title: Structure of the MazF-mt9 toxin, a tRNA-specific endonuclease from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) is a severe disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) and the well-characterized M. tb MazE/F proteins play important roles in stress adaptation. Recently, the MazF-mt9 toxin has been found to display endonuclease activities towards tRNAs but the mechanism is unknown. We hereby present the crystal structure of apo-MazF-mt9. The enzyme recognizes tRNALyswith a central UUU motif within the anticodon loop, but is insensitive to the sequence context outside of the loop. Based on our crystallographic and biochemical studies, we identified key residues for catalysis and proposed the potential tRNA-binding site.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, The Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 W. Xingang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, The Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 W. Xingang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Chest Hospital, 62 HengzhiGang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510095, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Chest Hospital, 62 HengzhiGang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510095, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fanrong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Chest Hospital, 62 HengzhiGang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510095, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Pinyun
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, The Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 W. Xingang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhishan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, The Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 W. Xingang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chengwen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, The Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 W. Xingang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, The Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 W. Xingang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiangyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, The Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 W. Xingang Rd., Guangzhou, Guangdong 510275, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: xiewei6@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000926:Anticodon / Q000737:chemistry*; D001059:Apoproteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011485:Protein Binding; D000072417:Protein Domains; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012357:RNA, Transfer, Lys / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D040681:Structural Homology, Protein; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000926:Anticodon; D001059:Apoproteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D012357:RNA, Transfer, Lys; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004722:Endoribonucleases; C000601629:MazF protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
keywords: Crystal structure; Structure-function; Substrate specificity; Toxin-antitoxin; tRNA endonuclease