No abstract

Proton-coupled Oligopeptide Transporters (POTs) of the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) mediate the uptake of short di- and tripeptides in all phyla of life. POTs are thought to constitute the most promiscuous class of MFS transporters, with the potential to transport more than 8400 unique substrates. Over the past two decades, transport assays and biophysical studies have shown that various orthologues and paralogues display differences in substrate selectivity. The E. coli genome codes for four different POTs, known as Di- and tripeptide permeases A-D (DtpA-D). DtpC was shown previously to favor positively charged peptides as substrates. In this study, we describe, how we determined the structure of the 53 kDa DtpC by cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and provide structural insights into the ligand specificity of this atypical POT. We collected and analyzed data on the transporter fused to split superfolder GFP (split sfGFP), in complex with a 52 kDa Pro-macrobody and with a 13 kDa nanobody. The latter sample was more stable, rigid and a significant fraction dimeric, allowing us to reconstruct a 3D volume of DtpC at a resolution of 2.7 Å. This work provides a molecular explanation for the selectivity of DtpC, and highlights the value of small and rigid fiducial markers such as nanobodies for structure determination of low molecular weight integral membrane proteins lacking soluble domains.

Large dark prismatic crystals (P 1 ¯ ) consisting of closely packed centrosymmetric [Cu(4,7-dichloroquinoline)2]2Br4 binuclear units are formed when 4,7-dichloroquinoline (DCQ, C9H5NCl2) binds copper(II). Cu2+ adopts a strongly distorted square pyramidal coordination geometry, perturbed by electrostatic interactions with two axial μ–Br ligands acting as highly asymmetric bridges. It is shown that, as electronic states of ligands are higher in energy than the metal ones, antibonding orbitals bear significant ligand-like character and electronic charge is partially transferred from inner-sphere coordinated halogen atoms to copper. Overall, the title compound sits on the Hoffman’s border between main group and transition chemistry, with non-negligible contributions of the ligands to the frontier orbitals. The relative energy placement of metal and ligand states determines an internal redox process, where the metal is slightly reduced at the expense of partial oxidation of the bromide ligands. In fact, the crystal structure is partially disordered due to the substitution of some penta-coordinated Cu(II) centers with tetra-coordinated Cu(I) ions. The geometry of the complex is rationalized in terms of electrostatic-driven distortions from an ideal octahedral prototype. Implications on the reactivity of Cu(II)–quinoline complexes are discussed.