Search results for " Subunit"
showing 10 items of 502 documents
Structural Characterization of Set1 RNA Recognition Motifs and their Role in Histone H3 Lysine 4 Methylation
2006
Departament de Bioquimica iBiologia Molecular, Universitatde Valencia, C/Dr Moliner 50,46100, Burjassot, SpainThe yeast Set1 histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) methyltransferase contains, inaddition to its catalytic SET domain, a conserved RNA recognition motif(RRM1). We present here the crystal structure and the secondary structureassignment in solution of the Set1 RRM1. Although RRM1 has the expectedβαββαβ RRM-fold, it lacks the typical RNA-binding features of thesemodules. RRM1 is not able to bind RNA by itself in vitro, but a constructcombining RRM1 with a newly identified downstream RRM2 specificallybinds RNA. Invivo,H3K4 methylation isnot affectedbyapoint mutation inRRM2 that preserves Set1 s…
Crystallization and Preliminary Analysis of Crystals of the 24-Meric Hemocyanin of the Emperor Scorpion (Pandinus imperator)
2011
Hemocyanins are giant oxygen transport proteins found in the hemolymph of several invertebrate phyla. They constitute giant multimeric molecules whose size range up to that of cell organelles such as ribosomes or even small viruses. Oxygen is reversibly bound by hemocyanins at binuclear copper centers. Subunit interactions within the multisubunit hemocyanin complex lead to diverse allosteric effects such as the highest cooperativity for oxygen binding found in nature. Crystal structures of a native hemocyanin oligomer larger than a hexameric substructure have not been published until now. We report for the first time growth and preliminary analysis of crystals of the 24-meric hemocyanin (M(…
Cockroach allergens Per a 3 are oligomers
2009
Allergens from cockroaches cause major asthma-related health problems worldwide. Among them Per a 3 belongs to the most potent allergens. Although the sequences of some members of the Per a 3-family are known, their biochemical and biophysical properties have not been investigated. Here we present for the first time a thorough structural characterization of these allergens, which have recently been tested to induce an increase of allergy specific indicators in blood of Europeans. We isolated two Per a 3 isoforms, which occur freely dissolved in the hemolymph as hexamers with molecular masses of 465+/-25kDa (P II) and 512+/-25kDa (P I). Their sedimentation coefficients (S(20,W)) were determi…
The Sequence of a Gastropod Hemocyanin (HtH1 from Haliotis tuberculata)
2000
The eight functional units (FUs), a-h, of the hemocyanin isoform HtH1 from Haliotis tuberculata (Prosobranchia, Archaeogastropoda) have been sequenced via cDNA, which provides the first complete primary structure of a gastropod hemocyanin subunit. With 3404 amino acids (392 kDa) it is the largest polypeptide sequence ever obtained for a respiratory protein. The cDNA comprises 10,758 base pairs and includes the coding regions for a short signal peptide, the eight different functional units, a 3'-untranslated region of 478 base pairs, and a poly(A) tail. The predicted protein contains 13 potential sites for N-linked carbohydrates (one for HtH1-a, none for HtH1-c, and two each for the other si…
Tarantula Hemocyanin Shows Phenoloxidase Activity
1998
An enzyme generally catalyzes one well defined reaction with high specificity and efficiency. We report here in contrast that the copper protein hemocyanin of the tarantula Eurypelma californicum exhibits two different functions. These occur at the same active site. While hemocyanin usually is an oxygen carrier, its function can be transformed totally to monophenoloxidase and o-diphenoloxidase activity after limited proteolysis with trypsin or chymotrypsin. N-acetyldopamine (NADA) is more effectively oxidized than L-dopa or dopamine. This irreversible functional switch of tarantula hemocyanin function is limited to the two subunits b and c of its seven subunit types. A conserved phenylalani…
Controlling quaternary structure assembly: subunit interface engineering and crystal structure of dual chain avidin.
2006
Dual chain avidin (dcAvd) is an engineered avidin form, in which two circularly permuted chicken avidin monomers are fused into one polypeptide chain. DcAvd can theoretically form two different pseudotetrameric quaternary assemblies because of symmetry at the monomer-monomer interfaces. Here, our aim was to control the assembly of the quaternary structure of dcAvd. We introduced the mutation I117C into one of the circularly permuted domains of dcAvd and scanned residues along the 1-3 subunit interface of the other domain. Interestingly, V115H resulted in a single, disulfide locked quaternary assembly of dcAvd, whereas I117H could not guide the oligomerisation process even though it stabilis…
Synthesis of a potent photoreactive acidic γ-secretase modulator for target identification in cells.
2012
Supramolecular self-assembly of amyloidogenic peptides is closely associated with numerous pathological conditions. For instance, Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is characterized by abundant amyloid plaques originating from the proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β- and γ-secretases. Compounds named γ-secretase modulators (GSMs) can shift the substrate cleavage specificity of γ-secretase toward the production of non-amyloidogenic, shorter Aβ fragments. Herein, we describe the synthesis of highly potent acidic GSMs, equipped with a photoreactive diazirine moiety for photoaffinity labeling. The probes labeled the N-terminal fragment of presenilin (the catalytic subunit of …
Structure of a molluscan hemocyanin didecamer (HtH1 from Haliotis tuberculata) at 12 Å resolution by cryoelectron microscopy
2000
A 12 A resolution three-dimensional density map of the Haliotis tuberculata hemocyanin type 1 (HtH1) didecamer has been obtained by cryoelectron microscopy of unstained molecules and angular reconstitution. The dyad symmetry of the 8 MDa D5 HtH1 didecamer, formed by the pairing of two asymmetric 4 MDa ring-like C5 decamers, is emphasised. The major and minor surface helical grooves of the didecamer are well defined, in agreement with earlier data on molluscan hemocyanins. The location of the obliquely orientated repeating unit, a subunit dimer, within the decamer has been defined. Following interactive extraction of this dimer, several new structural features of the dimer and of the subunit…
Meprins, membrane-bound and secreted astacin metalloproteinases
2008
The astacins are a subfamily of the metzincin superfamily of metalloproteinases. The first to be characterized was the crayfish enzyme astacin. To date more than 200 members of this family have been identified in species ranging from bacteria to humans. Astacins are involved in developmental morphogenesis, matrix assembly, tissue differentiation and digestion. Family members include the procollagen C-proteinase (BMP1, bone morphogenetic protein 1), tolloid and mammalian tolloid-like, HMP (Hydra vulgaris metalloproteinase), sea urchin BP10 (blastula protein) and SPAN (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus astacin), the 'hatching' subfamily comprising alveolin, ovastacin, LCE, HCE ('low' and 'high' c…
Comparative 11A structure of two molluscan hemocyanins from 3D cryo-electron microscopy
2006
Abstract Hemocyanins are giant extracellular proteins that transport oxygen in the hemolymph of many molluscs. Molluscan hemocyanins are cylindrical decamers or didecamers of a 350–400 kDa subunit that contains seven or eight different covalently linked globular functional units (FUs), arranged in a linear manner. Each FU carries a single copper active site and reversibly binds one dioxygen molecule. As a consequence, the decamer can carry up to 70 or 80 O 2 molecules. Although complete sequence information is now available from several molluscan hemocyanins, many details of the quaternary structure are still unclear, including the topology of the 10 subunits within the decamer. Here we sho…