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The transition between dormant and active Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection requires reorganization of its lipid metabolism and activation of a battery of serine hydrolase enzymes. Among these serine hydrolases, Rv0045c is a mycobacterial-specific serine hydrolase with limited sequence homology outside mycobacteria but structural homology to divergent bacterial hydrolase families. Herein, we determined the global substrate specificity of Rv0045c against a library of fluorogenic hydrolase substrates, constructed a combined experimental and computational model for its binding pocket, and performed comprehensive substitutional analysis to develop a structural map of its binding pocket. Rv0045c showed strong substrate selectivity toward short, straight chain alkyl esters with the highest activity toward four atom chains. This strong substrate preference was maintained through the combined action of residues in a flexible loop connecting the cap and α/β hydrolase domains and in residues close to the catalytic triad. Two residues bracketing the substrate-binding pocket (Gly90 and His187) were essential to maintaining the narrow substrate selectivity of Rv0045c toward various acyl ester substituents, as independent conversion of these residues significantly increased its catalytic activity and broadened its substrate specificity. Focused saturation mutagenesis of position 187 implicated this residue, as the differentiation point between the substrate specificity of Rv0045c and the structurally homologous ybfF hydrolase family. Insertion of the analogous tyrosine residue from ybfF hydrolases into Rv0045c increased the catalytic activity of Rv0045 by over 20-fold toward diverse ester substrates. The unique binding pocket structure and selectivity of Rv0045c provide molecular indications of its biological role and evidence for expanded substrate diversity in serine hydrolases from M. tuberculosis.

Background: Acyl protein thioesterases control protein S-acylation at cellular membranes. Results: FTT258 is a serine hydrolase with broad substrate specificity that binds to bacterial membranes and exists in two distinct conformations. Conclusion: Conformational changes in FTT258 are correlated with catalytic activity. Significance: Structural rearrangement dually regulates the membrane binding and catalytic activity of acyl protein thioesterases.

The known diversity of metabolic strategies and physiological adaptations of archaeal species to extreme environments is extraordinary. Accurate and responsive mechanisms to ensure that gene expression patterns match the needs of the cell necessitate regulatory strategies that control the activities and output of the archaeal transcription apparatus. Archaea are reliant on a single RNA polymerase for all transcription, and many of the known regulatory mechanisms employed for archaeal transcription mimic strategies also employed for eukaryotic and bacterial species. Novel mechanisms of transcription regulation have become apparent by increasingly sophisticated in vivo and in vitro investigations of archaeal species. This review emphasizes recent progress in understanding archaeal transcription regulatory mechanisms and highlights insights gained from studies of the influence of archaeal chromatin on transcription. RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a well-conserved, multisubunit essential enzyme that transcribes DNA to generate RNA in all cells. Although RNA synthesis is carried out by RNAP, the activities of RNAP during each phase of transcription are subject to basal and regulatory transcription factors. Substantial differences in transcription regulatory strategies exist in the three domains (Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya). Only a single transcription factor (NusG or Spt5) is universally conserved (1, 2), and the roles of many archaeon-encoded factors have not been evaluated using in vivo and in vitro techniques. Archaea are reliant on a transcription apparatus that is homologous to the eukaryotic transcription machinery; similarities include additional RNAP subunits that form a discrete subdomain of RNAP (3, 4) as well as basal transcription factors that direct transcription initiation and elongation (5-8).The shared homology of archaeal-eukaryotic transcription components aligns with the shared ancestry of Archaea and Eukarya, and this homology often is exclusive of Bacteria. Archaea are prokaryotic, but the transcription apparatus of Bacteria differs significantly from that of Archaea and Eukarya.The archaeal transcription apparatus is most commonly summarized as a simplified version of the eukaryotic machinery. In some respects this is true, as homologs of only a few eukaryotic transcription factors are encoded in archaeal genomes, and archaeal transcription in vitro can be supported by just a few transcription factors. However, much regulatory activity in eukaryotes is devoted to posttranslational modifications of chromatin, RNAP, and transcription factors, and this complexity seemingly does not transfer to the Archaea, where few posttranslational modifications or chromatin-imposed regulation events are currently known. The ostensible simplicity of archaeal transcription is under constant revision, as more detailed examinations of archaeon-encoded factors become possible through increasingly sophisticated in vivo and in vitro techniques. This review will highlight the current understanding of archaeal transcriptio...

The initiation of DNA replication is typically tightly regulated by proteins that form initiation complexes at specific sequences known as replication origins. In Archaea and Eukaryotes, Cdc6, a near-universally conserved protein binds and facilitates the origin-dependent assembly of the replicative apparatus. TK1901 encodes Cdc6 in Thermococcus kodakarensis but, as we report here, TK1901 and the presumed origin of replication can be deleted from the genome of this hyperthermophilic Archaeon without any detectable effects on growth, genetic competence or the ability to support autonomous plasmid replication. All regions of the genome were equally represented in the sequences generated by whole genome sequencing of DNA isolated from T. kodakarensis strains with or without TK1901, inconsistent with DNA initiation occurring at one or few origins, and instead suggestive of replication initiating at many sites distributed throughout the genome. We were unable to generate strains lacking the recombination factors, RadA or RadB, consistent with T. kodakarensis cells, that are oligoploid (7–19 genomes per cell), employing a recombination-based mechanism of DNA replication. Deletion of the previously presumed origin region reduced the long-term viability of cultures supporting the possibility that retaining an origin-based mechanism of DNA initiation provides a survival mechanism for stationary phase cells with only one genome.