title: Improvement in the efficiency of formyl transfer of a GAR transformylase hybrid enzyme.
abstract: A hybrid glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase was assembled from two protein domains that were treated as discrete modules. One module contained the ribonucleotide binding domain from the purN glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase; the second module contained the catalytic machinery and the formyl tetrahydrofolate binding domain from the enzyme encoded by purU, formyl tetrahydrofolate hydrolase. The resultant enzyme showed 0.1% catalytic activity of the wild-type glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase enzyme but had a formyl transfer efficiency of 10%. A combinatorial mutagenesis approach was used to improve the solubility and formyl transfer properties of the hybrid enzyme. The mutagenized hybrid glycinamide ribonucleotide transformylase was initially expressed as a fusion to the alpha-peptide of beta-galactosidase. Clones were selected for improvement in solubility by determining which clones were capable of alpha-complementation using a blue/white screen. One clone was further characterized and found to have an improved efficiency of transfer of the ribonucleotide increasing this property to >95%.
authors.affiliation: 152 Davey Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-6300, USA.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Nixon
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Benkovic
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D006868:Hydrolysis; D019877:Hydroxymethyl and Formyl Transferases / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051026:Phosphoribosylglycinamide Formyltransferase; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D019877:Hydroxymethyl and Formyl Transferases; D051026:Phosphoribosylglycinamide Formyltransferase