Structural and functional characterization of sapovirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.

Sapoviruses are one of the major agents of acute gastroenteritis in childhood. They form a tight genetic cluster (genus) in the Caliciviridae family that regroups both animal and human pathogenic strains. No permissive tissue culture has been developed for human sapovirus, limiting its characterization to surrogate systems.

Mechanism of the Class I KDPG aldolase.

In vivo, 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate (KDPG) aldolase catalyzes the reversible, stereospecific retro-aldol cleavage of KDPG to pyruvate and D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. The enzyme is a lysine-dependent (Class I) aldolase that functions through the intermediacy of a Schiff base. Here, we propose a mechanism for this enzyme based on crystallographic studies of wild-type and mutant aldolases.

Crystal structures of Mycobacteria tuberculosis and Klebsiella pneumoniae UDP-galactopyranose mutase in the oxidised state and Klebsiella pneumoniae UDP-galactopyranose mutase in the (active) reduced state.

Uridine diphosphogalactofuranose (UDP-Galf) is the precursor of the d-galactofuranose sugar found in bacterial and parasitic cell walls, including those of many pathogens. UDP-Galf is made from UDP-galactopyranose by the enzyme UDP-galactopyranose mutase. The enzyme requires the reduced FADH- co-factor for activity.

Potentiometric analysis of UDP-galactopyranose mutase: stabilization of the flavosemiquinone by substrate.

UDP-galactopyranose mutase is a flavoprotein which catalyses the interconversion of UDP-galactopyranose and UDP-galactofuranose. The enzyme is of interest because it provides the activated biosynthetic precursor of galactofuranose, a key cell wall component of many bacterial pathogens. The reaction mechanism of this mutase is intriguing because the anomeric oxygen forms a glycosidic bond, which means that the reaction must proceed by a novel mechanism involving ring breakage and closure.