Cloning of the Orange Light-Producing Luciferase from Photinus scintillans-A New Proposal on how Bioluminescence Color is Determined.

Unlike the enchanting yellow-green flashes of light produced on warm summer evenings by Photinus pyralis, the most common firefly species in North America, the orange lights of Photinus scintillans are infrequently observed. These Photinus species, and likely all bioluminescent beetles, use the same substrates beetle luciferin, ATP and oxygen to produce light. It is the structure of the particular luciferase enzyme that is the key to determining the color of the emitted light.

An Open and Shut Case: The Interaction of Magnesium with MST Enzymes.

The shikimate pathway of bacteria, fungi, and plants generates chorismate, which is drawn into biosynthetic pathways that form aromatic amino acids and other important metabolites, including folates, menaquinone, and siderophores. Many of the pathways initiated at this branch point transform chorismate using an MST enzyme. The MST enzymes (menaquinone, siderophore, and tryptophan biosynthetic enzymes) are structurally homologous and magnesium-dependent, and all perform similar chemical permutations to chorismate by nucleophilic addition (hydroxyl or amine) at the 2-position of the ring, inducing displacement of the 4-hydroxyl.

Structures of two distinct conformations of holo-non-ribosomal peptide synthetases.

Many important natural products are produced by multidomain non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). During synthesis, intermediates are covalently bound to integrated carrier domains and transported to neighbouring catalytic domains in an assembly line fashion. Understanding the structural basis for catalysis with non-ribosomal peptide synthetases will facilitate bioengineering to create novel products.

Analysis of the linker region joining the adenylation and carrier protein domains of the modular nonribosomal peptide synthetases.

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are multimodular proteins capable of producing important peptide natural products. Using an assembly line process, the amino acid substrate and peptide intermediates are passed between the active sites of different catalytic domains of the NRPS while bound covalently to a peptidyl carrier protein (PCP) domain. Examination of the linker sequences that join the NRPS adenylation and PCP domains identified several conserved proline residues that are not found in standalone adenylation domains.

Structure determination of the functional domain interaction of a chimeric nonribosomal peptide synthetase from a challenging crystal with noncrystallographic translational symmetry.

The nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are a family of modular proteins that contain multiple catalytic domains joined in a single protein. Together, these domains work to produce chemically diverse peptides, including compounds with antibiotic activity or that play a role in iron acquisition. Understanding the structural mechanisms that govern the domain interactions has been a long-standing goal.

Crystal structure of firefly luciferase in a second catalytic conformation supports a domain alternation mechanism.

Beetle luciferases catalyze a two-step reaction that includes the initial adenylation of the luciferin substrate, followed by an oxidative decarboxylation that ultimately produces light. Evidence for homologous acyl-CoA synthetases supports a domain alternation catalytic mechanism in which these enzymes' C-terminal domain rotates by ~140° to adopt two conformations that are used to catalyze the two partial reactions. While many structures exist of acyl-CoA synthetases in both conformations, to date only biochemical evidence supports domain alternation with luciferase.

Structural and functional investigation of the intermolecular interaction between NRPS adenylation and carrier protein domains.

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are modular proteins that produce peptide antibiotics and siderophores. These enzymes act as catalytic assembly lines where substrates, covalently bound to integrated carrier domains, are delivered to adjacent catalytic domains. The carrier domains are initially loaded by adenylation domains, which use two distinct conformations to catalyze sequentially the adenylation of the substrate and the thioesterification of the pantetheine cofactor.

Insights into resistance against lincosamide antibiotics.

Bacteria utilize multiple strategies to circumvent antibiotics, producing broad specificity exporters or enzymes that catalyze the modification of either antibiotics or their targets. A report in this issue of Structure provides the structural and catalytic mechanisms of LinB, an adenylyltransferase of E. faecium that confers resistance to the lincosamide antibiotic clindamycin.

Determination of the crystal structure of EntA, a 2,3-dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid dehydrogenase from Escherichia coli.

The Escherichia coli enterobactin synthetic cluster is composed of six proteins, EntA-EntF, that form the enterobactin molecule from three serine molecules and three molecules of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB). EntC, EntB and EntA catalyze the three-step synthesis of DHB from chorismate. EntA is a member of the short-chain oxidoreductase (SCOR) family of proteins and catalyzes the final step in DHB synthesis, the NAD+-dependent oxidation of 2,3-dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid to DHB.