The diverse forms of protein phosphatase 1 in vivo result from the association of its catalytic subunit (PP1c) with different regulatory subunits, one of which is the G‐subunit (GM) that targets PP1c to glycogen particles in muscle. Here we report the structure, at 3.0 Å resolution, of PP1c in complex with a 13 residue peptide (GM[63–75]) of GM. The residues in GM[63–75] that interact with PP1c are those in the Arg/Lys–Val/Ile–Xaa–Phe motif that is present in almost every other identified mammalian PP1‐binding subunit. Disrupting this motif in the GM[63–75] peptide and the M110[1–38] peptide (which mimics the myofibrillar targeting M110 subunit in stimulating the dephosphorylation of myosin) prevents these peptides from interacting with PP1. A short peptide from the PP1‐binding protein p53BP2 that contains the RVXF motif also interacts with PP1c. These findings identify a recognition site on PP1c, invariant from yeast to humans, for a critical structural motif on regulatory subunits. This explains why the binding of PP1 to its regulatory subunits is mutually exclusive, and suggests a novel approach for identifying the functions of PP1‐binding proteins whose roles are unknown.

contributed equally to this work Viruses represent an attractive system with which to study the molecular basis of mRNA capping and its relation to the RNA transcription machinery. The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase NS5 of¯avi-viruses presents a characteristic motif of S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyltransferases at its N-terminus, and polymerase motifs at its C-terminus. The crystal structure of an N-terminal fragment of Dengue virus type 2 NS5 is reported at 2.4 A Ê resolution. We show that this NS5 domain includes a typical methyltransferase core and exhibits a (nucleoside-2¢-O-)-methyltransferase activity on capped RNA. The structure of a ternary complex comprising S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine and a guanosine triphosphate (GTP) analogue shows that 54 amino acids N-terminal to the core provide a novel GTP-binding site that selects guanine using a previously unreported mechanism. Binding studies using GTP-and RNA cap-analogues, as well as the spatial arrangement of the methyltransferase active site relative to the GTPbinding site, suggest that the latter is a speci®c capbinding site. As RNA capping is an essential viral function, these results provide a structural basis for the rational design of drugs against the emerging¯avi-viruses. Keywords: crystal structure/¯avivirus/GTP/RNA capping/RNA polymerase IntroductionThe cap is a unique structure found at the 5¢-end of viral and cellular eukaryotic mRNA (Bisaillon and Lemay, 1997;Furuichi and Shatkin, 2000). It is critical for both mRNA stability and binding to the ribosome during translation. mRNA capping is a co-transcriptional modi®cation resulting from a series of three chemical reactions (Shuman, 2001). The 5¢-triphosphate of the mRNA is ®rst converted to a diphosphate by an RNA triphosphatase. The second reaction is a transfer of a guanosine monophosphate (GMP) moiety from GTP to the 5¢-diphosphate RNA by a guanylyltransferase to yield G 5 ¢-ppp 5 ¢-N. In a third reaction utilizing S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet) as the methyl donor, the transferred guanosine moiety is methylated by a (guanine-N7)-methyltransferase (N7MTase) to yield 7Me G 5 ¢-ppp 5 ¢-N (cap 0 structure). A second methylation reaction catalysed by a (nucleoside-2¢-O-)-methyltransferase (2¢OMTase) occurs on the ®rst nucleotide 3¢ to the triphosphate bridge to yield 7Me G 5 ¢-ppp 5 ¢-N Me (cap 1 structure). Adjacent nucleotides 3¢ to the ®rst one can also be 2¢-O-methylated to various extents. The order of the methyltransfer reactions is variable, and in some viruses GTP is methylated at its N7 position before being transferred to the RNA 5¢-end (Ahola and Kaariainen, 1995;Furuichi and Shatkin, 2000).Few enzymes involved in the RNA capping pathway have been structurally characterized. The crystal structures of two cellular RNA triphosphatases from yeast and mouse have been determined at 2.0 and 1.6 A Ê resolution, respectively. These structures provide a mechanistic insight into the ®rst reaction in the RNA capping pathway catalysed by prototypic enzymes of the metal-dependent and -indep...

The three-dimensional structure of the lipase-procolipase complex, co-crystallized with mixed micelles of phosphatidylcholine and bile salt, has been determined at 3 A resolution by X-ray crystallography. The lid, a surface helix covering the catalytic triad of lipase, adopts a totally different conformation which allows phospholipid to bind to the enzyme's active site. The open lid is an essential component of the active site and interacts with procolipase. Together they form the lipid-water interface binding site. This reorganization of the lid structure provokes a second drastic conformational change in an active site loop, which in its turn creates the oxyanion hole (induced fit).

Eukaryotic protein phosphatases are structurally and functionally diverse enzymes that are represented by three distinct gene families. Two of these, the PPP and PPM families, dephosphorylate phosphoserine and phosphothreonine residues, whereas the protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) dephosphorylate phosphotyrosine amino acids. A subfamily of the PTPs, the dual-specificity phosphatases, dephosphorylate all three phosphoamino acids. Within each family, the catalytic domains are highly conserved, with functional diversity endowed by regulatory domains and subunits. The protein Ser/Thr phosphatases are metalloenzymes and dephosphorylate their substrates in a single reaction step using a metal-activated nucleophilic water molecule. In contrast, the PTPs catalyze dephosphorylation by use of a cysteinyl-phosphate enzyme intermediate. The crystal structures of a number of protein phosphatases have been determined, enabling us to understand their catalytic mechanisms and the basis for substrate recognition and to begin to provide insights into molecular mechanisms of protein phosphatase regulation.

Dengue fever, a neglected emerging disease for which no vaccine or antiviral agents exist at present, is caused by dengue virus, a member of the Flavivirus genus, which includes several important human pathogens, such as yellow fever and West Nile viruses. The NS5 protein from dengue virus is bifunctional and contains 900 amino acids. The S-adenosyl methionine transferase activity resides within its N-terminal domain, and residues 270 to 900 form the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) catalytic domain. Viral replication begins with the synthesis of minus-strand RNA from the dengue virus positive-strand RNA genome, which is subsequently used as a template for synthesizing additional plus-strand RNA genomes. This essential function for the production of new viral particles is catalyzed by the NS5 RdRp. Here we present a high-throughput in vitro assay partly recapitulating this activity and the crystallographic structure of an enzymatically active fragment of the dengue virus RdRp refined at 1.85-Å resolution. The NS5 nuclear localization sequences, previously thought to fold into a separate domain, form an integral part of the polymerase subdomains. The structure also reveals the presence of two zinc ion binding motifs. In the absence of a template strand, a chain-terminating nucleoside analogue binds to the priming loop site. These results should inform and accelerate the structure-based design of antiviral compounds against dengue virus.Flaviviridae are enveloped viruses with positive-strand RNA genomes that have been grouped into three genera, Hepacivirus, Pestivirus, and Flavivirus (11,59). Several members of the Flavivirus genus, e.g., dengue virus (DENV), yellow fever virus (YFV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), tick-borne encephalitis virus, and West Nile virus (WNV), are medically important arthropod-borne pathogens afflicting humans. DENV infects 50 to 100 million people each year, with ϳ500,000 patients developing the more severe disease dengue hemorrhagic fever, leading to hospitalizations and resulting in approximately 20,000 deaths, mainly in children (24,26,27,29). Based on serological studies, DENVs are further classified into four distinct serotypes, DENV 1 to 4, whose respective genomes share ϳ60% sequence identity, with ϳ90% sequence identity within a serotype (7, 26). The DENV RNA genome spans about 10.7 kb and contains a type I methyl guanosine cap structure at its 5Ј end but is devoid of a polyadenylate tail. The genomic RNA is translated into a single polyprotein (58), which is cleaved into three structural (C-prM-E) and seven nonstructural (NS1-NS2A-NS2B-NS3-NS4A-NS4B-NS5) proteins by both the viral and cellular proteases (28). The viral serine protease is within the N-terminal region of NS3, and recent structural studies show that part of its catalytic site is formed by the viral cofactor NS2B upon substrate binding (18). The C-terminal region of NS3 forms the RNA helicase domain, which is thought to either separate a double-stranded RNA template into individual strands or disrupt secon...

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Macro domains constitute a protein module family found associated with specific histones and proteins involved in chromatin metabolism. In addition, a small number of animal RNA viruses, such as corona-and toroviruses, alphaviruses, and hepatitis E virus, encode macro domains for which, however, structural and functional information is extremely limited. Here, we characterized the macro domains from hepatitis E virus, Semliki Forest virus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). The crystal structure of the SARS-CoV macro domain was determined at 1.8-Å resolution in complex with ADP-ribose. Information derived from structural, mutational, and sequence analyses suggests a close phylogenetic and, most probably, functional relationship between viral and cellular macro domain homologs. The data revealed that viral macro domains have relatively poor ADP-ribose 1؆-phosphohydrolase activities (which were previously proposed to be their biologically relevant function) but bind efficiently free and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1-bound poly-(ADP-ribose) in vitro. Collectively, these results suggest to further evaluate the role of viral macro domains in host response to viral infection.

The recently identified etiological agent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) belongs to Coronaviridae (CoV), a family of viruses replicating by a poorly understood mechanism. Here, we report the crystal structure at 2.7-Å resolution of nsp9, a hitherto uncharacterized subunit of the SARS-CoV replicative polyproteins. We show that SARS-CoV nsp9 is a single-stranded RNA-binding protein displaying a previously unreported, oligosaccharide͞oligo-nucleotide fold-like fold. The presence of this type of protein has not been detected in the replicative complexes of RNA viruses, and its presence may reflect the unique and complex CoV viral replication͞transcription machinery.I n 2003, a human coronavirus (CoV) was identified as the causative agent of a form of atypical pneumonia: severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV (SARS-CoV) (1-5). Coronaviridae have the longest known single-stranded (ss)RNA genome (27-31.5 kb), with a complex genetic organization and sophisticated replication͞transcription cycle (6, 7). Twenty-eight proteins are predicted to be encoded by the SARS-CoV genome (8, 9). The nonstructural (nsp) or ''replicase'' proteins of CoVs are derived from an unusually large replicase gene of Ͼ20 kb that consists of two large ORFs (ORFs 1a and 1b). Translation of this replicase gene from the incoming genomic RNA is the first step in CoV genome expression and includes a Ϫ1 ribosomal frameshift to express the ORF1b-encoded polypeptide. Translation products are the pp1a polyprotein (Ͼ4,000 amino acids) and the C-terminally extended pp1ab polyprotein (Ͼ7,000 amino acids), which are both cleaved by two or three ORF1a-encoded viral proteinases (10). Most of these replicase cleavage products assemble into a membrane-associated viral replication͞ transcription complex. Among other components, this complex includes a set of relatively small polypeptides (nsp6 to nsp11) encoded by the 3Ј region of ORF1a, for which no predicted nor proven function has been assigned. For the mouse hepatitis CoV, several of these cleavage products were reported to colocalize with other components of the viral replication complex in the perinuclear region of the infected cell (11), suggesting their involvement (directly or indirectly) in viral RNA metabolism.As part of a viral structural genomics program (12), we have cloned the 28 gene products of SARS-CoV and expressed them either as full-length proteins or as (predicted) functional domains. The determination of the three-dimensional structures of these gene products is expected to facilitate and accelerate discovery of drugs against this emerging and life-threatening pathogen. Furthermore, structural homology search is becoming a powerful method to infer biochemical and͞or biological function of previously uncharacterized proteins. We report here the crystal structure of nsp9, one the SARS-CoV uncharacterized nonstructural protein, as well as evidence for its function as an ssDNA͞RNA-binding protein. Materials and MethodsCrystallization, Structure Determination, and Refinement. SARS...