title: Crystal structure of heme oxygenase from the gram-negative pathogen Neisseria meningitidis and a comparison with mammalian heme oxygenase-1.
abstract: We report the crystal structure of heme oxygenase from the pathogenic bacterium Neisseria meningitidis at 1.5 A and compare and contrast it with known structures of heme oxygenase-1 from mammalian sources. Both the bacterial and mammalian enzymes share the same overall fold, with a histidine contributing a ligand to the proximal side of the heme iron and a kinked alpha-helix defining the distal pocket. The distal helix differs noticeably in both sequence and conformation, and the distal pocket of the Neisseria enzyme is substantially smaller than in the mammalian enzyme. Key glycine residues provide the flexibility for the helical kink, allow close contact of the helix backbone with the heme, and may interact directly with heme ligands.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, Department of Physiology & Biophysics, and Program in Structural Biology, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-3900, USA.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Schuller
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stojiljkovic
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilks
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Poulos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002384:Catalysis; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray / Q000379:methods; D005998:Glycine; D006419:Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000201:enzymology*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C496541:HMOX1 protein, human; D006419:Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing); D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1; D005998:Glycine