The exocyst is a hetero-octameric complex proposed to serve as the tethering complex for exocytosis, although it remains poorly understood at the molecular level. Here, we purified endogenous exocyst from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and show that the purified complexes are stable and consist of all eight subunits with equal stoichiometry. Using a combination of biochemical and auxin-induced degradation experiments in yeast, we mapped the subunit connectivity, identified two stable four-subunit modules within the octamer, and demonstrated that several known exocyst binding partners are not necessary for exocyst assembly and stability. Furthermore, we visualized the structure of the yeast complex using negative stain electron microscopy; our results indicate that exocyst exists predominantly as a stable, octameric complex with an elongated architecture that suggests the subunits are contiguous helical bundles packed together into a bundle of long rods.

Poliovirus 3CD is a multifunctional protein that serves as a precursor to the protease 3C pro and the viral polymerase 3D pol and also plays a role in the control of viral replication. Although 3CD is a fully functional protease, it lacks polymerase activity. We have solved the crystal structures of 3CD at a 3.4-Å resolution and the G64S fidelity mutant of 3D pol at a 3.0-Å resolution. In the 3CD structure, the 3C and 3D domains are joined by a poorly ordered polypeptide linker, possibly to facilitate its cleavage, in an arrangement that precludes intramolecular proteolysis. The polymerase active site is intact in both the 3CD and the 3D pol G64S structures, despite the disruption of a network proposed to position key residues in the active site. Therefore, changes in molecular flexibility may be responsible for the differences in fidelity and polymerase activities. Extensive packing contacts between symmetry-related 3CD molecules and the approach of the 3C domain's N terminus to the VPg binding site suggest how 3D pol makes biologically relevant interactions with the 3C, 3CD, and 3BCD proteins that control the uridylylation of VPg during the initiation of viral replication. Indeed, mutations designed to disrupt these interfaces have pronounced effects on the uridylylation reaction in vitro.Poliovirus (PV), a member of the Picornaviridae family of RNA viruses, must simultaneously perform many tasks inside a host cell for efficient and successful viral replication, and only a small number of gene products are responsible for these processes. The virus produces a single polyprotein that is cleaved by virally encoded proteases. Many of the viral proteins, including precursor proteins, play multiple roles in viral replication.The viral protein 3CD is a multifunctional precursor to the poliovirus protease 3Cpro and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 3Dpol . The 3CD molecule retains its ability to function as a protease but lacks polymerase activity (20). Its proteolytic functions include cleavages, resulting in the production of structural proteins VP0, VP1, and VP3 and nonstructural proteins 3AB, 3CD, 3C pro , and 3D pol . In many of these functions, 3CD serves as a better protease than 3C pro , suggesting that the 3D region of 3CD contributes to that activity (34).3CD is also a crucial component of the viral replication complex. The 5Ј-terminal region of the poliovirus genome adopts a cloverleaf structure to which 3CD can bind in the presence of the viral protein 3AB or the cellular protein PCBP2 (2, 35, 49). Both forms of this ribonucleoprotein complex appear to play important roles in inducing RNA synthesis (49). The initiation of RNA synthesis is primed by the addition of two uridines to the 22-amino-acid protein primer VPg (3B) at the side-chain hydroxyl of Tyr3. Positive-strand synthesis is thought to use an RNA hairpin structure as its template within the PV genome (37,42). One model suggests that this cisacting replication signal in the 2C-noncoding region of the PV genome, cre(2C), binds to 3CD and forms a mu...

Background:The physical basis for polymerase fidelity remains unclear. Results: Molecular dynamics simulations, NMR, and pre-steady-state kinetics of a mutator polymerase reveal conformational states of the active site that serve as fidelity checkpoints. Conclusion: Protein dynamics, largely concealed by x-ray crystallography, govern incorporation fidelity. Significance: Strategies have been inspired for engineering (anti)mutator polymerases and attenuated viruses.

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