title: Metallo-beta-lactamase fold within nucleic acids processing enzymes: the beta-CASP family.
abstract: A separate family of enzymes within the metallo-beta-lactamase fold comprises several important proteins acting on nucleic acid substrates, involved in DNA repair (Artemis, SNM1 and PSO2) and RNA processing [cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF) subunit]. Proteins of this family, named beta-CASP after the names of its representative members, possess specific features relative to those of other metallo-beta-lactamases, that are concentrated in the C-terminal part of the domain. In this study, using sensitive methods of sequence analysis, we identified highly conserved amino acids specific to the beta-CASP family, some of which were unidentified to date, that are predicted to play critical roles in the enzymatic function. The identification and characterisation of all the extant, detectable beta-CASP members within sequence databases and genome data also allowed us to unravel particular sequence features which are likely to be involved in substrate specificity, as well as to describe new but as yet uncharacterised members which may play critical roles in DNA and RNA metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Systèmes moléculaires et Biologie structurale, LMCP, CNRS UMR 7590, Universités Paris 6 et Paris 7, case 115, 4 place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. isabelle.callebaut@lmcp.jussieu.fr
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Callebaut
authors.forename: Despina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moshous
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mornon
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: de Villartay
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001105:Archaea / Q000201:enzymology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000201:enzymology; D001665:Binding Sites; D019295:Computational Biology; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004260:DNA Repair; D030562:Databases, Protein; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D017510:Protein Folding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D015003:Yeasts / Q000201:enzymology; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D001618:beta-Lactamases