The current paper demonstrates that cholesterol and its hydroxylated derivative, 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC), inhibit cholesterol synthesis by two different mechanisms, both involving the proteins that control sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs), membrane-bound transcription factors that activate genes encoding enzymes of lipid synthesis. Using methyl-␤-cyclodextrin as a delivery vehicle, we show that cholesterol enters cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells and elicits a conformational change in SREBP cleavage-activating protein (SCAP), as revealed by the appearance of a new fragment in tryptic digests. This change causes SCAP to bind to Insigs, which are endoplasmic reticulum retention proteins that abrogate movement of the SCAP⅐SREBP complex to the Golgi apparatus where SREBPs are normally processed to their active forms. Direct binding of cholesterol to SCAP in intact cells was demonstrated by showing that a photoactivated derivative of cholesterol cross-links to the membrane domain of SCAP. The inhibitory actions of cholesterol do not require the isooctyl side chain or the ⌬5-double bond of cholesterol, but they do require the 3␤-hydroxyl group. 25-HC is more potent than cholesterol in eliciting SCAP binding to Insigs, but 25-HC does not cause a detectable conformational change in SCAP. Moreover, a photoactivated derivative of 25-HC does not cross-link to SCAP. These data imply that cholesterol interacts with SCAP directly by inducing it to bind to Insigs, whereas 25-HC works indirectly through a putative 25-HC sensor protein that elicits SCAP-Insig binding.Nearly 30 years ago, during early studies of feedback inhibition of cholesterol synthesis in cultured cells, it was noted that oxygenated sterols such as 25-hydroxycholesterol were more than 50-fold more potent than cholesterol in reducing the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, the rate-controlling enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis (1-4). These experiments were conducted by dissolving sterols in ethanol and adding them to protein-containing aqueous culture media in which cholesterol forms an amorphous suspension and thus has poor access to the interior of the cell. When cholesterol was delivered to cells in low density lipoprotein (LDL), 1 a physiologic carrier that enters cells through LDL receptors, the ability of cholesterol to suppress 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase was enhanced (5). Later, when methods were devised to reconstitute LDL with sterol esters, it was observed that 25-hydroxycholesterol was only about 5-fold more potent than cholesterol when both sterol esters were reconstituted into LDL and delivered through LDL receptors (6). The question of whether cholesterol itself is a regulator or whether it must be converted to an oxygenated metabolite, like 25-hydroxycholesterol, remained unresolved (7). In view of this ambiguity, studies of feedback regulation in our laboratory have generally used a mixture of cholesterol and 25-hydroxycholesterol in a 10:1 molar ratio added in ethanol.In recent years...

Upon antibiotic stress Gram-negative pathogens deploy resistance-nodulation-cell division-type tripartite efflux pumps. These include a H+/drug antiporter module that recognizes structurally diverse substances, including antibiotics. Here, we show the 3.5 Å structure of subunit AdeB from the Acinetobacter baumannii AdeABC efflux pump solved by single-particle cryo-electron microscopy. The AdeB trimer adopts mainly a resting state with all protomers in a conformation devoid of transport channels or antibiotic binding sites. However, 10% of the protomers adopt a state where three transport channels lead to the closed substrate (deep) binding pocket. A comparison between drug binding of AdeB and Escherichia coli AcrB is made via activity analysis of 20 AdeB variants, selected on basis of side chain interactions with antibiotics observed in the AcrB periplasmic domain X-ray co-structures with fusidic acid (2.3 Å), doxycycline (2.1 Å) and levofloxacin (2.7 Å). AdeABC, compared to AcrAB-TolC, confers higher resistance to E. coli towards polyaromatic compounds and lower resistance towards antibiotic compounds.

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The polytopic membrane protein SCAP transports sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi, thereby activating cholesterol synthesis. Cholesterol accumulation in the ER membranes changes SCAP to an alternate conformation in which it binds ER retention proteins called Insigs, thereby terminating cholesterol synthesis. Here, we show that the conserved Asp-428 in the sixth transmembrane helix of SCAP is essential for SCAP's dissociation from Insigs. In transfected hamster cells, mutant SCAP in which Asp-428 is replaced by alanine (D428A) remained in an Insig-binding conformation when cells were depleted of sterols. As a result, mutant SCAP failed to dissociate from Insigs, and it failed to carry SREBPs to the Golgi. These data identify an important functional residue in SCAP, and they provide genetic evidence that the conformation of SCAP dictates the rate of cholesterol synthesis in animal cells.Insig ͉ membrane proteins ͉ sterol regulatory element-binding protein

Mycoplasma genitalium is a human pathogen adhering to host target epithelial cells and causing urethritis, cervicitis and pelvic inflammatory disease. Essential for infectivity is a transmembrane adhesion complex called Nap comprising proteins P110 and P140. Here we report the crystal structure of P140 both alone and in complex with the N-terminal domain of P110. By cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and tomography (cryo-ET) we find closed and open Nap conformations, determined at 9.8 and 15 Å, respectively. Both crystal structures and the cryo-EM structure are found in a closed conformation, where the sialic acid binding site in P110 is occluded. By contrast, the cryo-ET structure shows an open conformation, where the binding site is accessible. Structural information, in combination with functional studies, suggests a mechanism for attachment and release of M. genitalium to and from the host cell receptor, in which Nap conformations alternate to sustain motility and guarantee infectivity.