title: Molecular determinants of enzyme cold adaptation: comparative structural and computational studies of cold- and warm-adapted enzymes.
abstract: The identification of molecular mechanisms underlying enzyme cold adaptation is a hot-topic both for fundamental research and industrial applications. In the present contribution, we review the last decades of structural computational investigations on cold-adapted enzymes in comparison to their warm-adapted counterparts. Comparative sequence and structural studies allow the definition of a multitude of adaptation strategies. Different enzymes carried out diverse mechanisms to adapt to low temperatures, so that a general theory for enzyme cold adaptation cannot be formulated. However, some common features can be traced in dynamic and flexibility properties of these enzymes, as well as in their intra- and inter-molecular interaction networks. Interestingly, the current data suggest that a family-centered point of view is necessary in the comparative analyses of cold- and warm-adapted enzymes. In fact, enzymes belonging to the same family or superfamily, thus sharing at least the three-dimensional fold and common features of the functional sites, have evolved similar structural and dynamic patterns to overcome the detrimental effects of low temperatures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, P.zza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy. elena.papaleo@unimib.it
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papaleo
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiberti
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Invernizzi
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasi
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ranzani
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics; D003067:Coenzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D003080:Cold Temperature; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008670:Metals / Q000378:metabolism; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D055672:Static Electricity; D040681:Structural Homology, Protein
chemical_list: D003067:Coenzymes; D004798:Enzymes; D008670:Metals