title: Crystallization and preliminary crystal structure analysis of the ligand-binding domain of PqsR (MvfR), the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) responsive quorum-sensing transcription factor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
abstract: The opportunistic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa employs three transcriptional regulators, LasR, RhlR and PqsR, to control the transcription of a large subset of its genes in a cell-density-dependent process known as quorum sensing. Here, the recombinant production, crystallization and structure solution of the ligand-binding domain of PqsR (MvfR), the LysR-type transcription factor that responds to the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS), a quinolone-based quorum-sensing signal that is unique to P. aeruginosa and possibly a small number of other bacteria, is reported. PqsR regulates the expression of many virulence genes and may therefore be an interesting drug target. The ligand-binding domain (residues 91-319) was produced as a fusion with SUMO, and hexagonal-shaped crystals of purified PqsR_91-319 were obtained using the vapour-diffusion method. Crystallization in the presence of a PQS precursor allowed data collection to 3.25 Å resolution on a synchrotron beamline, and initial phases have been obtained using single-wavelength anomalous diffraction data from seleno-L-methionine-labelled crystals, revealing the space group to be P6(5)22, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 116-120, c = 115-117 Å.
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Biochemie, Universität Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Ningna
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Shen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moniot
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weyand
authors.forename: Wulf
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Blankenfeldt
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D008024:Ligands; D008958:Models, Molecular; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000737:chemistry*; D053038:Quorum Sensing; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008024:Ligands; D014157:Transcription Factors