Crystal structure of Hyp-1, a St. John's wort protein implicated in the biosynthesis of hypericin.
Hypericin, a red-colored naphtodianthrone, is a natural product synthesized in the medicinal plant Hypericum perforatum, widely known as St. John's wort. Hypericin has been attracting a growing attention of the pharmaceutical industry because of its potential application in various therapies, including the treatment of depression. In vivo, hypericin is synthesized by dimerization of emodin in a complicated multistep reaction that is reportedly catalyzed by a small (17.8kDa) protein, Hyp-1. Based on relatively low sequence similarity ( approximately 50%), Hyp-1 has been tentatively classified as a plant PR-10 (pathogenesis-related class 10) protein. Members of the PR-10 family are ubiquitous plant proteins associated with stress control and tissue differentiation but with no clearly understood molecular mechanism. They have, however, a well-defined folding canon, consisting of an extended antiparallel beta-sheet wrapped around a C-terminal alpha-helix, enclosing in the protein interior a huge cavity, in which various hydrophobic ligands can be bound. Apart from Hyp-1, only two other PR-10 members have been found to possess enzymatic activity (S-norcoclaurine synthase and TcmN aromatase/cyclase). In this paper, we report a high-resolution crystal structure of Hyp-1, confirming that it indeed has a PR-10 fold. The protein binds multiple polyethylene glycol molecules, some of which occupy the hydrophobic cavity. The crystallographic model illustrates a high degree of conformational adaptability of both interacting partners for efficient binding. We have been unable, however, to dimerize emodin to hypericin using Hyp-1 as biocatalyst. This puzzling result does not have a clear explanation at this time.
Michalska
Karolina
K
Department of Crystallography, Faculty of Chemistry, A. Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland.
Fernandes
Humberto
H
Sikorski
Michal
M
Jaskolski
Mariusz
M
D000873:Anthracenes; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D003460:Crystallization; D019281:Dimerization; D004642:Emodin / Q000737:chemistry; D020902:Hypericum / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010569:Perylene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation
D000873:Anthracenes; D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D010940:Plant Proteins; C053376:pathogenesis-related proteins, plant; D010569:Perylene; C004965:hypericin; D004642:Emodin