Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year Filter | PMID(sorted descending) Filter |
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| individual interactions of the b subunits within the stator of the escherichia coli atp synthase. | fof1 atp synthases are rotary nanomotors that couple proton translocation across biological membranes to the synthesis/hydrolysis of atp. during catalysis, the peripheral stalk, composed of two b subunits and subunit δ in escherichia coli, counteracts the torque generated by the rotation of the central stalk. here we characterize individual interactions of the b subunits within the stator by use of monoclonal antibodies and nearest neighbor analyses via intersubunit disulfide bond formation. ant ... | 2013 | 23846684 |
| structure of the archaeal cascade subunit csa5: relating the small subunits of crispr effector complexes. | the cascade complex for crispr-mediated antiviral immunity uses crispr rna (crrna) to target invading dna species from mobile elements such as viruses, leading to their destruction. the core of the cascade effector complex consists of the cas5 and cas7 subunits, which are widely conserved in prokaryotes. cas7 binds crrna and forms the helical backbone of cascade. many archaea encode a version of the cascade complex (denoted type i-a) that includes a csa5 (or small) subunit, which interacts weakl ... | 2013 | 23846216 |
| extremophilic shmts: from structure to biotechnology. | recent advances in molecular and structural biology have improved the availability of virtually any biocatalyst in large quantity and have also provided an insight into the detailed structure-function relationships of many of them. these results allowed the rational exploitation of biocatalysts for use in organic synthesis. in this context, extremophilic enzymes are extensively studied for their potential interest for many biotechnological and industrial applications, as they offer increased rat ... | 2013 | 23841096 |
| kinetic proofreading at single molecular level: aminoacylation of trna(ile) and the role of water as an editor. | proofreading/editing in protein synthesis is essential for accurate translation of information from the genetic code. in this article we present a theoretical investigation of efficiency of a kinetic proofreading mechanism that employs hydrolysis of the wrong substrate as the discriminatory step in enzyme catalytic reactions. we consider aminoacylation of trna(ile) which is a crucial step in protein synthesis and for which experimental results are now available. we present an augmented kinetic s ... | 2013 | 23840412 |
| post-translational modifications near the quinone binding site of mammalian complex i. | complex i (nadh:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) in mammalian mitochondria is an l-shaped assembly of 44 protein subunits with one arm buried in the inner membrane of the mitochondrion and the orthogonal arm protruding about 100 å into the matrix. the protruding arm contains the binding sites for nadh, the primary acceptor of electrons flavin mononucleotide (fmn), and a chain of seven iron-sulfur clusters that carries the electrons one at a time from fmn to a coenzyme q molecule bound in the vicinity ... | 2013 | 23836892 |
| kinetic and isotopic characterization of l-proline dehydrogenase from mycobacterium tuberculosis. | the monofunctional proline dehydrogenase (prodh) from mycobacterium tuberculosis performs the flavin-dependent oxidation of l-proline to δ(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate in the proline catabolic pathway. the prodh gene, prub, was cloned into the pyub1062 vector, and the c-terminal his-tagged 37 kda protein was expressed and purified by nickel affinity chromatography. a steady-state kinetic analysis revealed a ping-pong mechanism with an overall kcat of 33 ± 2 s(-1) and km values of 5.7 ± 0.8 mm and ... | 2013 | 23834473 |
| phosphoproteomic analysis reveals the effects of pilf phosphorylation on type iv pilus and biofilm formation in thermus thermophilus hb27. | thermus thermophilus hb27 is an extremely thermophilic eubacteria with a high frequency of natural competence. this organism is therefore often used as a thermophilic model to investigate the molecular basis of type iv pili-mediated functions, such as the uptake of free dna, adhesion, twitching motility, and biofilm formation, in hot environments. in this study, the phosphoproteome of t. thermophilus hb27 was analyzed via a shotgun approach and high-accuracy mass spectrometry. ninety-three uniqu ... | 2013 | 23828892 |
| heritable change caused by transient transcription errors. | transmission of cellular identity relies on the faithful transfer of information from the mother to the daughter cell. this process includes accurate replication of the dna, but also the correct propagation of regulatory programs responsible for cellular identity. errors in dna replication (mutations) and protein conformation (prions) can trigger stable phenotypic changes and cause human disease, yet the ability of transient transcriptional errors to produce heritable phenotypic change ('epimuta ... | 2013 | 23825966 |
| translation of cga codon repeats in yeast involves quality control components and ribosomal protein l1. | translation of cga codon repeats in the yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae is inefficient, resulting in dose-dependent reduction in expression and in production of an mrna cleavage product, indicative of a stalled ribosome. here, we use genetics and translation inhibitors to understand how ribosomes respond to cga repeats. we find that cga codon repeats result in a truncated polypeptide that is targeted for degradation by ltn1, an e3 ubiquitin ligase involved in nonstop decay, although deletion of l ... | 2013 | 23825054 |
| blasticidin s inhibits translation by trapping deformed trna on the ribosome. | the antibiotic blasticidin s (blas) is a potent inhibitor of protein synthesis in bacteria and eukaryotes. we have determined a 3.4-å crystal structure of blas bound to a 70s⋅trna ribosome complex and performed biochemical and single-molecule fret experiments to determine the mechanism of action of the antibiotic. we find that blas enhances trna binding to the p site of the large ribosomal subunit and slows down spontaneous intersubunit rotation in pretranslocation ribosomes. however, the antibi ... | 2013 | 23824292 |
| crystal structure of the ubiquitin-like small archaeal modifier protein 2 from haloferax volcanii. | the discovery of ubiquitin-like small archaeal modifier protein 2 (samp2) that forms covalent polymeric chains in haloferax volcanii has generated tremendous interest in the function and regulation of this protein. at present, it remains unclear whether the hfx. volcanii modifier protein samp1 has such polyubiquitinating-like activity. although samp1 and samp2 use the same conjugation machinery to modify their target proteins, each can impart distinct functional consequences. to better understan ... | 2013 | 23821306 |
| biology of extreme radiation resistance: the way of deinococcus radiodurans. | the bacterium deinococcus radiodurans is a champion of extreme radiation resistance that is accounted for by a highly efficient protection against proteome, but not genome, damage. a well-protected functional proteome ensures cell recovery from extensive radiation damage to other cellular constituents by molecular repair and turnover processes, including an efficient repair of disintegrated dna. therefore, cell death correlates with radiation-induced protein damage, rather than dna damage, in bo ... | 2013 | 23818498 |
| an insertion peptide in yeast glycyl-trna synthetase facilitates both productive docking and catalysis of cognate trnas. | the yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae possesses two distinct glycyl-trna synthetase (glyrs) genes: grs1 and grs2. grs1 is dually functional, encoding both cytoplasmic and mitochondrial activities, while grs2 is dysfunctional and not required for growth. the protein products of these two genes, glyrs1 and glyrs2, are much alike but are distinguished by an insertion peptide of glyrs1, which is absent from glyrs2 and other eukaryotic homologues. we show that deletion or mutation of the insertion pepti ... | 2013 | 23816885 |
| an 'open' structure of the recor complex supports ssdna binding within the core of the complex. | efficient dna repair is critical for cell survival and the maintenance of genome integrity. the homologous recombination pathway is responsible for the repair of dna double-strand breaks within cells. initiation of this pathway in bacteria can be carried out by either the recbcd or the recfor proteins. an important regulatory player within the recfor pathway is the recor complex that facilitates reca loading onto dna. here we report new data regarding the assembly of deinococcus radiodurans reco ... | 2013 | 23814185 |
| by ribosome possessed. | 2013 | 23814064 | |
| crystal structures of ef-g-ribosome complexes trapped in intermediate states of translocation. | translocation of messenger and transfer rna (mrna and trna) through the ribosome is a crucial step in protein synthesis, whose mechanism is not yet understood. the crystal structures of three thermus ribosome-trna-mrna-ef-g complexes trapped with β,γ-imidoguanosine 5'-triphosphate (gdpnp) or fusidic acid reveal conformational changes occurring during intermediate states of translocation, including large-scale rotation of the 30s subunit head and body. in all complexes, the trna acceptor ends occ ... | 2013 | 23812722 |
| elongation factor g bound to the ribosome in an intermediate state of translocation. | a key step of translation by the ribosome is translocation, which involves the movement of messenger rna (mrna) and transfer rna (trna) with respect to the ribosome. this allows a new round of protein chain elongation by placing the next mrna codon in the a site of the 30s subunit. translocation proceeds through an intermediate state in which the acceptor ends of the trnas have moved with respect to the 50s subunit but not the 30s subunit, to form hybrid states. the guanosine triphosphatase (gtp ... | 2013 | 23812720 |
| unusual base pairing during the decoding of a stop codon by the ribosome. | during normal translation, the binding of a release factor to one of the three stop codons (uga, uaa or uag) results in the termination of protein synthesis. however, modification of the initial uridine to a pseudouridine (ψ) allows efficient recognition and read-through of these stop codons by a transfer rna (trna), although it requires the formation of two normally forbidden purine-purine base pairs. here we determined the crystal structure at 3.1 å resolution of the 30s ribosomal subunit in c ... | 2013 | 23812587 |
| the role of aromatic-aromatic interactions in strand-strand stabilization of β-sheets. | aromatic-aromatic interactions have long been believed to play key roles in protein structure, folding, and binding functions. however, we still lack full understanding of the contributions of aromatic-aromatic interactions to protein stability and the timing of their formation during folding. here, using an aromatic ladder in the β-barrel protein, cellular retinoic acid-binding protein 1 (crabp1), as a case study, we find that aromatic π stacking plays a greater role in the phe65-phe71 cross-st ... | 2013 | 23810905 |
| eukaryote-specific insertion elements control human argonaute slicer activity. | we have solved the crystal structure of human argonaute1 (hago1) bound to endogenous 5'-phosphorylated guide rnas. to identify changes that evolutionarily rendered hago1 inactive, we compared our structure with guide-rna-containing and cleavage-active hago2. aside from mutation of a catalytic tetrad residue, proline residues at positions 670 and 675 in hago1 introduce a kink in the cs7 loop, forming a convex surface within the hago1 nucleic-acid-binding channel near the inactive catalytic site. ... | 2013 | 23809764 |
| crispr interference: a structural perspective. | crispr (cluster of regularly interspaced palindromic repeats) is a prokaryotic adaptive defence system, providing immunity against mobile genetic elements such as viruses. genomically encoded crrna (crispr rna) is used by cas (crispr-associated) proteins to target and subsequently degrade nucleic acids of invading entities in a sequence-dependent manner. the process is known as 'interference'. in the present review we cover recent progress on the structural biology of the crispr/cas system, focu ... | 2013 | 23805973 |
| co-expression of rna-protein complexes in escherichia coli and applications to rna biology. | rna has emerged as a major player in many cellular processes. understanding these processes at the molecular level requires homogeneous rna samples for structural, biochemical and pharmacological studies. we previously devised a generic approach that allows efficient in vivo expression of recombinant rna in escherichia coli. in this work, we have extended this method to rna/protein co-expression. we have engineered several plasmids that allow overexpression of rna-protein complexes in e. coli. w ... | 2013 | 23804766 |
| structural basis for s-adenosylmethionine binding and methyltransferase activity by mitochondrial transcription factor b1. | eukaryotic transcription factor b (tfb) proteins are homologous to ksga/dim1 ribosomal rna (rrna) methyltransferases. the mammalian tfb1, mitochondrial (tfb1m) factor is an essential protein necessary for mitochondrial gene expression. tfb1m mediates an rrna modification in the small ribosomal subunit and thus plays a role analogous to ksga/dim1 proteins. this modification has been linked to mitochondrial dysfunctions leading to maternally inherited deafness, aminoglycoside sensitivity and diabe ... | 2013 | 23804760 |
| structural insight into negative dna supercoiling by dna gyrase, a bacterial type 2a dna topoisomerase. | type 2a dna topoisomerases (topo2a) remodel dna topology during replication, transcription and chromosome segregation. these multisubunit enzymes catalyze the transport of a double-stranded dna through a transient break formed in another duplex. the bacterial dna gyrase, a target for broad-spectrum antibiotics, is the sole topo2a enzyme able to introduce negative supercoils. we reveal here for the first time the architecture of the full-length thermus thermophilus dna gyrase alone and in a cleav ... | 2013 | 23804759 |
| the trna recognition mechanism of the minimalist spout methyltransferase, trml. | unlike other transfer rnas (trna)-modifying enzymes from the spout methyltransferase superfamily, the trna (um34/cm34) methyltransferase trml lacks the usual extension domain for trna binding and consists only of a spout domain. both the catalytic and trna recognition mechanisms of this enzyme remain elusive. by using trnas purified from an escherichia coli strain with the trml gene deleted, we found that trml can independently catalyze the methyl transfer from s-adenosyl-l-methionine to and iso ... | 2013 | 23804755 |
| development of a d-xylose fermenting and inhibitor tolerant industrial saccharomyces cerevisiae strain with high performance in lignocellulose hydrolysates using metabolic and evolutionary engineering. | the production of bioethanol from lignocellulose hydrolysates requires a robust, d-xylose-fermenting and inhibitor-tolerant microorganism as catalyst. the purpose of the present work was to develop such a strain from a prime industrial yeast strain, ethanol red, used for bioethanol production. | 2013 | 23800147 |
| two atp-binding cassette transporters involved in (s)-2-aminoethyl-cysteine uptake in thermus thermophilus. | thermus thermophilus exhibits hypersensitivity to a lysine analog, (s)-2-aminoethyl-cysteine (aec). cosmid libraries were constructed using genomes from two aec-resistant mutants, at10 and at14, and the cosmids that conferred aec resistance on the wild-type strain were isolated. when the cosmid library for mutant at14 was screened, two independent cosmids, conferring partial aec resistance to the wild type, were obtained. two cosmids carried a common genomic region from ttc0795 to ttc0810. this ... | 2013 | 23794618 |
| polysaccharide-degrading thermophiles generated by heterologous gene expression in geobacillus kaustophilus hta426. | thermophiles have important advantages over mesophiles as host organisms for high-temperature bioprocesses, functional production of thermostable enzymes, and efficient expression of enzymatic activities in vivo. to capitalize on these advantages of thermophiles, we describe here a new inducible gene expression system in the thermophile geobacillus kaustophilus hta426. six promoter regions in the hta426 genome were identified and analyzed for expression profiles using β-galactosidase reporter as ... | 2013 | 23793634 |
| the role of mitochondrial function and cellular bioenergetics in ageing and disease. | mitochondria constitute an important topic of biomedical enquiry (one paper in every 154 indexed in pubmed since 1998 is retrieved by the keyword 'mitochondria') because of widespread recognition of their importance in cell physiology and pathology. mitochondrial dysfunction is widely implicated in ageing and in the diseases of ageing, through dysfunction in adenosine triphosphate (atp) synthesis, ca(2+) homeostasis, central metabolic pathways or radical production. nonetheless, the mechanisms a ... | 2013 | 23786614 |
| expanded use of sense codons is regulated by modified cytidines in trna. | codon use among the three domains of life is not confined to the universal genetic code. with only 22 trna genes in mammalian mitochondria, exceptions from the universal code are necessary for proper translation. a particularly interesting deviation is the decoding of the isoleucine aua codon as methionine by the one mitochondrial-encoded trna(met). this trna decodes aua and aug in both the a- and p-sites of the metazoan mitochondrial ribosome. enrichment of posttranscriptional modifications is ... | 2013 | 23781103 |
| experimental evidence for the thermophilicity of ancestral life. | theoretical studies have focused on the environmental temperature of the universal common ancestor of life with conflicting conclusions. here we provide experimental support for the existence of a thermophilic universal common ancestor. we present the thermal stabilities and catalytic efficiencies of nucleoside diphosphate kinases (ndk), designed using the information contained in predictive phylogenetic trees, that seem to represent the last common ancestors of archaea and of bacteria. these en ... | 2013 | 23776221 |
| coordination between apoplastic and symplastic detoxification confers plant aluminum resistance. | whether aluminum toxicity is an apoplastic or symplastic phenomenon is still a matter of debate. here, we found that three auxin overproducing mutants, yucca, the recessive mutant superroot2, and superroot1 had increased aluminum sensitivity, while a transfer dna insertion mutant, xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolases15 (xth15), showed enhanced aluminum resistance, accompanied by low endogenous indole-3-acetic acid levels, implying that auxin may be involved in plant responses to aluminum s ... | 2013 | 23776189 |
| dissecting a complex chemical stress: chemogenomic profiling of plant hydrolysates. | the efficient production of biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks will require the efficient fermentation of the sugars in hydrolyzed plant material. unfortunately, plant hydrolysates also contain many compounds that inhibit microbial growth and fermentation. we used dna-barcoded mutant libraries to identify genes that are important for hydrolysate tolerance in both zymomonas mobilis (44 genes) and saccharomyces cerevisiae (99 genes). overexpression of a z. mobilis tolerance gene of unknown functi ... | 2013 | 23774757 |
| zinc-binding and structural properties of the histidine-rich loop of arabidopsis thaliana vacuolar membrane zinc transporter mtp1. | the vacuolar zn(2+)/h(+) antiporter of arabidopsis thaliana, atmtp1, has a cytosolic histidine-rich loop (his-loop). we characterized the structures and zn(2+)-binding properties of the his-loop and other domains. circular dichroism analyses revealed that the his-loop partly consists of a polyproline type ii structure and that its conformational change is induced by zn(2+) as well as the c-terminal domain. isothermal titration calorimetry of the his-loop revealed a binding number of four zn(2+) ... | 2013 | 23772397 |
| secondary structure and domain architecture of the 23s and 5s rrnas. | we present a de novo re-determination of the secondary (2°) structure and domain architecture of the 23s and 5s rrnas, using 3d structures, determined by x-ray diffraction, as input. in the traditional 2° structure, the center of the 23s rrna is an extended single strand, which in 3d is seen to be compact and double helical. accurately assigning nucleotides to helices compels a revision of the 23s rrna 2° structure. unlike the traditional 2° structure, the revised 2° structure of the 23s rrna sh ... | 2013 | 23771137 |
| antituberculosis thiophenes define a requirement for pks13 in mycolic acid biosynthesis. | we report a new class of thiophene (tp) compounds that kill mycobacterium tuberculosis by the previously uncharacterized mechanism of pks13 inhibition. an f79s mutation near the catalytic ser55 site in pks13 conferred tp resistance in m. tuberculosis. overexpression of wild-type pks13 resulted in tp resistance, and overexpression of the pks13(f79s) mutant conferred high resistance. in vitro, tp inhibited fatty acyl-amp loading onto pks13. tp inhibited mycolic acid biosynthesis in wild-type m. tu ... | 2013 | 23770708 |
| crystal structure of the 70s ribosome bound with the q253p mutant form of release factor rf2. | bacterial translation termination is mediated by release factors rf1 and rf2, which recognize stop codons and catalyze hydrolysis of the peptidyl-trna ester bond. the catalytic mechanism has been debated. we proposed that the backbone amide nh group, rather than the side chain, of the glutamine of the universally conserved ggq motif participates in catalysis by h-bonding to the tetrahedral transition-state intermediate and by product stabilization. this was supported by complete loss of rf1 cata ... | 2013 | 23769667 |
| molecular crowding enhanced atpase activity of the rna helicase eif4a correlates with compaction of its quaternary structure and association with eif4g. | enzymatic reactions occur in a crowded and confined environment in vivo, containing proteins, rna and dna. previous reports have shown that interactions between macromolecules, and reactions rates differ significantly between crowded environments and dilute buffers. however, the direct effect of crowding on the level of high-resolution structures of macromolecules has not been extensively analyzed and is not well understood. here we analyze the effect of macromolecular crowding on structure and ... | 2013 | 23767688 |
| in vitro reconstitution of an escherichia coli rna-guided immune system reveals unidirectional, atp-dependent degradation of dna target. | many prokaryotes utilize small rna transcribed from clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (crisprs) to protect themselves from foreign genetic elements, such as phage and plasmids. in escherichia coli, this small rna is packaged into a surveillance complex (cascade) that uses the rna sequence to direct binding to invasive dna. once bound, cascade recruits the cas3 nuclease-helicase, which then proceeds to progressively degrade the invading dna. here, using individually puri ... | 2013 | 23760266 |
| energy, genes and evolution: introduction to an evolutionary synthesis. | life is the harnessing of chemical energy in such a way that the energy-harnessing device makes a copy of itself. no energy, no evolution. the 'modern synthesis' of the past century explained evolution in terms of genes, but this is only part of the story. while the mechanisms of natural selection are correct, and increasingly well understood, they do little to explain the actual trajectories taken by life on earth. from a cosmic perspective-what is the probability of life elsewhere in the unive ... | 2013 | 23754807 |
| structure and function of the t-loop structural motif in noncoding rnas. | the t-loop is a frequently occurring five-nucleotide motif found in the structure of noncoding rnas where it is commonly assumed to play an important role in stabilizing the tertiary rna structure by facilitating long-range interactions between different regions of the molecule. t-loops were first identified in trna(phe) and a formal consensus sequence for this motif was formulated and later revised based on analyses of the crystal structures of prokaryotic ribosomal rnas and rnase p and the cor ... | 2013 | 23754657 |
| structure and function of allophanate hydrolase. | allophanate hydrolase converts allophanate to ammonium and carbon dioxide. it is conserved in many organisms and is essential for their utilization of urea as a nitrogen source. it also has important functions in a newly discovered eukaryotic pyrimidine nucleic acid precursor degradation pathway, the yeast-hypha transition that several pathogens utilize to escape the host defense, and an s-triazine herbicide degradation pathway recently emerged in many soil bacteria. we have determined the cryst ... | 2013 | 23754281 |
| distinction between the cfr methyltransferase conferring antibiotic resistance and the housekeeping rlmn methyltransferase. | the cfr gene encodes the cfr methyltransferase that primarily methylates c-8 in a2503 of 23s rrna in the peptidyl transferase region of bacterial ribosomes. the methylation provides resistance to six classes of antibiotics of clinical and veterinary importance. the rlmn gene encodes the rlmn methyltransferase that methylates c-2 in a2503 in 23s rrna and a37 in trna, but rlmn does not significantly influence antibiotic resistance. the enzymes are homologous and use the same mechanism involving ra ... | 2013 | 23752511 |
| correlation spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations to study the structural features of proteins. | in this work, we used a combination of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (fcs) and molecular dynamics (md) simulation methodologies to acquire structural information on ph-induced unfolding of the maltotriose-binding protein from thermus thermophilus (male2). fcs has emerged as a powerful technique for characterizing the dynamics of molecules and it is, in fact, used to study molecular diffusion on timescale of microsecond and longer. our results showed that keeping temperature constant, the ... | 2013 | 23750215 |
| lack of discrimination against non-proteinogenic amino acid norvaline by elongation factor tu from escherichia coli. | the gtp-bound form of elongation factor tu (ef-tu) brings aminoacylated trnas (aa-trna) to the a-site of the ribosome. ef-tu binds all cognate elongator aa-trnas with highly similar affinities, and its weaker or tighter binding of misacylated trnas may discourage their participation in translation. norvaline (nva) is a non-proteinogenic amino acid that is activated and transferred to trna(leu) by leucyl-trna synthetase (leurs). no notable accumulation of nva-trna(leu) has been observed in vitro, ... | 2013 | 23750044 |
| structural determinants of oligomerization of δ(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase: identification of a hexamerization hot spot. | the aldehyde dehydrogenase (aldh) superfamily member δ(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase (p5cdh) catalyzes the nad(+)-dependent oxidation of glutamate semialdehyde to glutamate, which is the final step of proline catabolism. defects in p5cdh activity lead to the metabolic disorder type ii hyperprolinemia, p5cdh is essential for virulence of the fungal pathogen cryptococcus neoformans, and bacterial p5cdhs have been targeted for vaccine development. although the enzyme oligomeric state is ... | 2013 | 23747974 |
| the making of a slicer: activation of human argonaute-1. | argonautes are the central protein component in small rna silencing pathways. of the four human argonautes (hago1-hago4) only hago2 is an active slicer. we determined the structure of hago1 bound to endogenous copurified rnas to 1.75 å resolution and hago1 loaded with let-7 microrna to 2.1 å. both structures are strikingly similar to the structures of hago2. a conserved catalytic tetrad within the piwi domain of hago2 is required for its slicing activity. completion of the tetrad, combined with ... | 2013 | 23746446 |
| methylerythritol phosphate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis. | isoprenoids are a class of natural products with more than 55,000 members. all isoprenoids are constructed from two precursors, isopentenyl diphosphate and its isomer dimethylallyl diphosphate. two of the most important discoveries in isoprenoid biosynthetic studies in recent years are the elucidation of a second isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway [the methylerythritol phosphate (mep) pathway] and a modified mevalonic acid (mva) pathway. in this review, we summarize mechanistic insights on the mep ... | 2013 | 23746261 |
| structural and functional insight into the universal stress protein family. | we present the crystal structures of two universal stress proteins (usp) from archaeoglobus fulgidus and nitrosomonas europaea in both apo- and ligand-bound forms. this work is the first complete synthesis of the structural properties of 26 usp available in the protein data bank, over 75% of which were determined by structure genomics centers with no additional information provided. the results of bioinformatic analyses of all available usp structures and their sequence homologs revealed that th ... | 2013 | 23745136 |
| thermal and spectroscopic characterization of a proton pumping rhodopsin from an extreme thermophile. | so far retinylidene proteins (∼rhodopsin) have not been discovered in thermophilic organisms. in this study we investigated and characterized a microbial rhodopsin derived from the extreme thermophilic bacterium thermus thermophilus, which lives in a hot spring at around 75 °c. the gene for the retinylidene protein, named thermophilic rhodopsin (tr), was chemically synthesized with codon optimization. the codon optimized tr protein was functionally expressed in the cell membranes of escherichia ... | 2013 | 23740255 |
| the rna polymerase trigger loop functions in all three phases of the transcription cycle. | the trigger loop (tl) forms a conserved element in the rna polymerase active centre that functions in the elongation phase of transcription. here, we show that the tl also functions in transcription initiation and termination. using recombinant variants of rna polymerase from pyrococcus furiosus and a reconstituted transcription system, we demonstrate that the tl is essential for initial rna synthesis until a complete dna-rna hybrid is formed. the archaeal tl is further important for transcripti ... | 2013 | 23737452 |
| cloning and characterization of bifunctional enzyme farnesyl diphosphate/geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase from plasmodium falciparum. | isoprenoids are the most diverse and abundant group of natural products. in plasmodium falciparum, isoprenoid synthesis proceeds through the methyl erythritol diphosphate pathway and the products are further metabolized by farnesyl diphosphate synthase (fpps), turning this enzyme into a key branch point of the isoprenoid synthesis. changes in fpps activity could alter the flux of isoprenoid compounds downstream of fpps and, hence, play a central role in the regulation of a number of essential fu ... | 2013 | 23734739 |
| multiple pathways promote dynamical coupling between catalytic domains in escherichia coli prolyl-trna synthetase. | aminoacyl-trna synthetases are multidomain enzymes that catalyze covalent attachment of amino acids to their cognate trna. cross-talk between functional domains is a prerequisite for this process. in this study, we investigate the molecular mechanism of site-to-site communication in escherichia coli prolyl-trna synthetase (ec prors). earlier studies have demonstrated that evolutionarily conserved and/or co-evolved residues that are engaged in correlated motion are critical for the propagation of ... | 2013 | 23731272 |
| role of the ribosomal p-site elements of m²g966, m⁵c967, and the s9 c-terminal tail in maintenance of the reading frame during translational elongation in escherichia coli. | the ribosomal p-site hosts the peptidyl-trnas during translation elongation. which p-site elements support these trna species to maintain codon-anticodon interactions has remained unclear. we investigated the effects of p-site features of methylations of g966, c967, and the conserved c-terminal tail sequence of ser, lys, and arg (skr) of the s9 ribosomal protein in maintenance of the translational reading frame of an mrna. we generated escherichia coli strains deleted for the skr sequence in s9 ... | 2013 | 23729652 |
| a new genomic tool, ultra-frequently cleaving taqii/sinefungin endonuclease with a combined 2.9-bp recognition site, applied to the construction of horse dna libraries. | genomics and metagenomics are currently leading research areas, with dna sequences accumulating at an exponential rate. although enormous advances in dna sequencing technologies are taking place, progress is frequently limited by factors such as genomic contig assembly and generation of representative libraries. a number of dna fragmentation methods, such as hydrodynamic sharing, sonication or dnase i fragmentation, have various drawbacks, including dna damage, poor fragmentation control, irrepr ... | 2013 | 23724933 |
| common evolutionary origin for the rotor domain of rotary atpases and flagellar protein export apparatus. | the v1- and f1- rotary atpases contain a rotor that rotates against a catalytic a3b3 or α3β3 stator. the rotor f(1-γ) or v1-df is composed of both anti-parallel coiled coil and globular-loop parts. the bacterial flagellar type iii export apparatus contains a v1/f1-like atpase ring structure composed of flii6 homo-hexamer and flij which adopts an anti-parallel coiled coil structure without the globular-loop part. here we report that flij of salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium shows a rotor li ... | 2013 | 23724081 |
| structure of an a-form rna duplex obtained by degradation of 6s rna in a crystallization droplet. | in the course of a crystallographic study of a 132 nt variant of aquifex aeolicus 6s rna, a crystal structure of an a-form rna duplex containing 12 base pairs was solved at a resolution of 2.6 å. in fact, the rna duplex is part of the 6s rna and was obtained by accidental but precise degradation of the 6s rna in a crystallization droplet. 6s rna degradation was confirmed by microscopic observation of crystals and gel electrophoresis of crystallization droplets. the rna oligomers obtained form re ... | 2013 | 23722840 |
| r3d align web server for global nucleotide to nucleotide alignments of rna 3d structures. | the r3d align web server provides online access to 'rna 3d align' (r3d align), a method for producing accurate nucleotide-level structural alignments of rna 3d structures. the web server provides a streamlined and intuitive interface, input data validation and output that is more extensive and easier to read and interpret than related servers. the r3d align web server offers a unique gallery of featured alignments, providing immediate access to pre-computed alignments of large rna 3d structures, ... | 2013 | 23716643 |
| cardioprotection by s-nitrosation of a cysteine switch on mitochondrial complex i. | oxidative damage from elevated production of reactive oxygen species (ros) contributes to ischemia-reperfusion injury in myocardial infarction and stroke. the mechanism by which the increase in ros occurs is not known, and it is unclear how this increase can be prevented. a wide variety of nitric oxide donors and s-nitrosating agents protect the ischemic myocardium from infarction, but the responsible mechanisms are unclear. here we used a mitochondria-selective s-nitrosating agent, mitosno, to ... | 2013 | 23708290 |
| detection, distribution and characterization of novel superoxide dismutases from yersinia enterocolitica biovar 1a. | superoxide dismutases (sods) cause dismutation of superoxide radicals to hydrogen peroxide and oxygen. besides protecting the cells against oxidative damage by endogenously generated oxygen radicals, sods play an important role in intraphagocytic survival of pathogenic bacteria. the complete genome sequences of yersinia enterocolitica strains show presence of three different sod genes. however, not much is known about the types of sods present in y. enterocolitica, their characteristics and role ... | 2013 | 23704955 |
| crystal structure of a bioactive pactamycin analog bound to the 30s ribosomal subunit. | biosynthetically and chemically derived analogs of the antibiotic pactamycin and de-6-methylsalicylyl (msa)-pactamycin have attracted recent interest as potential antiprotozoal and antitumor drugs. here, we report a 3.1-å crystal structure of de-6-msa-pactamycin bound to its target site on the thermus thermophilus 30s ribosomal subunit. although de-6-msa-pactamycin lacks the msa moiety, it shares the same binding site as pactamycin and induces a displacement of nucleic acid template bound at the ... | 2013 | 23702293 |
| cryo-em structures of the late-stage assembly intermediates of the bacterial 50s ribosomal subunit. | ribosome assembly is a process fundamental for all cellular activities. the efficiency and accuracy of the subunit assembly are tightly regulated and closely monitored. in the present work, we characterized, both compositionally and structurally, a set of in vivo 50s subunit precursors (45s), isolated from a mutant bacterial strain. our qualitative mass spectrometry data indicate that l28, l16, l33, l36 and l35 are dramatically underrepresented in the 45s particles. this protein spectrum shows i ... | 2013 | 23700310 |
| thermostable group ii intron reverse transcriptase fusion proteins and their use in cdna synthesis and next-generation rna sequencing. | mobile group ii introns encode reverse transcriptases (rts) that function in intron mobility ("retrohoming") by a process that requires reverse transcription of a highly structured, 2-2.5-kb intron rna with high processivity and fidelity. although the latter properties are potentially useful for applications in cdna synthesis and next-generation rna sequencing (rna-seq), group ii intron rts have been difficult to purify free of the intron rna, and their utility as research tools has not been inv ... | 2013 | 23697550 |
| cloning, expression, purification and preliminary x-ray diffraction studies of a mycobacterial protein implicated in bacterial survival in macrophages. | mycobacterium species have developed numerous strategies to avoid the antimycobacterial actions of macrophages, enabling them to survive within the generally inhospitable environment of the cell. the recently identified msmeg_5817 protein from m. smegmatis is highly conserved in mycobacterium spp. and is required for bacterial survival in macrophages. here, the cloning, expression, purification and crystallization of msmeg_5817 is reported. crystals of msmeg_5817 were grown in 1.42 m li2so4, 0.1 ... | 2013 | 23695579 |
| structure of the protein core of translation initiation factor 2 in apo, gtp-bound and gdp-bound forms. | translation initiation factor 2 (if2) is involved in the early steps of bacterial protein synthesis. it promotes the stabilization of the initiator trna on the 30s initiation complex (ic) and triggers gtp hydrolysis upon ribosomal subunit joining. while the structure of an archaeal homologue (a/eif5b) is known, there are significant sequence and functional differences in eubacterial if2, while the trimeric eukaryotic if2 is completely unrelated. here, the crystal structure of the apo if2 protein ... | 2013 | 23695237 |
| how to achieve high-level expression of microbial enzymes: strategies and perspectives. | microbial enzymes have been used in a large number of fields, such as chemical, agricultural and biopharmaceutical industries. the enzyme production rate and yield are the main factors to consider when choosing the appropriate expression system for the production of recombinant proteins. recombinant enzymes have been expressed in bacteria (e.g., escherichia coli, bacillus and lactic acid bacteria), filamentous fungi (e.g., aspergillus) and yeasts (e.g., pichia pastoris). the favorable and very a ... | 2013 | 23686280 |
| investigation of nadh binding, hydride transfer, and nad(+) dissociation during nadh oxidation by mitochondrial complex i using modified nicotinamide nucleotides. | nadh:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex i) is a complicated respiratory enzyme that conserves the energy from nadh oxidation, coupled to ubiquinone reduction, as a proton motive force across the mitochondrial inner membrane. during catalysis, nadh oxidation by a flavin mononucleotide is followed by electron transfer to a chain of iron-sulfur clusters. alternatively, the flavin may be reoxidized by hydrophilic electron acceptors, by artificial electron acceptors in kinetic studies, or by oxygen a ... | 2013 | 23683271 |
| x-ray crystal structures of the escherichia coli rna polymerase in complex with benzoxazinorifamycins. | rifampin, a semisynthetic rifamycin, is the cornerstone of current tuberculosis treatment. among many semisynthetic rifamycins, benzoxazinorifamycins have great potential for tb treatment due to their superior affinity for wild-type and rifampin-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis rna polymerases and their reduced hepatic cyp450 induction activity. in this study, we have determined the crystal structures of the escherichia coli rna polymerase complexes with two benzoxazinorifamycins. the ansa-n ... | 2013 | 23679862 |
| peptidoglycan at its peaks: how chromatographic analyses can reveal bacterial cell wall structure and assembly. | the peptidoglycan (pg) cell wall is a unique macromolecule responsible for both shape determination and cellular integrity under osmotic stress in virtually all bacteria. a quantitative understanding of the relationships between pg architecture, morphogenesis, immune system activation and pathogenesis can provide molecular-scale insights into the function of proteins involved in cell wall synthesis and cell growth. high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc) has played an important role in our ... | 2013 | 23679048 |
| a structural role for the php domain in e. coli dna polymerase iii. | in addition to the core catalytic machinery, bacterial replicative dna polymerases contain a polymerase and histidinol phosphatase (php) domain whose function is not entirely understood. the php domains of some bacterial replicases are active metal-dependent nucleases that may play a role in proofreading. in e. coli dna polymerase iii, however, the php domain has lost several metal-coordinating residues and is likely to be catalytically inactive. | 2013 | 23672456 |
| aggregate-reactivation activity of the molecular chaperone clpb from ehrlichia chaffeensis. | rickettsiale diseases, including human monocytic ehrlichiosis caused by ehrlichia chaffeensis, are the second leading cause of the tick-borne infections in the usa and a growing health concern. little is known about how e. chaffeensis survives the host-induced stress in vertebrate and tick hosts. a molecular chaperone clpb from several microorganisms has been reported to reactivate aggregated proteins in cooperation with the co-chaperones dnak/dnaj/grpe (kje). in this study, we performed the fir ... | 2013 | 23667479 |
| tetramerization reinforces the dimer interface of mnsod. | two yeast manganese superoxide dismutases (mnsod), one from saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondria (scmnsod) and the other from candida albicans cytosol (camnsodc), have most biochemical and biophysical properties in common, yet scmnsod is a tetramer and camnsodc is a dimer or "loose tetramer" in solution. although camnsodc was found to crystallize as a tetramer, there is no indication from the solution properties that the functionality of camnsodc in vivo depends upon the formation of the tetram ... | 2013 | 23667478 |
| role of loops connecting secondary structure elements in the stabilization of proteins isolated from thermophilic organisms. | it has been recently discovered that the connection of secondary structure elements (ββ-unit, βα- and αβ-units) in proteins follows quite stringent principles regarding the chirality and the orientation of the structural units (koga et al., nature 2012;491:222-227). by exploiting these rules, a number of protein scaffolds endowed with a remarkable thermal stability have been designed (koga et al., nature 2012;491:222-227). by using structural databases of proteins isolated from either mesophilic ... | 2013 | 23661276 |
| secretome analysis defines the major role of secdf in staphylococcus aureus virulence. | the sec pathway plays a prominent role in protein export and membrane insertion, including the secretion of major bacterial virulence determinants. the accessory sec constituent secdf has been proposed to contribute to protein export. deletion of staphylococcus aureus secdf has previously been shown to reduce resistance, to alter cell separation, and to change the expression of certain virulence factors. to analyse the impact of the secdf deletion in s. aureus on protein secretion, a quantitativ ... | 2013 | 23658837 |
| affinity purification of t7 rna transcripts with homogeneous ends using aribo and crispr tags. | affinity purification of rna using the aribo tag technology currently provides an ideal approach to quickly prepare rna with 3' homogeneity. here, we explored strategies to also ensure 5' homogeneity of affinity-purified rnas. first, we systematically investigated the effect of starting nucleotides on the 5' heterogeneity of a small sli rna substrate from the neurospora vs ribozyme purified from an sli-aribo precursor. a series of 32 sli rna sequences with variations in the +1 to +3 region was p ... | 2013 | 23657939 |
| tertiary structure of bacterial selenocysteine trna. | selenocysteine (sec) is translationally incorporated into proteins in response to the uga codon. the trna specific to sec (trna(sec)) is first ligated with serine by seryl-trna synthetase (serrs). in the present study, we determined the 3.1 å crystal structure of the trna(sec) from the bacterium aquifex aeolicus, in complex with the heterologous serrs from the archaeon methanopyrus kandleri. the bacterial trna(sec) assumes the l-shaped structure, from which the long extra arm protrudes. although ... | 2013 | 23649835 |
| identification of the nature of reading frame transitions observed in prokaryotic genomes. | our goal was to identify evolutionary conserved frame transitions in protein coding regions and to uncover an underlying functional role of these structural aberrations. we used the ab initio frameshift prediction program, genetack, to detect reading frame transitions in 206 991 genes (fs-genes) from 1106 complete prokaryotic genomes. we grouped 102 731 fs-genes into 19 430 clusters based on sequence similarity between protein products (fs-proteins) as well as conservation of predicted position ... | 2013 | 23649834 |
| alternative excision repair pathways. | alternative excision repair (aer) is a category of excision repair initiated by a single nick, made by an endonuclease, near the site of dna damage, and followed by excision of the damaged dna, repair synthesis, and ligation. the ultraviolet (uv) damage endonuclease in fungi and bacteria introduces a nick immediately 5' to various types of uv damage and initiates its excision repair that is independent of nucleotide excision repair (ner). endo iv-type apurinic/apyrimidinic (ap) endonucleases fro ... | 2013 | 23645854 |
| nusg-spt5 proteins-universal tools for transcription modification and communication. | 2013 | 23638618 | |
| reorganization of an intersubunit bridge induced by disparate 16s ribosomal ambiguity mutations mimics an ef-tu-bound state. | after four decades of research aimed at understanding trna selection on the ribosome, the mechanism by which ribosomal ambiguity (ram) mutations promote miscoding remains unclear. here, we present two x-ray crystal structures of the thermus thermophilus 70s ribosome containing 16s rrna ram mutations, g347u and g299a. each of these mutations causes miscoding in vivo and stimulates elongation factor thermo unstable (ef-tu)-dependent gtp hydrolysis in vitro. mutation g299a is located near the inter ... | 2013 | 23630274 |
| identification of a cyclic nucleotide as a cryptic intermediate in molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis. | the molybdenum cofactor (moco) is a redox cofactor found in all kingdoms of life, and its biosynthesis is essential for survival of many organisms, including humans. the first step of moco biosynthesis is a unique transformation of guanosine 5'-triphosphate (gtp) into cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate (cpmp). in bacteria, moaa and moac catalyze this transformation, although the specific functions of these enzymes were not fully understood. here, we report the first isolation and structural chara ... | 2013 | 23627491 |
| recognition of two distinct elements in the rna substrate by the rna-binding domain of the t. thermophilus dead box helicase hera. | dead box helicases catalyze the atp-dependent destabilization of rna duplexes. whereas duplex separation is mediated by the helicase core shared by all members of the family, flanking domains often contribute to binding of the rna substrate. the thermus thermophilus dead-box helicase hera (for "heat-resistant rna-binding atpase") contains a c-terminal rna-binding domain (rbd). we have analyzed rna binding to the hera rbd by a combination of mutational analyses, nuclear magnetic resonance and x-r ... | 2013 | 23625962 |
| structures of mycobacterium tuberculosis fadd10 protein reveal a new type of adenylate-forming enzyme. | mycobacterium tuberculosis has a group of 34 fadd proteins that belong to the adenylate-forming superfamily. they are classified as either fatty acyl-amp ligases (faals) or fatty acyl-coa ligases based on sequence analysis. fadd10, involved in the synthesis of a virulence-related lipopeptide, was mis-annotated as a fatty acyl-coa ligase; however, it is in fact a faal that transfers fatty acids to an acyl carrier protein (rv0100). in this study, we have determined the structures of fadd10 in both ... | 2013 | 23625916 |
| bacteriophage p23-77 capsid protein structures reveal the archetype of an ancient branch from a major virus lineage. | it has proved difficult to classify viruses unless they are closely related since their rapid evolution hinders detection of remote evolutionary relationships in their genetic sequences. however, structure varies more slowly than sequence, allowing deeper evolutionary relationships to be detected. bacteriophage p23-77 is an example of a newly identified viral lineage, with members inhabiting extreme environments. we have solved multiple crystal structures of the major capsid proteins vp16 and vp ... | 2013 | 23623731 |
| the mechanism of e. coli rna polymerase regulation by ppgpp is suggested by the structure of their complex. | guanosine tetraphosphate (ppgpp) is an alarmone that enables bacteria to adapt to their environment. it has been known for years that ppgpp acts directly on rna polymerase (rnap) to alter the rate of transcription, but its exact target site is still under debate. here we report a crystal structure of escherichia coli rnap holoenzyme in complex with ppgpp at 4.5 å resolution. the structure reveals that ppgpp binds at an interface between the shelf and core modules on the outer surface of rnap, aw ... | 2013 | 23623685 |
| the magic spot: a ppgpp binding site on e. coli rna polymerase responsible for regulation of transcription initiation. | the global regulatory nucleotide ppgpp ("magic spot") regulates transcription from a large subset of escherichia coli promoters, illustrating how small molecules can control gene expression promoter-specifically by interacting with rna polymerase (rnap) without binding to dna. however, ppgpp's target site on rnap, and therefore its mechanism of action, has remained unclear. we report here a binding site for ppgpp on e. coli rnap, identified by crosslinking, protease mapping, and analysis of muta ... | 2013 | 23623682 |
| differential regulation by ppgpp versus pppgpp in escherichia coli. | both ppgpp and pppgpp are thought to function collectively as second messengers for many complex cellular responses to nutritional stress throughout biology. there are few indications that their regulatory effects might be different; however, this question has been largely unexplored for lack of an ability to experimentally manipulate the relative abundance of ppgpp and pppgpp. here, we achieve preferential accumulation of either ppgpp or pppgpp with escherichia coli strains through induction of ... | 2013 | 23620295 |
| two crispr-cas systems in methanosarcina mazei strain gö1 display common processing features despite belonging to different types i and iii. | the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (crispr) system represents a highly adaptive and heritable defense system against foreign nucleic acids in bacteria and archaea. we analyzed the two crispr-cas systems in methanosarcina mazei strain gö1. although belonging to different subtypes (i-b and iii-b), the leaders and repeats of both loci are nearly identical. also, despite many point mutations in each array, a common hairpin motif was identified in the repeats by a bioinform ... | 2013 | 23619576 |
| stable expression plasmids for streptomyces based on a toxin-antitoxin system. | bacteria included in the genus streptomyces exhibit several attractive characteristics that make them adequate hosts for the heterologous expression of proteins. one of them is that some of its species have a high secretion capacity and hence the protein of interest could be released to the culture supernatant, facilitating downstream processing. to date, all the expression vectors described for these bacteria contain antibiotic resistance genes as selection markers. however, the use of antibiot ... | 2013 | 23617558 |
| escherichia coli rimm and yjeq null strains accumulate immature 30s subunits of similar structure and protein complement. | assembly of the escherichia coli 30s ribosomal subunits proceeds through multiple parallel pathways. the protein factors rimm, yjeq, rbfa, and era work in conjunction to assist at the late stages of the maturation process of the small subunit. however, it is unclear how the functional interplay between these factors occurs in the context of multiple parallel pathways. to understand how these factors work together, we have characterized the immature 30s subunits that accumulate in δrimm cells and ... | 2013 | 23611982 |
| bacillus subtilis rna deprotection enzyme rpph recognizes guanosine in the second position of its substrates. | the initiation of mrna degradation often requires deprotection of its 5' end. in eukaryotes, the 5'-methylguanosine (cap) structure is principally removed by the nudix family decapping enzyme dcp2, yielding a 5'-monophosphorylated rna that is a substrate for 5' exoribonucleases. in bacteria, the 5'-triphosphate group of primary transcripts is also converted to a 5' monophosphate by a nudix protein called rna pyrophosphohydrolase (rpph), allowing access to both endo- and 5' exoribonucleases. here ... | 2013 | 23610407 |
| an aromatic residue switch in enhancer-dependent bacterial rna polymerase controls transcription intermediate complex activity. | the formation of the open promoter complex (rpo) in which the melted dna containing the transcription start site is located at the rna polymerase (rnap) catalytic centre is an obligatory step in the transcription of dna into rna catalyzed by rnap. in the rpo, an extensive network of interactions is established between dna, rnap and the σ-factor and the formation of functional rpo occurs via a series of transcriptional intermediates (collectively 'rpi'). a single tryptophan is ideally positioned ... | 2013 | 23609536 |
| yidc occupies the lateral gate of the secyeg translocon and is sequentially displaced by a nascent membrane protein. | most membrane proteins are co-translationally inserted into the lipid bilayer via the universally conserved secy complex and they access the lipid phase presumably via a lateral gate in secy. in bacteria, the lipid transfer of membrane proteins from the secy channel is assisted by the secy-associated protein yidc, but details on the secy-yidc interaction are unknown. by employing an in vivo and in vitro site-directed cross-linking approach, we have mapped the secy-yidc interface and found yidc i ... | 2013 | 23609445 |
| rna-methyltransferase trma is a dual-specific enzyme responsible for c5-methylation of uridine in both tmrna and trna. | in bacteria, trans-translation rescues stalled ribosomes by the combined action of tmrna (transfer-mrna) and its associated protein smpb. the tmrna 5' and 3' ends fold into a trna-like domain (tld), which shares structural and functional similarities with trnas. as in trnas, the uuc sequence of the t-arm of the tld is post-transcriptionally modified to m (5)uψc. in trnas of gram-negative bacteria, formation of m (5)u is catalyzed by the sam-dependent methyltransferase trma, while formation of m ... | 2013 | 23603891 |
| mutations in mitochondrial ribosomal protein mrpl12 leads to growth retardation, neurological deterioration and mitochondrial translation deficiency. | multiple respiratory chain deficiencies represent a common cause of mitochondrial diseases and are associated with a wide range of clinical symptoms. we report a subject, born to consanguineous parents, with growth retardation and neurological deterioration. multiple respiratory chain deficiency was found in muscle and fibroblasts of the subject as well as abnormal assembly of complexes i and iv. a microsatellite genotyping of the family members detected only one region of homozygosity on chromo ... | 2013 | 23603806 |
| mutations in tubg1, dync1h1, kif5c and kif2a cause malformations of cortical development and microcephaly. | the genetic causes of malformations of cortical development (mcd) remain largely unknown. here we report the discovery of multiple pathogenic missense mutations in tubg1, dync1h1 and kif2a, as well as a single germline mosaic mutation in kif5c, in subjects with mcd. we found a frequent recurrence of mutations in dync1h1, implying that this gene is a major locus for unexplained mcd. we further show that the mutations in kif5c, kif2a and dync1h1 affect atp hydrolysis, productive protein folding an ... | 2013 | 23603762 |
| activation and products of the cryptic secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters by rifampin resistance (rpob) mutations in actinomycetes. | a subset of rifampin resistance (rpob) mutations result in the overproduction of antibiotics in various actinomycetes, including streptomyces, saccharopolyspora, and amycolatopsis, with h437y and h437r rpob mutations effective most frequently. moreover, the rpob mutations markedly activate (up to 70-fold at the transcriptional level) the cryptic/silent secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters of these actinomycetes, which are not activated under general stressful conditions, with the exce ... | 2013 | 23603745 |
| essential requirements for the detection and degradation of invaders by the haloferax volcanii crispr/cas system i-b. | to fend off foreign genetic elements, prokaryotes have developed several defense systems. the most recently discovered defense system, crispr/cas, is sequence-specific, adaptive and heritable. the two central components of this system are the cas proteins and the crispr rna. the latter consists of repeat sequences that are interspersed with spacer sequences. the crispr locus is transcribed into a precursor rna that is subsequently processed into short crrnas. crispr/cas systems have been identif ... | 2013 | 23594992 |
| crystal structure of a prokaryotic (6-4) photolyase with an fe-s cluster and a 6,7-dimethyl-8-ribityllumazine antenna chromophore. | the (6-4) photolyases use blue light to reverse uv-induced (6-4) photoproducts in dna. this (6-4) photorepair was thought to be restricted to eukaryotes. here we report a prokaryotic (6-4) photolyase, phrb from agrobacterium tumefaciens, and propose that (6-4) photolyases are broadly distributed in prokaryotes. the crystal structure of photolyase related protein b (phrb) at 1.45 å resolution suggests a dna binding mode different from that of the eukaryotic counterparts. a his-his-x-x-arg motif i ... | 2013 | 23589886 |
| t box rna decodes both the information content and geometry of trna to affect gene expression. | the t box leader sequence is an rna element that controls gene expression by binding directly to a specific trna and sensing its aminoacylation state. this interaction controls expression of amino acid-related genes in a negative feedback loop. the t box rna structure is highly conserved, but its trna binding mechanism is only partially understood. known sequence elements are the specifier sequence, which recognizes the trna anticodon, and the antiterminator bulge, which base pairs with the trna ... | 2013 | 23589841 |