The 2.2 A crystal structure of the 251K alpha 2 beta 2 gamma 2 dimeric hydroxylase protein of methane monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) reveals the geometry of the catalytic di-iron core. The two iron atoms are bridged by exogenous hydroxide and acetate ligands and further coordinated by four glutamate residues, two histidine residues and a water molecule. The dinuclear iron centre lies in a hydrophobic active-site cavity for binding methane. An extended canyon runs between alpha beta pairs, which have many long alpha-helices, for possible docking of the reductase and coupling proteins required for catalysis.

The success of cisplatin in cancer chemotherapy derives from its ability to crosslink DNA and alter the structure. Most cisplatin-DNA adducts are intrastrand d(GpG) and d(ApG) crosslinks, which unwind and bend the duplex to facilitate the binding of proteins that contain one or more high-mobility group (HMG) domains. When HMG-domain proteins such as HMG1, IXR (intrastrand-crosslink recognition) protein from yeast, or human upstream-binding factor (hUBF) bind cisplatin intrastrand crosslinks, they can be diverted from their natural binding sites on the genome and shield the adducts from excision repair. These activities sensitize cells to cisplatin and contribute to its cytotoxic properties. Crystallographic information about the structure of cisplatin-DNA adducts has been limited to short single-stranded deoxyoligonucleotides such as cis-[Pt(NH3)2(d(pGpG))]. Here we describe the X-ray structure at 2.6 A resolution of a double-stranded DNA dodecamer containing this adduct. Our information provides, to our knowledge, the first crystallographic look at a platinated DNA duplex and should help the design of new platinum and other metal crosslinking antitumour drug candidates. Moreover, the structure reveals a unique fusion of A- and B-type DNA segments that could be of more general importance.

The diiron center in Hox can change its exogenous ligand coordination and geometry, a property that could be important in the catalytic cycle of sMMO. In Hred, a carboxylate shift occurs, extruding hydroxide ion and opening coordination sites for reaction with O2 to form the diiron(III) peroxo intermediate, Hperoxo. Residue Thr213 may function in catalysis.

The anticancer drugs adriamycin and daunomycin have each been crystallized with the DNA sequence d(CGATCG) and the three-dimensional structures of the complexes solved at 1.7- and 1.5-A resolution, respectively. These antitumor drugs have significantly different clinical properties, yet they differ chemically by only the additional hydroxyl at C14 of adriamycin. In these complexes the chromophore is intercalated at the CpG steps at either end of the DNA helix with the amino sugar extended into the minor groove. Solution of the structure of daunomycin bound to d(CGATCG) has made it possible to compare it with the previously reported structure of daunomycin bound to d(CGTACG). Although the two daunomycin complexes are similar, there is an interesting sequence dependence of the binding of the amino sugar to the A-T base pair outside the intercalation site. The complex of daunomycin with d(CGATCG) has tighter binding than the complex with d(CGTACG), leading us to infer a sequence preference in the binding of this anthracycline drug. The structures of daunomycin and adriamycin with d(CGATCG) are very similar. However, there are additional solvent interactions with the adriamycin C14 hydroxyl linking it to the DNA. Surprisingly, under the influence of the altered solvation, there is considerable difference in the conformation of spermine in these two complexes. The observed changes in the overall structures of the ternary complexes amplify the small chemical differences between these two antibiotics and provide a possible explanation for the significantly different clinical activities of these important drugs.

The crystal structures of d(CGCA3T3GCG) complex to the antitumor drug distamycin and the DNA fragment alone were solved by x-ray diffraction at 2.2 and 2.5 A resolution, respectively. The drug lies in the narrow minor groove near the center of the B-DNA fragment covering 5 of the 6 A-T base pairs. It is bound to the DNA by hydrogen bonding, van der Waals, and electrostatic interactions. In addition, the DNA was found to have an unusual conformation in the (dA)3-(dT)3 regions. These base pairs have a high positive propeller twist so that in the major groove the adenine amino group is located intermediate between the carbonyl 0-4 groups of two adjacent thymines of the opposite strand, making bifurcated hydrogen bonds to the two thymine residues. This suggests a model to explain the unusual properties of poly-(dA)-poly(dT) in which a modified B conformation is associated with a large propeller twist of the bases and a set of continuous bifurcating hydrogen bonds along the major groove, which may provide incremental stability to these segments. In addi-

The X-ray crystal structure of d(CCTCTG*G*TCTCC)·d(GGAGACCAGAGG), where G*G* represents the major adduct of the antitumor drug cisplatin on a duplex DNA dodecamer, was solved to a resolution of 2.6 Å (R = 0.203, R-free = 0.245). The molecule crystallizes in the space group P1, with unit cell dimensions a = 31.27 Å, b = 35.46 Å, c = 47.01 Å, α = 79.81°, β = 84.75°, γ = 82.79°, and Z = 2. Two molecules in the asymmetric unit are related by a local two-fold symmetry axis and have very similar structures. The duplexes are bent significantly, each having a 26° roll toward the major groove at the site of the platinum intrastrand cross-link. The platinum atom binds to the N7 atoms of adjacent guanine residues, compacting the major groove and widening and flattening the minor groove. Because of the shallow roll, the platinum atom is displaced from the planes of the guanine bases by ∼1 Å and is considerably strained. The overall structure of the cisplatin-modified duplex contains an unusual juxtaposition of A-like and B-like helical segments. This bent structure is accommodated by an interesting and novel packing arrangement in the crystal. One end of each duplex packs end-to-end with another, as in crystal structures of B-DNA, whereas the other end packs into the minor groove of an adjacent molecule, much like A-DNA crystal packing. An unusual backbone-to-backbone packing interaction involving several CH···O hydrogen bonds was also observed. The widened minor groove and the bend caused by platinum binding resembles the DNA component of the structure of the HMG domains of SRY bound to its recognition site DNA. This similarity suggests how HMG-domain proteins might recognize cisplatin−DNA adducts.

The crystal structure of the complex between Eco RI endonuclease and the cognate oligonucleotide TCGCGAATTCGCG provides a detailed example of the structural basis of sequence-specific DNA-protein interactions. The structure was determined, to 3 A resolution, by the ISIR (iterative single isomorphous replacement) method with a platinum isomorphous derivative. The complex has twofold symmetry. Each subunit of the endonuclease is organized into an alpha/beta domain consisting a five-stranded beta sheet, alpha helices, and an extension, called the "arm," which wraps around the DNA. The large beta sheet consists of antiparallel and parallel motifs that form the foundations for the loops and alpha helices responsible for DNA strand scission and sequence-specific recognition, respectively. The DNA cleavage site is located in a cleft that binds the DNA backbone in the vicinity of the scissile bond. Sequence specificity is mediated by 12 hydrogen bonds originating from alpha helical recognition modules. Arg200 forms two hydrogen bonds with guanine while Glu144 and Arg145 form four hydrogen bonds to adjacent adenine residues. These interactions discriminate the Eco RI hexanucleotide GAATTC from all other hexanucleotides because any base substitution would require rupture of at least one of these hydrogen bonds.

The crystal structure of the complex between the dodecamer d(CGCGAATTCGCG) and a synthetic dye molecule Hoechst 33258 was solved by X-ray diffraction analysis and refined to an R-factor of 15.7% at 2.25 A resolution. The crescent-shaped Hoechst compound is found to bind to the central four AATT base pairs in the narrow minor groove of the B-DNA double helix. The piperazine ring of the drug has its flat face almost parallel to the aromatic bisbenzimidazole ring and lies sideways in the minor groove. No evidence of disordered structure of the drug is seen in the complex. The binding of Hoechst to DNA is stabilized by a combination of hydrogen bonding, van der Waals interaction and electrostatic interactions. The binding preference for AT base pairs by the drug is the result of the close contact between the Hoechst molecule and the C2 hydrogen atoms of adenine. The nature of these contacts precludes the binding of the drug to G-C base pairs due to the presence of N2 amino groups of guanines. The present crystal structural information agrees well with the data obtained from chemical footprinting experiments.