Serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT), a member of the ␣-class of pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzymes, catalyzes the reversible conversion of serine to glycine and tetrahydrofolate to 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolate. We present here the crystal structures of the native enzyme and its complexes with serine, glycine, glycine, and 5-formyl tetrahydrofolate (FTHF) from Bacillus stearothermophilus. The first structure of the serine-bound form of SHMT allows identification of residues involved in serine binding and catalysis. The SHMT-serine complex does not show any significant conformational change compared with the native enzyme, contrary to that expected for a conversion from an "open" to "closed" form of the enzyme. However, the ternary complex with FTHF and glycine shows the reported conformational changes. In contrast to the Escherichia coli enzyme, this complex shows asymmetric binding of the FTHF to the two monomers within the dimer in a way similar to the murine SHMT. Comparison of the ternary complex with the native enzyme reveals the structural basis for the conformational change and asymmetric binding of FTHF. The four structures presented here correspond to the various reaction intermediates of the catalytic pathway and provide evidence for a direct displacement mechanism for the hydroxymethyl transfer rather than a retroaldol cleavage.Serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT; 1 EC 2.1.2.1) is a PLP-dependent enzyme that plays a central role in the onecarbon metabolism. It catalyzes the reversible inter-conversion of serine and tetrahydrofolate to glycine and 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolate, a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of purine, thymidine, choline, and methionine (1, 2). In addition to this physiological reaction, SHMT has also been shown to catalyze THF-independent aldolytic cleavage, decarboxylation, racemization, and transamination reactions (3). The importance of SHMT in DNA synthesis coupled with the observed high level of enzyme activity in rapidly proliferating cells has focused attention on SHMT as a potential target for the development of anticancer and antimicrobial agents (4 -6).Several mechanisms have been proposed for the hydroxymethyl transfer, the most favored being the retroaldol cleavage (7,8). The crystal structures of human liver SHMT (hcSHMT) and rabbit liver SHMT (rcSHMT) and Escherichia coli SHMT (eSHMT) as well as murine cytoplasmic SHMT (mcSHMT) have been reported (9 -12). The structure of a reduced form of rcSHMT representing a gem diamine equivalent has also been reported (10). Although these structures have provided a wealth of information regarding the architecture of the enzyme, active site, and residues involved in substrate binding and catalysis, several aspects of SHMT catalytic mechanism remain uncertain (7, 13). A detailed comparison and analysis of several structures of the enzyme corresponding to different intermediate steps and in complex with various substrates, substrate analogs, and product analogs are required to unravel the finer molecular details of ...

Polyprotein processing is a major strategy used by many plant and animal viruses to maximize the number of protein products obtainable from a single open reading frame. In Sesbania mosaic virus, open reading frame-2 codes for a polyprotein that is cleaved into different functional proteins in cis by the N-terminal serine protease domain. The soluble protease domain lacking 70-amino-acid residues from the N terminus (⌬N70Pro, where Pro is protease) was not active in trans. Interestingly, the protease domain exhibited trans-catalytic activity when VPg (viral protein genome-linked) was present at the C terminus. Bioinformatic analysis of VPg primary structure suggested that it could be a disordered protein. Biophysical studies validated this observation, and VPg resembled "natively unfolded" proteins. CD spectral analysis showed that the ⌬N70Pro-VPg fusion protein had a characteristic secondary structure with a 230 nm positive CD peak. Mutation of Trp-43 in the VPg domain to phenylalanine abrogated the positive peak with concomitant loss in cis-and trans-proteolytic activity of the ⌬N70Pro domain. Further, deletion of VPg domain from the polyprotein completely abolished proteolytic processing. The results suggested a novel mechanism of activation of the protease, wherein the interaction between the natively unfolded VPg and the protease domains via aromatic amino acid residues alters the conformation of the individual domains and the active site of the protease. Thus, VPg is an activator of protease in Sesbania mosaic virus, and probably by this mechanism, the polyprotein processing could be regulated in planta.

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In an attempt to unravel the role of conserved histidine residues in the structure-function of sheep liver cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT), three site-specific mutants (H134N, H147N, and H150N