Chemosensory Proteins (CSPs) represent a family of conserved proteins found in insects that may be involved in chemosensory functions. BmorCSP1 is expressed mainly in antennae and legs of the silkworm moth Bombyx mori and was cloned from antennal cDNA. Here we report the determination of the structure of Bombyx mori CSP1 (BmorCSP1) by NMR. The overall fold of BmorCSP1 is globular and comprises six alpha-helices. These helices span residues 10-14, 17-27, 35-49, 57-72, 75-85, and 92-100. The internal hydrophobic sides of the helices are formed mostly by leucine and isoleucine residues and, therefore, well suited to constitute a binding site for hydrophobic ligands.

The structure of the 13C,15N-labeled d(GCGAAGC) hairpin, as determined by NMR spectroscopy and refined using molecular dynamics with NOE-derived distances, torsion angles, and residual dipolar couplings (RDCs), is presented. Although the studied molecule is of small size, it is demonstrated that the incorporation of diminutive RDCs can significantly improve local structure determination of regions undefined by the conventional restraints. Very good correlation between the experimental and back-calculated small one- and two-bond 1H-13C, 1H-15N, 13C-13C and 13C-15N coupling constants has been attained. The final structures clearly show typical features of the miniloop architecture. The structure is discussed in context of the extraordinary stability of the d(GCGAAGC) hairpin, which originates from a complex interplay between the aromatic base stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions.

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Bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) requires σ factors to recognize promoter sequences. Domain 1.1 of primary σ factors (σ1.1) prevents their binding to promoter DNA in the absence of RNAP, and when in complex with RNAP, it occupies the DNA-binding channel of RNAP. Currently, two 3D structures of σ1.1 are available: from in complex with RNAP and from solved free in solution. However, these two structures significantly differ, and it is unclear whether this difference is due to an altered conformation upon RNAP binding or to differences in intrinsic properties between the proteins from these two distantly related species. Here, we report the solution structure of σ1.1 from the Gram-positive bacterium We found that σ1.1 is highly compact because of additional stabilization not present in σ1.1 from the other two species and that it is more similar to σ1.1. Moreover, modeling studies suggested that σ1.1 requires minimal conformational changes for accommodating RNAP in the DNA channel, whereas σ1.1 must be rearranged to fit therein. Thus, the mesophilic species and share the same σ1.1 fold, whereas the fold of σ1.1 from the thermophile is distinctly different. Finally, we describe an intriguing similarity between σ1.1 and δ, an RNAP-associated protein in , bearing implications for the so-far unknown binding site of δ on RNAP. In conclusion, our results shed light on the conformational changes of σ1.1 required for its accommodation within bacterial RNAP.