D-galactose-binding (or chemoreceptor) protein of Escherichia coli serves as an initial component for both chemotaxis towards galactose and glucose and high-affinity active transport of the two sugars. Well-refined x-ray structures of the liganded forms of the wild-type and a mutant protein isolated from a strain defective in chemotaxis but fully competent in transport have provided a molecular view of the sugar-binding site and of a site for interacting with the Trg transmembrane signal transducer. The geometry of the sugar-binding site, located in the cleft between the two lobes of the bilobate protein, is novel in that it is designed for tight binding and sequestering of either the alpha or beta anomer of the D-stereoisomer of the 4-epimers galactose and glucose. Binding specificity and affinity are conferred primarily by polar planar side-chain residues that form intricate networks of cooperative and bidentate hydrogen bonds with the sugar substrates, and secondarily by aromatic residues that sandwich the pyranose ring. Each of the pairs of anomeric hydroxyls and epimeric hydroxyls is recognized by a distinct Asp residue. The site for interaction with the transducer is about 18 A from the sugar-binding site. Mutation of Gly74 to Asp at this site, concomitant with considerable changes in the local ordered water structures, contributes to the lack of productive interaction with the transmembrane signal transducer.

The refined 1.9-A resolution structure of the periplasmic D-galactose-binding protein (GBP) reveals a calcium ion surrounded by seven ligands, all protein oxygen atoms. A nine-residue loop (amino-acid positions 134-142), which is preceded by a beta-turn and followed by a beta-strand, provides five ligands from every second residue. The last two ligands are supplied by the carboxylate group of Glu 205. The entire GBP Ca2+-binding site adopts a conformation very similar to the site in the 'helix-loop-helix' or 'EF-hand' unit commonly found in intracellular calcium-binding proteins, but without the two helices. Structural analyses have also uncovered the sugar-binding site some 30 A from the calcium and a site for interacting with the membrane-bound trg chemotactic signal transducer approximately 45 A from the calcium. Our results show that a common tight calcium binding site of ancient origin can be tethered to different secondary structures. They also provide the first demonstration of a metal-binding site in a protein which is involved in bacterial active transport and chemotaxis.

Water molecules influence molecular interactions in all biological systems, yet it is extremely difficult to understand their effects in precise atomic detail. Here we present evidence, based on highly refined atomic structures of the complexes of the L-arabinose-binding protein with L-arabinose, D-fucose and D-galactose, that bound water molecules, coupled with localized conformational changes, can govern substrate specificity and affinity. The atoms common to the three sugars are identically positioned in the binding site and the same nine strong hydrogen bonds are formed in all three complexes. Two hydrogen-bonded water molecules in the site contribute further to tight binding of L-arabinose but create an unfavourable interaction with the methyl group of D-fucose. Equally tight binding of D-galactose is attained by the replacement of one of the hydrogen-bonded water molecules by its--CH2OH group, coordinated with localized structural changes which include a shift and redirection of the hydrogen-bonding interactions of the other water molecule. These observations illustrate how ordered water molecules can contribute directly to the properties of proteins by influencing their interaction with ligands.