Atomic model of the Thermus thermophilus 70S ribosome developed in silico

The ribosome is a large molecular complex that consists of at least three ribonucleic acid molecules and a large number of proteins. It translates genetic information from messenger ribonucleic acid and makes protein accordingly. To better understand ribosomal function and provide information for designing biochemical experiments require knowledge of the complete structure of the ribosome. For expanding the structural information of the ribosome, we took on the challenge of developing a detailed Thermus thermophilus ribosomal structure computationally. By combining information derived from the low-resolution x-ray structure of the 70S ribosome (providing the overall fold), high-resolution structures of the ribosomal subunits (providing the local structure), sequences, and secondary structures, we have developed an atomic model of the T. thermophilus ribosome using a homology modeling approach. Our model is stereochemically sound with a consistent single-species sequence. The overall folds of the three ribosomal ribonucleic acids in our model are consistent with those in the low-resolution crystal structure (root mean-square differences are all <1.9 Å). The large overall interface area (~2500 Ų) of intersubunit bridges B2a, B3, and B5, and the inherent flexibility in regions connecting the contact residues are consistent with these bridges serving as anchoring patches for the ratcheting and rolling motions between the two subunits during translocation.     

Formation and crystallization of Thermus thermophilus 70S ribosome/tRNA complexes

70S ribosomes from Thermus thermophilus are able to form ternary complexes with N-AcPhe-tRNA^Phe from either Thermus thermophilus or Escherichia coli, in the presence of a short oligo(U) of six or nine uridines. A complex of N-AcPhe-tRNA^Phe/(U)₉/70S ribosome from Th. thermophilus was crystallized under the same conditions used for the growth of crystals from isolated ribosomes (S.D. Trakhanov, et al., (1987) FEBS Lett. 220, 319–322).     

Multi-site-specific 16S rRNA methyltransferase RsmF from Thermus thermophilus

Cells devote a significant effort toward the production of multiple modified nucleotides in rRNAs, which fine tune the ribosome function. Here, we report that two methyltransferases, RsmB and RsmF, are responsible for all four 5-methylcytidine (m⁵C) modifications in 16S rRNA of Thermus thermophilus. Like Escherichia coli RsmB, T. thermophilus RsmB produces m⁵C967. In contrast to E. coli RsmF, which introduces a single m⁵C1407 modification, T. thermophilus RsmF modifies three positions, generating m⁵C1400 and m⁵C1404 in addition to m⁵C1407. These three residues are clustered near the decoding site of the ribosome, but are situated in distinct structural contexts, suggesting a requirement for flexibility in the RsmF active site that is absent from the E. coli enzyme. Two of these residues, C1400 and C1404, are sufficiently buried in the mature ribosome structure so as to require extensive unfolding of the rRNA to be accessible to RsmF. In vitro, T. thermophilus RsmF methylates C1400, C1404, and C1407 in a 30S subunit substrate, but only C1400 and C1404 when naked 16S rRNA is the substrate. The multispecificity of T. thermophilus RsmF is potentially explained by three crystal structures of the enzyme in a complex with cofactor S-adenosyl-methionine at up to 1.3 Å resolution. In addition to confirming the overall structural similarity to E. coli RsmF, these structures also reveal that key segments in the active site are likely to be dynamic in solution, thereby expanding substrate recognition by T. thermophilus RsmF.     

Crystals of seryl-tRNA synthetase from Thermus thermophilus. Preliminary crystallographic data

Crystals have been obtained of seryl-tRNA synthetase from the extreme thermophile Thermus thermophilus, using mixed solutions of ammonium sulphate and methane pentane diol. The crystals are very stable and diffract to at least 2 A. The crystals are monoclinic (space group P21) with cell parameters a = 87.1 A, b = 126.9 A, c = 63.5 A and beta = 109.7 degrees.     

Crystals of threonyl-tRNA synthetase from Thermus thermophilus. Preliminary crystallographic data

Crystals have been obtained of threonyl-tRNA synthetase from the extreme thermophile Thermus thermophilus using sodium formate as a precipitant. The crystals are very stable and diffract to at least 2.4 A. The crystals belong to space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with cell parameters a = 61.4 A, b = 156.1 A, c = 177.3 A.     

Preliminary crystallographic study of the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase from Thermus thermophilus HB8

Phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (EC 6.1.1.20) from the extreme thermophile Thermus thermophilus HB8 has been isolated and crystallized. The enzyme was found to consist of two types of subunits with molecular masses 38 X 10(3) (alpha) and 94 X 10(3) (beta) and is likely to be a tetrameric protein with a molecular mass of about 260 X 10(3) (alpha 2 beta 2). Crystals of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase were grown by the hanging-drop technique at 4 degrees C in the presence of ammonium sulfate. Trigonal crystals, space group P3(1)21, with cell dimensions a = b = 176 A and c = 142 A (1 A = 0.1 nm), are suitable for medium-resolution X-ray analysis.     

Crystals of protein L1 from the 50 S ribosomal subunit of Thermus thermophilus. Preliminary crystallographic data

Crystals have been obtained of protein L1 from the large ribosomal subunit of an extreme thermophile. Thermus thermophilus, using a mixed solution of ammonium sulphate/methane pentanediol. The crystals belong to the space group P2(1)2(1)2, with cell parameters a = 82.7 A, b = 63.4 A, c = 44.7 A. They diffract X-rays to 2.3 A resolution.     

Crystals of protein S6 from the 30 S ribosomal subunit of Thermus thermophilus

Crystals of protein S6 from the small ribosomal subunit of an extreme thermophile, Thermus thermophilus, have been obtained by the hanging-drop/vapor diffusion technique using methane pentanediol as a precipitant in the presence of potassium fluoride. The crystals belong to the space group C222 with cell parameters a = 106.7, b = 52.8, c = 41.0 A. They diffract to 2.0 A resolution.     

Biotechnologically relevant enzymes from Thermus thermophilus

. Enzymes produced by Thermus thermophilus are of considerable biotechnological interest. This review covers industrial applications of several protein products of this thermophilic bacterium that are functional under extreme conditions. The purification of proteins from T. thermophilus using either conventional methods or in the light of the cloning of their genes and expression in mesophilic microorganisms is discussed. Enzymes that biodegrade proteins, polysaccharides or key enzymes that are involved in amino acid metabolism, protein folding or in other fundamental biological processes such as DNA replication, DNA repair, and RNA maturation, with potential use in different biotechnological processes are reviewed as well.     

Structure of a beheaded 30 S ribosomal subunit from Thermus thermophilus.

The 22 S ribonucleoproten particles containing the 5' (body) and the central (platform) domains of the Thermus thermophilus 30 S subunit has been studied by sedimentation, neutron scattering and electron microscopy. The RNP particles have been obtained by oligonucleotide-directed cleavage of 16 S RNA with ribonulease H in the region of the 900th nucleotide of the protein-deficient derivatives of the 30 S subunits. It is shown that these RNP particles are very compact, though their form and dimensions differ slightly from those expected from the electron microscopy model of the 30 S subunit beheaded by computer simulation. The particles are subdivided into two structural domains whose mutual arrangement differs from that of the corresponding morphological parts of the native 30 S subunit. Electron microscopy demonstrates that the mutual arrangement of domains in the RNP particles is not strictly fixed suggesting that interaction with the third domain of the 30 S subunit is a requisite for their correct fitting.     

Identification of the 50S ribosomal proteins from the Eubacterium Thermus thermophilus

The total protein mixture from the 50S subunit (TP-50) of the eubacterium Thermus thermophilus was characterized after blotting onto PVDF membranes from two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and sequencing. The proteins were numbered according to their primary structure similarity with their counterparts from other species. One of them has been marked with an asterisk, namely L*23, because unlike the other known ribosomal proteins it shows a very low degree of homology. A highly acidic 5S rRNA binding protein, TL5, was characterized and compared with the available primary structure information. Proteins L1 and L4 migrate similarly on 2D-PAGE. Protein L4, essential for protein biosynthesis, is N-terminally blocked and shows a strikingly low homology to other L4 proteins. In addition to L4, two other proteins, namely L10 and L11, were found to be N-terminally blocked. In conclusion, 33 proteins from the large subunit were identified, including TL5. Homologs to rpL25 and rpL26 were not found.     

Crystal structure of the ribosomal protein S6 from Thermus thermophilus.

The amino acid sequence and crystal structure of the ribosomal protein S6 from the small ribosomal subunit of Thermus thermophilus have been determined. S6 is a small protein with 101 amino acid residues. The 3D structure, which was determined to 2.0 A resolution, consists of a four-stranded anti-parallel beta-sheet with two alpha-helices packed on one side. Similar folding patterns have been observed for other ribosomal proteins and may suggest an original RNA-interacting motif. Related topologies are also found in several other nucleic acid-interacting proteins and based on the assumption that the structure of the ribosome was established early in the molecular evolution, the possibility that an ancestral RNA-interacting motif in ribosomal proteins is the evolutionary origin for the nucleic acid-interacting domain in large classes of ribonucleic acid binding proteins should be considered.     

Solution structure of the ribosomal protein S19 from Thermus thermophilus.

Ribosomal protein S19 is a 10.6 kDa protein in the small subunit of the prokaryotic ribosome. We have determined a high-resolution solution structure of S19 from Thermus thermophilus. Structures were calculated using 1160 distance and dihedral angle restraints derived from (1)H, (15)N and (13)C NMR spectra. The structures show that S19 is a mixed alpha/beta protein with long disordered tails. The folding topology is not homologous to that of any other known protein structure. Potential rRNA and protein binding sites have been identified on the S19 surface.     

Characterization and X-ray structure of the NADH-dependent coenzyme A disulfide reductase from Thermus thermophilus

The crystal structure of the enzyme previously characterized as a type-2 NADH:menaquinone oxidoreductase (NDH-2) from Thermus thermophilus has been solved at a resolution of 2.9 Å and revealed that this protein is, in fact, a coenzyme A-disulfide reductase (CoADR). Coenzyme A (CoASH) replaces glutathione as the major low molecular weight thiol in Thermus thermophilus and is maintained in the reduced state by this enzyme (CoADR). Although the enzyme does exhibit NADH:menadione oxidoreductase activity expected for NDH-2 enzymes, the specific activity with CoAD as an electron acceptor is about 5-fold higher than with menadione. Furthermore, the crystal structure contains coenzyme A covalently linked Cys44, a catalytic intermediate (Cys44-S-S-CoA) reduced by NADH via the FAD cofactor. Soaking the crystals with menadione shows that menadione can bind to a site near the redox active FAD, consistent with the observed NADH:menadione oxidoreductase activity. CoADRs from other species were also examined and shown to have measurable NADH:menadione oxidoreductase activity. Although a common feature of this family of enzymes, no biological relevance is proposed. The CoADR from T. thermophilus is a soluble homodimeric enzyme. Expression of the recombinant TtCoADR at high levels in E. coli results in a small fraction that co-purifies with the membrane fraction, which was used previously to isolate the enzyme wrongly identified as a membrane-bound NDH-2. It is concluded that T. thermophilus does not contain an authentic NDH-2 component in its aerobic respiratory chain.     

Studies of the ferredoxin from Thermus thermophilus

The soluble ferredoxin from Thermus thermophilus was examined by M?ssbauer and EPR spectroscopies and by reductive titrations. These studies demonstrate the presence of one 3Fe center, responsible for the characteristic g = 2.02 EPR signal in the oxidized protein, and one [4Fe-4S] center which is responsible for the rhombic EPR spectrum of the fully reduced protein. These assignments should replace those made by Ohnishi et al. (Ohnishi, T., Blum, H., Sato, S., Nakazawa, K., Hon-nami, K., and Oshima, T. (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 345-348) prior to the discovery of the 3Fe clusters. The amino acid composition was determined and is discussed with reference to recent structural studies of 7Fe ferredoxins.     

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of ribosomal protein S8 from Thermus thermophilus

Crystals have been obtained for recombinant ribosomal protein S8 from Thermus thermophilus produced by Escherichia coli. The protein crystals have been grown in 40 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) in hanging drops equilibrated against saturated ammonium sulfate (unbuffered) with 2-methyl-2,4-pentandiol (v/v). The crystals belong to the space group P4₁₍₃₎2₁2 with cell parameters a= b= 67.65 Å, c= 171.12 Å. They diffract x-rays to 2.9 Å resolution. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Subunit arrangement in V-ATPase from Thermus thermophilus

The V0V1-ATPase of Thermus thermophilus catalyzes ATP synthesis coupled with proton translocation. It consists of an ATPase-active V1 part (ABDF) and a proton channel V0 part (CLEGI), but the arrangement of each subunit is still largely unknown. Here we found that acid treatment of V0V1-ATPase induced its dissociation into two subcomplexes, one with subunit composition ABDFCL and the other with EGI. Exposure of the isolated V0 to acid or 8 m urea also produced two subcomplexes, EGI and CL. Thus, the C subunit (homologue of d subunit, yeast Vma6p) associates with the L subunit ring tightly, and I (homologue of 100-kDa subunit, yeast Vph1p), E, and G subunits constitute a stable complex. Based on these observations and our recent demonstration that D, F, and L subunits rotate relative to A3B3 (Imamura, H., Nakano, M., Noji, H., Muneyuki, E., Ohkuma, S., Yoshida, M., and Yokoyama, K. (2003) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 100, 2312-2315; Yokoyama, K., Nakano, M., Imamura, H., Yoshida, M., and Tamakoshi, M. (2003) J. Biol. Chem. 278, 24255-24258), we propose that C, D, F, and L subunits constitute the central rotor shaft and A, B, E, G, and I subunits comprise the surrounding stator apparatus in the V0V1-ATPase.     

Preliminary characterization and crystal structure of a thermostable cytochrome P450 from Thermus thermophilus

The second structure of a thermophile cytochrome P450, CYP175A1 from the thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB27, has been solved to 1.8-A resolution. The overall P450 structure remains conserved despite the low sequence identity between the various P450s. The CYP175A1 structure lacks the large aromatic network found in the only other thermostable P450, CYP119, thought to contribute to thermal stability. The primary difference between CYP175A1 and its mesophile counterparts is the investment of charged residues into salt-link networks at the expense of single charge-charge interactions. Additional factors involved in the thermal stability increase are a decrease in the overall size, especially shortening of loops and connecting regions, and a decrease in the number of labile residues such as Asn, Gln, and Cys.     

Isolation of tyrosyl-tRNA-synthetase from Thermus thermophilus HB-27

A method for isolating tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase from Thermus thermophilus is described, including ammonium sulfate fractionation, chromatography on DEAE-sepharose, hydroxyapatite, heparin-sepharose and hydrophobic chromatography on Toyopearl HW-65. The yield of the purified enzyme was 1.6 mg per 1 kg of T. thermophilus cells. The enzyme is a dimer protein of the alpha 2 type with molecular weight of 100 kDa.