Conversion of the primary bile acids cholic acid (CA) and chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) to the secondary bile acids deoxycholic acid (DCA) and lithocholic acid (LCA) is performed by a few species of intestinal bacteria in the genus Clostridium through a multistep biochemical pathway that removes a 7α-hydroxyl group. The rate-determining enzyme in this pathway is bile acid 7α-dehydratase (baiE). In this study, we report crystal structures of apo-BaiE and its putative product-bound (3-oxo-Δ4,6- lithocholyl-Coenzyme A (CoA)) complex. BaiE is a trimer with a twisted α+β barrel fold with similarity to the Nuclear Transport Factor 2 (NTF2) superfamily. Tyr30, Asp35 and His83 form a catalytic triad that is conserved across this family. Site-directed mutagenesis of BaiE from Clostridium scindens VPI 12708 confirmed that these residues are essential for catalysis and also confirmed the importance of other conserved residues, Tyr54 and Arg146, which are involved in substrate binding and affect catalytic turnover. Steady state kinetic studies revealed that the BaiE homologs are able to turn over 3-oxo-Δ4-bile acid and CoA-conjugated 3-oxo-Δ4-bile acid substrates with comparable efficiency questioning the role of CoA-conjugation in the bile acid metabolism pathway.

Helix-coil equilibrium studies are important for understanding helix formation in protein folding, and for helical foldamer design. The quantitative description of a helix using statistical mechanical models is based on experimentally derived helix propensities and the assumption that helix propensity is position-independent. To investigate this assumption, we studied a series of 19-residue Ala-based peptides, to measure the helix propensity for Leu, Phe, and Pff at positions 6, 11, and 16. Circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed that substituting Ala with a given amino acid (Leu, Phe, or Pff) resulted in the following fraction helix trend: KXaa16 > KXaa6 > KXaa11. Helix propensities for Leu, Phe, and Pff at the different positions were derived from the CD data. For the same amino acid, helix propensities were similar at positions 6 and 11, but much higher at position 16 (close to the C-terminus). A survey of protein helices revealed that Leu/Phe-Lys (i, i + 3) sequence patterns frequently occur in two structural patterns involving the helix C-terminus; however, these cases include a left-handed conformation residue. Furthermore, no Leu/Phe-Lys interaction was found except for the Lys-Phe cation-π interaction in two cases of Phe-Ala-Ala-Lys. The apparent high helix propensity at position 16 may be due to helix capping, adoption of a 3₁₀-helix near the C-terminus perhaps with Xaa-Lys (i, i + 3) interactions, or proximity to the peptide chain terminus. Accordingly, helix propensity is generally position-independent except in the presence of alternative structures or in the proximity of either chain terminus. These results should facilitate the design of helical peptides, proteins, and foldamers.