1nat: Difference between revisions

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

Spo0F is a secondary messenger in the "two-component" system controlling the sporulation of Bacillus subtilis. Spo0F, like the chemotaxis protein CheY, is a single-domain protein homologous to the N-terminal activator domain of the response regulators. We recently reported the crystal structure of a phosphatase-resistant mutant Y13S of Spo0F with Ca2+ bound in the active site. The crystal structure of wild-type Spo0F in the absence of a metal ion is presented here. A comparison of the two structures reveals that the cation induces significant changes in the active site. In the present wild-type structure, the carboxylate of Asp11 points away from the center of the active site, whereas when coordinated to the Ca2+, as in the earlier structure, it points toward the active site. In addition, Asp54, the site of phosphorylation, is blocked by a salt bridge interaction of an Arg side chain from a neighboring molecule. From fluorescence quenching studies with Spo0F Y13W, we found that only the amino acid Arg binds to Spo0F in a saturable manner (Kd = 15 mM). This observation suggests that a small molecule with a shape complementary to the active site and having a guanidinium group might inhibit phosphotransfer between response regulators and their cognate histidine kinases.

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

[[Category: Hoch, J A.]]

[[Category: Varughese, K I.]]

[[Category: Whiteley, J M.]]

[[Category: Xuong, N H.]]

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