Molecular characterization of the group II chaperonin from the hyperthermophilic archaeum Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

The group II chaperonin from the hyperthermophilic archaeum Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 (PhCPN) and its functional cooperation with the cognate prefoldin were investigated. PhCPN existed as a homo-oligomer in a double-ring structure, which protected the citrate synthase of a porcine heart from thermal aggregation at 45°C, and did the same on the isopropylmalate dehydrogenase (IPMDH) of a thermophilic bacterium, Thermus thermophilus HB8, at 90°C. PhCPN also enhanced the refolding of green fluorescent protein (GFP), which had been unfolded by low pH, in an ATP-dependent manner. Unexpectedly, functional cooperation between PhCPN and Pyrococcus prefoldin (PhPFD) in the refolding of GFP was not observed. Instead, cooperation between PhCPN and PhPFD was observed in the refolding of IPMDH unfolded with guanidine hydrochloride. Although PhCPN alone was not effective in the refolding of IPMDH, the refolding efficiency was enhanced by the cooperation of PhCPN with PhPFD.     

Overexpression, purification, and functional characterization of the group II chaperonin from the hyperthermophilic archaeum Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

Overexpression in Escherichia coli and functional characterization of the group II chaperonin from the hyperthermophilic archaeum Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 were investigated in this study. PhCpn, the chaperonin gene from the P. horikoshii OT3, was amplified by PCR from the P. horikoshii genomic DNA, subcloned into pET21a vector, and expressed in three E. coli host cells such as BL21, Rosetta, and Codonplus (DE3). Among these host cells, E. coli Rosetta showed the highest expression level of recombinant PhCpn at induction with 1 mM IPTG. The recombinant PhCpn was purified to 91% by heat-shock treatment and anion-exchange chromatography. The ATPase activity of the purified PhCpn increased in a PhCpn concentration-dependent manner. Also, PhCpn protected the inorganic phosphatase from thermal inactivation at 85 and 110°C, speculating that PhCpn is effective in in vitro holding of the protein. The holding efficiency was enhanced by the addition of Mg²⁺ ion. Through the coexpression of pro-carboxypeptidase B (pro-CPB) and PhCpn in E. coli Rosetta, pro-CPB was produced as a soluble and active form with a marked yield. This result indicated that PhCpn facilitated the in vivo correct folding of pro-CPB and could be used as powerful and novel molecular machinery for the production of recombinant proteins as soluble and active forms in E. coli.     

Protein-protein interactions of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

Background

Although 2,061 proteins of Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3, a hyperthermophilic archaeon, have been predicted from the recently completed genome sequence, the majority of proteins show no similarity to those from other organisms and are thus hypothetical proteins of unknown function. Because most proteins operate as parts of complexes to regulate biological processes, we systematically analyzed protein-protein interactions in Pyrococcus using the mammalian two-hybrid system to determine the function of the hypothetical proteins.

Results

We examined 960 soluble proteins from Pyrococcus and selected 107 interactions based on luciferase reporter activity, which was then evaluated using a computational approach to assess the reliability of the interactions. We also analyzed the expression of the assay samples by western blot, and a few interactions by in vitro pull-down assays. We identified 11 hetero-interactions that we considered to be located at the same operon, as observed in Helicobacter pylori. We annotated and classified proteins in the selected interactions according to their orthologous proteins. Many enzyme proteins showed self-interactions, similar to those seen in other organisms.

Conclusion

We found 13 unannotated proteins that interacted with annotated proteins; this information is useful for predicting the functions of the hypothetical Pyrococcus proteins from the annotations of their interacting partners. Among the heterogeneous interactions, proteins were more likely to interact with proteins within the same ortholog class than with proteins of different classes. The analysis described here can provide global insights into the biological features of the protein-protein interactions in P. horikoshii.     

Over-expression and characterization of recombinant prefoldin from hyperthermophilic archaeum Pyrococcus furiosus in E. coli

Prefoldin is a hexameric chaperone that has been identified in eukaryotic cells and in Archaea. E. coli cells over-expressing the prefoldin gene from the hyperthermophilic, archaeum, Pyrococcus furiosus, grew well at 48°C while control cells were unable to grow above 46°C. The isolated and purified Pfu-prefoldin (specially the β subunit and the prefoldin) thermally protected the activity of lysozyme.     

arcA基因提高大肠杆菌对有机溶剂的耐受性

【目的】将来源于恶臭假单胞菌(Pseudomonas putida JUCT1)的基因arc A(编码精氨酸脱亚胺酶)整合到Escherichia coli JM109(DE3)基因组中,以提高该菌对有机溶剂的耐受性。【方法】以P.putida JUCT1的基因组为模板扩增基因arc A,并与p ET-20b(+)连接后导入E.coli JM109(DE3)中,验证该基因提高E.coli JM109(DE3)对有机溶剂的耐受性。利用Red同源重组的方法将arc A整合到E.coli JM109(DE3)基因组中。【结果】E.coli JM109(DE3)/p ET-20b(+)-arc A在添加了2.0%(体积比)环己烷、0.1%(体积比)甲苯、4.0%(体积比)萘烷和0.1%(体积比)丁醇的培养基中培养8 h后,其OD660由初始的0.2分别上升到0.8、0.9、1.8和1.3。将arc A成功整合到E.coli JM109(DE3)基因组中,获得了具有较好遗传稳定性的溶剂耐受E.coli JM109(DE3)宿主菌株。【结论】外源基因arc A能提高大肠杆菌菌株的有机溶剂耐受性,为工业化应用中耐溶剂微生物菌株的构建提供了实验依据和理论基础。     

Crystal structure and structural stability of acylphosphatase from hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

To elucidate the structural basis for the high stability of acylphosphatase (AcP) from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3, we determined its crystal structure at 1.72 A resolution. P. horikoshii AcP possesses high stability despite its approximately 30% sequence identity with eukaryotic enzymes that have moderate thermostability. The overall fold of P. horikoshii AcP was very similar to the structures of eukaryotic counterparts. The crystal structure of P. horikoshii AcP shows the same fold betaalphabetabetaalphabeta topology and the conserved putative catalytic residues as observed in eukaryotic enzymes. Comparison with the crystal structure of bovine common-type AcP and that of D. melanogaster AcP (AcPDro2) as representative of eukaryotic AcP revealed some significant characteristics in P. horikoshii AcP that likely play important roles in structural stability: (1) shortening of the flexible N-terminal region and long loop; (2) an increased number of ion pairs on the protein surface; (3) stabilization of the loop structure by hydrogen bonds. In P. horikoshii AcP, two ion pair networks were observed one located in the loop structure positioned near the C-terminus, and other on the beta-sheet. The importance of ion pairs for structural stability was confirmed by site-directed mutation and denaturation induced by guanidium chloride.     

Recombinant expression and characterization of an extremely hyperthermophilic archaeal histone from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

A histone-like gene, PHS051 from hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 strain, was cloned, sequenced, and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant histone, HPhA, encodes a protein of 70 amino acids with a molecular weight of 7868Da. Amino acid sequence analysis of HPhA showed high homology with other archaeal histones and eukaryal core histones. The HPhA was purified to homogeneity by heat precipitation and affinity chromatography. Gel electrophoresis mobility shift assays demonstrate that the purified HPhA has high affinity to DNA. The complex of the HPhA and DNA allows DNA to be protected from cleavage by the restriction enzyme TaqI at 65 degrees C. Circular dichroism spectra reveal that the conformation of the recombinant histone HPhA becomes looser when temperatures increase from 25 to 90 degrees C. The HPhA has inherited a remarkable thermostability especially in the presence of 1M KCl and retained DNA binding activity at extreme temperature, which is consistent with our previous report about its structure stability analyzed by X-ray crystallography.     

Structural modeling of RNase P RNA of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is a ubiquitous trans-acting ribozyme that processes the 5′ leader sequence of precursor tRNA (pre-tRNA). The RNase P RNA (PhopRNA) of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 is central to the catalytic process and binds five proteins (PhoPop5, PhoRpp21, PhoRpp29, PhoRpp30, and PhoRpp38) which contribute to the enzymatic activity of the holoenzyme. Despite significant progress in determining the crystal structure of the proteins, the structure of PhopRNA remains elusive. Comparative analysis of the RNase P RNA sequences and existing crystallographic structural information of the bacterial RNase P RNAs were combined to generate a phylogenetically supported three-dimensional (3-D) model of the PhopRNA. The model structure shows an essentially flat disk with 16 tightly packed helices and a conserved face suitable for the binding of pre-tRNA. Moreover, the structure in solution was investigated by enzymatic probing and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis. The low resolution model derived from SAXS and the comparative 3-D model have similar overall shapes. The 3-D model provides a framework for a better understanding of structure–function relationships of this multifaceted primordial ribozyme.     

Characterization of a thermostable enzyme with phosphomannomutase/phosphoglucomutase activities from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

The phosphomannomutase/phosphoglucomutase (PMM/PGM) enzyme catalyzes reversibly the intra-molecular phosphoryl interconverting reaction of mannose-6-phosphate and mannose-1-phosphate or glucose-6-phosphate and glucose-1-phosphate. Glucose-6-phosphate and glucose-1-phosphate are known to be utilized for energy metabolism and cell surface construction, respectively. PMM/PGM has been isolated from many microorganisms. By performing similarity searches using existing PMM/PGM sequences, the homologous ORFs PH0923 and PH1210 were identified from the genomic data of Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3. Since PH0923 appears to be part of an operon consisting of four carbohydrate metabolic enzymes, PH0923 was selected as the first target for the investigation of PMM/PGM activity in P. horikoshii OT3. The coding region of PH0923 was cloned and the purified recombinant protein was utilized for an examination of its biochemical properties. The enzyme retained half its initial activity after treatment at 95 degrees C for 90 min. Detailed analyses of activities showed that this protein is capable of utilizing a variety of metal ions that are not utilized by previously characterized PMM/PGM proteins. A mutated protein with an alanine residue replacing the active site serine residue indicated that this residue plays an important but non-essential role in PMM/PGM activity.     

Crystal structure of the ribonuclease P protein Ph1877p from hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is a ribonucleoprotein complex involved in the processing of pre-tRNA. Protein Ph1877p is one of essential components of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 RNase P [Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 306 (2003) 666]. The crystal structure of Ph1877p was determined at 1.8A by X-ray crystallography and refined to a crystallographic R factor of 22.96% (Rfree of 26.77%). Ph1877p forms a TIM barrel structure, consisting of ten alpha-helices and seven beta-strands, and has the closest similarity to the TIM barrel domain of Escherichia coli cytosine deaminase with a root-mean square deviation of 3.0A. The protein Ph1877p forms an oblate ellipsoid, approximate dimensions being 45Ax43Ax39A, and the electrostatic representation indicated the presence of several clusters of positively charged amino acids present on the molecular surface. We made use of site-directed mutagenesis to assess the role of twelve charged amino acids, Lys42, Arg68, Arg87, Arg90, Asp98, Arg107, His114, Lys123, Lys158, Arg176, Asp180, and Lys196 related to the RNase P activity. Individual mutations of Arg90, Arg107, Lys123, Arg176, and Lys196 by Ala resulted in reconstituted particles with reduced enzymatic activities (32-48%) as compared with that reconstituted RNase P by wild-type Ph1877p. The results presented here provide an initial step for definite understanding of how archaeal and eukaryotic RNase Ps mediate substrate recognition and process 5'-leader sequence of pre-tRNA.     

Identification of nucleotide residues essential for RNase P activity from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is involved in the processing of the 5' leader sequence of precursor tRNA (pre-tRNA). We have found that RNase P RNA (PhopRNA) and five proteins (PhoPop5, PhoRpp21, PhoRpp29, PhoRpp30, and PhoRpp38) reconstitute RNase P activity with enzymatic properties similar to those of the authentic ribozyme from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3. We report here that nucleotides A40, A41, and U44 at helix P4, and G269 and G270 located at L15/16 in PhopRNA, are, like the corresponding residues in Esherichia coli RNase P RNA (M1RNA), involved in hydrolysis by coordinating catalytic Mg(2+) ions, and in the recognition of the acceptor end (CCA) of pre-tRNA by base-pairing, respectively. The information reported here strongly suggests that PhopRNA catalyzes the hydrolysis of pre-tRNA in approximately the same manner as eubacterial RNase P RNAs, even though it has no enzymatic activity in the absence of the proteins.     

Protein-protein interactions in the subunits of ribonuclease P in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is a ribonucleoprotein complex involved in the processing of the 5' leader sequence of precursor tRNA (pre-tRNA). RNase P in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 consists of RNA and five protein subunits (Ph1481p, Ph1496p, Ph1601p, Ph1771p, and Ph1877p). In vivo interactions among five protein subunits of RNase P in P. horikoshii OT3 were examined using a yeast two-hybrid system. The analysis indicates that proteins Ph1481p and Ph1601p interact strongly with Ph1877p and Ph1771p respectively, whereas Ph1481p interacts moderately with Ph1601p. In contrast, no interaction was detected between Ph1496p and the other four proteins. Co-immunoprecipitation analysis confirmed the interactions obtained by yeast two-hybrid assay.     

Characterization of the archaeal ribonuclease P proteins from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) is a ribonucleoprotein complex involved in the processing of the 5'-leader sequence of precursor tRNA (pre-tRNA). Our earlier study revealed that RNase P RNA (pRNA) and five proteins (PhoPop5, PhoRpp38, PhoRpp21, PhoRpp29, and PhoRpp30) in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 reconstituted RNase P activity that exhibits enzymatic properties like those of the authentic enzyme. In present study, we investigated involvement of the individual proteins in RNase P activity. Two particles (R-3Ps), in which pRNA was mixed with three proteins, PhoPop5, PhoRpp30, and PhoRpp38 or PhoPop5, PhoRpp30, and PhoRpp21 showed a detectable RNase P activity, and five reconstituted particles (R-4Ps) composed of pRNA and four proteins exhibited RNase P activity, albeit at reduced level compared to that of the reconstituted particle (R-5P) composed of pRNA and five proteins. Time-course analysis of the RNase P activities of R-4Ps indicated that the R-4Ps lacking PhoPop5, PhoRpp21, or PhoRpp30 had virtually reduced activity, while omission of PhoRpp29 or PhoRpp38 had a slight effect on the activity. The results indicate that the proteins contribute to RNase P activity in order of PhoPop5 > PhoRpp30 > PhoRpp21 > PhoRpp29 > PhoRpp38. It was further found that R-4Ps showed a characteristic Mg2+ ion dependency approximately identical to that of R-5P. However, R-4Ps had optimum temperature of around at 55 degrees C which is lower than 70 degrees C for R-5P. Together, it is suggested that the P. horikoshii RNase P proteins are predominantly involved in optimization of the pRNA conformation, though they are individually dispensable for RNase P activity in vitro.     

Crystal structure and functional analysis of an archaeal chromatin protein Alba from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

The crystal structure of the Alba protein (PhoAlba) from a hyperthermophilic archaeon, Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3, was determined at a resolution of 2.8 A. PhoAlba structurally belongs to the alpha/beta proteins and is similar not only to archaeal homologues but also to RNA-binding proteins, including the C-terminal half of initiation factor 3 (IF3-C) from Bacillus stearothermophilus, an Esherichia coli protein implicated in cell division (Yhhp), and an Arabidopsis protein of unknown function. We found by gel shift assay that PhoAlba interacts with both ribonuclease P (RNase P) RNA (PhopRNA) and precursor-tRNA(Tyr) (pre-tRNA(Tyr)) in P. horikoshii. However, the addition of PhoAlba to reconstituted particles composed of PhopRNA and four or five protein subunits had little influence on either the pre-tRNA processing activity or the optimum temperature for the processing activity. These results suggest that PhoAlba contributes little to the catalytic activity of P. horikoshii RNase P.     

Characterization of the Family I inorganic pyrophosphatase from Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3

A gene encoding for a putative Family I inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPase, EC 3.6.1.1) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 was cloned and the biochemical characteristics of the resulting recombinant protein were examined. The gene (Accession No. 1907) from P. horikoshii showed some identity with other Family I inorganic pyrophosphatases from archaea. The recombinant PPase from P. horikoshii (PhPPase) has a molecular mass of 24.5 kDa, determined by SDS-PAGE. This enzyme specifically catalyzed the hydrolysis of pyrophosphate and was sensitive to NaF. The optimum temperature and pH for PPase activity were 70 degrees C and 7.5, respectively. The half-life of heat inactivation was about 50 min at 105 degrees C. The heat stability of PhPPase was enhanced in the presence of Mg2+. A divalent cation was absolutely required for enzyme activity, Mg2+ being most effective; Zn2+, Co2+ and Mn2+ efficiently supported hydrolytic activity in a narrow range of concentrations (0.05-0.5 mM). The K(m) for pyrophosphate and Mg2+ were 113 and 303 microM, respectively; and maximum velocity, V(max), was estimated at 930 U mg(-1).