title: Engineering Nucleotide Specificity of Succinyl-CoA Synthetase in Blastocystis: The Emerging Role of Gatekeeper Residues.
abstract: Charged, solvent-exposed residues at the entrance to the substrate binding site (gatekeeper residues) produce electrostatic dipole interactions with approaching substrates, and control their access by a novel mechanism called "electrostatic gatekeeper effect". This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that the nucleotide specificity can be engineered by altering the electrostatic properties of the gatekeeper residues outside the binding site. Using Blastocystis succinyl-CoA synthetase (SCS, EC 6.2.1.5), we demonstrated that the gatekeeper mutant (ED) resulted in ATP-specific SCS to show high GTP specificity. Moreover, nucleotide binding site mutant (LF) had no effect on GTP specificity and remained ATP-specific. However, via combination of the gatekeeper mutant with the nucleotide binding site mutant (ED+LF), a complete reversal of nucleotide specificity was obtained with GTP, but no detectable activity was obtained with ATP. This striking result of the combined mutant (ED+LF) was due to two changes; negatively charged gatekeeper residues (ED) favored GTP access, and nucleotide binding site residues (LF) altered ATP binding, which was consistent with the hypothesis of the "electrostatic gatekeeper effect". These results were further supported by molecular modeling and simulation studies. Hence, it is imperative to extend the strategy of the gatekeeper effect in a different range of crucial enzymes (synthetases, kinases, and transferases) to engineer substrate specificity for various industrial applications and substrate-based drug design.
authors.affiliation: Host-parasite Interaction Biology Group, National Institute of Malaria Research, ICMR , New Delhi 110077, India.
authors.forename: Kapil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vashisht
authors.affiliation: Host-parasite Interaction Biology Group, National Institute of Malaria Research, ICMR , New Delhi 110077, India.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University , New Delhi 110067, India.
authors.forename: Sunita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University , New Delhi 110067, India.
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Lynn
authors.affiliation: Host-parasite Interaction Biology Group, National Institute of Malaria Research, ICMR , New Delhi 110077, India.
authors.forename: Rajnikant
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dixit
authors.affiliation: Host-parasite Interaction Biology Group, National Institute of Malaria Research, ICMR , New Delhi 110077, India.
authors.forename: Neelima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.affiliation: Host-parasite Interaction Biology Group, National Institute of Malaria Research, ICMR , New Delhi 110077, India.
authors.forename: Neena
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Valecha
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, University of Exeter , Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QD, U.K.
authors.forename: Karleigh A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Hamblin
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Bedfordshire , University Square, Luton LU1 3JU, U.K.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maytum
authors.affiliation: Host-parasite Interaction Biology Group, National Institute of Malaria Research, ICMR , New Delhi 110077, India.
authors.forename: Kailash C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, University of Exeter , Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 4QD, U.K.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van der Giezen
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D016844:Blastocystis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D009154:Mutation; D011485:Protein Binding; D015202:Protein Engineering; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D055672:Static Electricity; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D013389:Succinate-CoA Ligases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D006160:Guanosine Triphosphate; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D013389:Succinate-CoA Ligases