Esaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hata
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D001665:Binding Sites; D002384:Catalysis; D003460:Crystallization; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D019281:Dimerization; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology*; D008190:Lyases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011732:Pyridoxal Phosphate / Q000737:chemistry; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C080001:nifS protein, Bacteria; D011732:Pyridoxal Phosphate; D008190:Lyases; C034278:selenocysteine lyase; D003545:Cysteine