The structure of the T127L/S128A mutant of cAMP receptor protein facilitates promoter site binding

The x-ray crystal structure of the cAMP-ligated T127L/S128A double mutant of cAMP receptor protein (CRP) was determined to a resolution of 2.2 A. Although this structure is close to that of the x-ray crystal structure of cAMP-ligated CRP with one subunit in the open form and one subunit in the closed form, a bound syn-cAMP is clearly observed in the closed subunit in a third binding site in the C-terminal domain. In addition, water-mediated interactions replace the hydrogen bonding interactions between the N(6) of anti-cAMP bound in the N-terminal domains of each subunit and the OH groups of the Thr(127) and Ser(128) residues in the C alpha-helix of wild type CRP. This replacement induces flexibility in the C alpha-helix at Ala(128), which swings the C-terminal domain of the open subunit more toward the N-terminal domain in the T127L/S128A double mutant of CRP (CRP*) than is observed in the open subunit of cAMP-ligated CRP. Isothermal titration calorimetry measurements on the binding of cAMP to CRP* show that the binding mechanism changes from an exothermic independent two-site binding mechanism at pH 7.0 to an endothermic interacting two-site mechanism at pH 5.2, similar to that observed for CRP at both pH levels. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements exhibit a broadening of the thermal denaturation transition of CRP* relative to that of CRP at pH 7.0 but similar to the multipeak transitions observed for cAMP-ligated CRP. These properties and the bound syn-cAMP ligand, which has only been previously observed in the DNA bound x-ray crystal structure of cAMP-ligated CRP by Passner and Steitz (Passner, J. M., and Steitz, T. A. (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 94, 2843-2847), imply that the cAMP-ligated CRP* structure is closer to the conformation of the allosterically activated structure than cAMP-ligated CRP. This may be induced by the unique flexibility at Ala(128) and/or by the bound syn-cAMP in the hinge region of CRP*.     

Position 127 amino acid substitutions affect the formation of CRP:cAMP:lacP complexes but not CRP:cAMP:RNA polymerase complexes at lacP.

The lacP DNA binding and activation characteristics of CRP having amino acid substitutions at position 127 were investigated. Wild-type (WT) and T127C CRP footprinted lacP DNA in the presence of DNase I in a cAMP-dependent manner. The T127G, T127I, and T127S forms of CRP failed to footprint lacP both in the absence and in the presence of cAMP. Consistent with these data, WT and T127C CRP:cAMP complexes exhibited high affinity for the lacP CRP site whereas T127G, T127I, or T127S CRP:cAMP complexes exhibited low affinity for the lacP CRP site. CRP:cAMP:RNA polymerase (RNAP) complexes formed at lacP in reactions that contained WT, T127C, T127G, T127I, or T127S CRP. These results demonstrate that allosteric changes important for cAMP-mediated CRP activation are differentially affected by amino acid substitution at position 127. Proper cAMP-mediated reorientation of the DNA binding helices required either threonine or cysteine at position 127. However, cAMP-dependent interaction of CRP with RNAP was accomplished regardless of the amino acid at position 127. RNAP:lacP complexes that supported high-level lac RNA synthesis formed rapidly in reactions that contained WT or T127C CRP whereas RNAP:lacP complexes that supported only low-level lac RNA synthesis formed at slower rates in reactions that contained T127I or T127S CRP. The T127G CRP:cAMP:RNAP:lacP complex failed to activate lacP. The results of this study lead us to conclude that threonine 127 plays an important role in transduction of the signal from the CRP cyclic nucleotide binding pocket that promotes proper orientation of the DNA binding helices and only a minor, if any, role in the functional exposure of the CRP RNAP interaction domain.     

Monoclonal antibodies that inhibit activation of transcription by the Escherichia coli cyclic AMP receptor protein

The properties of the two monoclonal antibodies which were found to inhibit cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP)-stimulated abortive initiation without affecting cAMP binding (Li, X.-M., and Krakow, J. S. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 4378-4383) have been characterized. Binding of monoclonal antibody (mAb) 66C3 to CRP is stimulated by cAMP while CRP binding by mAb 63B2 is not affected by cAMP. Binding of cAMP-CRP-mAb 63B2 to the lac P+ DNA is completely inhibited. Whereas cAMP-CRP forms a stable complex only at the CRP site 1 of the lac P+ promoter fragment, cAMP-CRP-mAb 66C3 binds to both site 1 and site 2. DNase I footprinting using a HpaII fragment carrying only the lac site 2 does not show any protection by cAMP-CRP-mAb 66C3. With the lac L8UV5 promoter, binding is not seen at either the L8 site 1 or the unaltered site 2. In the presence of 25% glycerol, cAMP-CRP-mAb 66C3 binds to both L8 site 1 and site 2. RNA polymerase is unable to bind to the cAMP-CRP-mAb 66C3-lac P+ complex. In the presence of RNA polymerase, cAMP-CRP forms a stable complex at the L8 site 1, the subsequent addition of mAb 66C3 results in the release of CRP. The CRP present in the lac P+ open promoter complex is partially resistant to subsequent incubation with mAb 66C3. The results provide further evidence regarding possible contacts between CRP and RNA polymerase involved in establishing the open promoter complex.