No abstract

Elimination of nonnutritional and insoluble compounds is a critical task for any living organism. Flavin-containing monooxygenases (FMOs) attach an oxygen atom to the insoluble nucleophilic compounds to increase solubility and thereby increase excretion. Here we analyze the functional mechanism of FMO from Schizosaccharomyces pombe using the crystal structures of the wild type and protein–cofactor and protein–substrate complexes. The structure of the wild-type FMO revealed that the prosthetic group FAD is an integral part of the protein. FMO needs NADPH as a cofactor in addition to the prosthetic group for its catalytic activity. Structures of the protein–cofactor and protein–substrate complexes provide insights into mechanism of action. We propose that FMOs exist in the cell as a complex with a reduced form of the prosthetic group and NADPH cofactor, readying them to act on substrates. The 4α-hydroperoxyflavin form of the prosthetic group represents a transient intermediate of the monooxygenation process. The oxygenated and reduced forms of the prosthetic group help stabilize interactions with cofactor and substrate alternately to permit continuous enzyme turnover.

Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins are among the most potent toxins to humans. The crystal structures of intact C. botulinum neurotoxin type B (BoNT/B) and its complex with sialyllactose, determined at 1. 8 and 2.6 A resolution, respectively, provide insight into its catalytic and binding sites. The position of the belt region in BoNT/B is different from that in BoNT/A; this observation presents interesting possibilities for designing specific inhibitors that could be used to block the activity of this neurotoxin. The structures of BoNT/B and its complex with sialyllactose provide a detailed description of the active site and a model for interactions between the toxin and its cell surface receptor. The latter may provide valuable information for recombinant vaccine development.

Outer surface protein C (OspC) is a major antigen on the surface of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, when it is being transmitted to humans. Crystal structures of OspC have been determined for strains HB19 and B31 to 1.8 and 2.5 Å resolution, respectively. The three‐dimensional structure is predominantly helical. This is in contrast to the structure of OspA, a major surface protein mainly present when spirochetes are residing in the midgut of unfed ticks, which is mostly β‐sheet. The surface of OspC that would project away from the spirochete's membrane has a region of strong negative electrostatic potential which may be involved in binding to positively charged host ligands. This feature is present only on OspCs from strains known to cause invasive human disease.

The New York SGX Research Center for Structural Genomics (NYSGXRC) of the NIGMS Protein Structure Initiative (PSI) has applied its high-throughput X-ray crystallographic structure determination platform to systematic studies of all human protein phosphatases and protein phosphatases from biomedically-relevant pathogens. To date, the NYSGXRC has determined structures of 21 distinct protein phosphatases: 14 from human, 2 from mouse, 2 from the pathogen Toxoplasma gondii, 1 from Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite responsible for African sleeping sickness, and 2 from the principal mosquito vector of malaria in Africa, Anopheles gambiae. These structures provide insights into both normal and pathophysiologic processes, including transcriptional regulation, regulation of major signaling pathways, neural development, and type 1 diabetes. In conjunction with the contributions of other international structural genomics consortia, these efforts promise to provide an unprecedented database and materials repository for structureguided experimental and computational discovery of inhibitors for all classes of protein phosphatases.