1vf8: Difference between revisions

[[Image:1vf8.gif|left|200px]]<br /><applet load="1vf8" size="350" color="white" frame="true" align="right" spinBox="true"  

Upon nematode infection, murine peritoneal macrophages synthesize and secrete large amounts of the Ym1 protein, which is a unique functional marker for alternatively activated macrophages in T(H)2-mediated inflammatory responses. Ym1 shares significant structural similarity to the family 18 chitinases. Previously, Ym1 has been studied with respect to its carbohydrate-binding ability and glycosyl hydrolysis activity and this has led to various inconclusive interpretations. Our present co-crystallization and soaking experiments with various glucosamine or N-acetylglucosamine oligomers yield only the uncomplexed Ym1. The refined Ym1 structure at 1.31A resolution clearly displays a water cluster forming an extensive hydrogen bond network with the "active-site" residues. This water cluster contributes notable electron density to lower resolution maps and this might have misled and given rise to a previous proposal for a monoglucosamine-binding site for Ym1. A structural comparison of family 18 glycosidase (-like) proteins reveals a lack of several conserved residues in Ym1, and illustrates the versatility of the divergent active sites. Therefore, Ym1 may lack N-acetylglucosamine-binding affinity, and this suggests that a new direction should be taken to unravel the function of Ym1.

1VF8 is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_protein Single protein] structure of sequence from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus_musculus Mus musculus]. Full crystallographic information is available from [http://oca.weizmann.ac.il/oca-bin/ocashort?id=1VF8 OCA].  

[[Category: Chang, N C.]]

[[Category: Liaw, S H.]]

[[Category: Tsai, M L.]]

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