The cold-shock domain (CSD) is found in many eukaryotic transcriptional factors and is responsible for the specific binding to DNA of a cis-element called the Y-box. The same domain exists in the sequence of the Xenopus RNA-binding proteins FRG Y1 and FRG Y2 (refs 1, 3). The major cold-shock proteins of Escherichia coli (CS7.4) and B. subtilis (CspB) have sequences that are more than 40 per cent identical to the cold-shock domain. We present here the three-dimensional structure of CspB determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The 67-residue protein consists of an antiparallel five-stranded beta-barrel with strands connected by turns and loops. The structure resembles that of staphylococcal nuclease and the gene-5 single-stranded-DNA-binding protein. A three-stranded beta-sheet, which contains the conserved RNA-binding motif RNP1 as well as a motif similar to RNP2 in two neighbouring antiparallel beta-strands, has basic and aromatic residues at its surface which could serve as a binding site for single-stranded DNA. CspB binds to single-stranded DNA in gel retardation experiments.

The three-dimensional structure of the bifunctional alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitor (RBI) from seeds of ragi (Eleusine coracana Gaertneri) has been determined in solution using multidimensional 1H and 15N NMR spectroscopy. The inhibitor consists of 122 amino acids, with 5 disulfide bridges, and belongs to the plant alpha-amylase/trypsin inhibitor family for which no three-dimensional structures have yet been available. The structure of the inhibitor was determined on the basis of 1131 interresidue interproton distance constraints derived from nuclear Overhauser enhancement measurements and 52 phi angles, supplemented by 9 psi and 51 chi 1 angles. RBI consists of a globular four-helix motif with a simple "up-and-down" topology. The helices are between residues 18-29, 37-51, 58-65, and 87-94. A fragment from Val 67 to Ser 69 and Gln 73 to Glu 75 forms an antiparallel beta-sheet. The fold of RBI represents a new motif among the serine proteinase inhibitors. The trypsin binding loop of RBI adopts the "canonical", substrate-like conformation which is highly conserved among serine proteinase inhibitors. The binding loop is stabilized by the two adjacent alpha-helices 1 and 2. This motif is also novel and not found in known structures of serine proteinase inhibitors. The three-dimensional structure of RBI together with biochemical data suggests the location of the alpha-amylase binding site on the face of the molecule opposite to the site of the trypsin binding loop. The RBI fold should be general for all members of the RBI family because conserved residues among the members of the family from the core of the structure.

No abstract

The fast reaction of the actin-based cytoskeleton in motile cells after stimulation with a chemoattractant requires a signal-transduction chain that creates a very specific environment at distinct regions beneath the plasma membrane. Dictyostelium hisactophilin, a unique actin-binding protein, is a submembranous pH sensor that signals slight changes of the H+ concentration to actin by inducing actin polymerization and binding to microfilaments only at pH values below seven. It has a relative molecular mass of 13.5K and its most unusual feature is the presence of 31 histidine residues among its total of 118 amino acids. The transduction of an external signal from the plasma membrane to the cytoskeleton is poorly understood. Here we report the protein's structure in solution determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The nuclear Overhauser effect intensities of the three-dimensional nuclear Overhauser spectra were used directly in the calculations. The overall folding of histactophilin is similar to that of interleukin-1 beta and fibroblast growth factor, but the primary amino-acid sequence of hisactophilin is unrelated to these two proteins.

No abstract