Helicases are nucleotide triphosphate (NTP)-dependent enzymes responsible for unwinding duplex DNA and RNA during genomic replication. The 2.1 A resolution structure of the HCV helicase from the positive-stranded RNA hepatitis C virus reveals a molecule with distinct NTPase and RNA binding domains. The structure supports a mechanism of helicase activity involving initial recognition of the requisite 3' single-stranded region on the nucleic acid substrate by a conserved arginine-rich sequence on the RNA binding domain. Comparison of crystallographically independent molecules shows that rotation of the RNA binding domain involves conformational changes within a conserved TATPP sequence and untwisting of an extended antiparallel beta-sheet. Location of the TATPP sequence at the end of an NTPase domain beta-strand structurally homologous to the 'switch region' of many NTP-dependent enzymes offers the possibility that domain rotation is coupled to NTP hydrolysis in the helicase catalytic cycle.
Various classes of nucleotidyl polymerases with different transcriptional roles contain a conserved core structure. Less is known, however, about the distinguishing features of these enzymes, particularly those of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase class. The 1. 9 A resolution crystal structure of hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) presented here provides the first complete and detailed view of an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. While canonical polymerase features exist in the structure, NS5B adopts a unique shape due to extensive interactions between the fingers and thumb polymerase subdomains that serve to encircle the enzyme active site. Several insertions in the fingers subdomain account for intersubdomain linkages that include two extended loops and a pair of antiparallel alpha-helices. The HCV NS5B apoenzyme structure reported here can accommodate a template:primer duplex without global conformational changes, supporting the hypothesis that this structure is essentially preserved during the reaction pathway. This NS5B template:primer model also allows identification of a new structural motif involved in stabilizing the nascent base pair.
Two main candidates, adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), have been proposed as inhibitory transmitters at neuromuscular junctions in the gut. We have used a photoaffinity analogue of ATP, 3'-O-(4-benzoyl)benzoyl ATP or BzATP, that binds covalently to ATP receptors and inactivates them in the presence of light and a specific high-affinity VIP antiserum in order to examine the contributions of ATP and VIP to neurally induced relaxation in circular smooth muscle of the gastric fundus of the guinea pig. VIP and ATP caused dose-dependent relaxation; the effect of ATP was equal to that of its stable isostere, alpha, beta-methylene ATP, and was resistant to degradation by adenosine deaminase, indicating interaction of ATP with purinergic P2-receptors. Relaxation induced by VIP was selectively inhibited by VIP antiserum (final dilution 1:120), while that induced by ATP was selectively inhibited by photoactivated BzATP. Relaxation induced by electrical field (i.e., neural) stimulation was inhibited by VIP antiserum only; photoactivated BzATP had no effect. Inhibition of neurally induced relaxation ranged from 86% (P less than 0.01) at the lowest frequencies to 34% (P less than 0.01) at the highest frequencies. Maximal field stimulation caused an 11-fold increase in VIP release from intramural neurons. The results strongly favor VIP as the neural mediator of gastric relaxation.
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