Crystal Structure of Staphylococcus aureus Metallopeptidase (Sapep) Reveals Large Domain Motions between the Manganese-bound and Apo-states |
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Authors: | Tavarekere S Girish and Balasubramanian Gopal |
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Institution: | From the Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India |
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Abstract: | Proteases belonging to the M20 family are characterized by diverse substrate specificity and participate in several metabolic pathways. The Staphylococcus aureus metallopeptidase, Sapep, is a member of the aminoacylase-I/M20 protein family. This protein is a Mn2+-dependent dipeptidase. The crystal structure of this protein in the Mn2+-bound form and in the open, metal-free state suggests that large interdomain movements could potentially regulate the activity of this enzyme. We note that the extended inactive conformation is stabilized by a disulfide bond in the vicinity of the active site. Although these cysteines, Cys155 and Cys178, are not active site residues, the reduced form of this enzyme is substantially more active as a dipeptidase. These findings acquire further relevance given a recent observation that this enzyme is only active in methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The structural and biochemical features of this enzyme provide a template for the design of novel methicillin-resistant S. aureus-specific therapeutics. |
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Keywords: | Aminopeptidase Biophysics Drug Resistance Enzyme Inactivation Metalloenzymes Peptidases Thiol X-ray Crystallography |
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