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For many applications it would be desirable to be able to control the activity of proteins by using an external signal. In the present study, we have explored the possibility of modulating the activity of a restriction enzyme with light. By cross-linking two suitably located cysteine residues with a bifunctional azobenzene derivative, which can adopt a cis-or trans-configuration when illuminated by UV or blue light, respectively, enzymatic activity can be controlled in a reversible manner. To determine which residues when crosslinked show the largest "photoswitch effect," i.e., difference in activity when illuminated with UV vs. blue light, >30 variants of a single-chain version of the restriction endonuclease PvuII were produced, modified with azobenzene, and tested for DNA cleavage activity. In general, introducing single cross-links in the enzyme leads to only small effects, whereas with multiple cross-links and additional mutations larger effects are observed. Some of the modified variants, which carry the cross-links close to the catalytic center, can be modulated in their DNA cleavage activity by a factor of up to 16 by illumination with UV (azobenzene in cis) and blue light (azobenzene in trans), respectively. The change in activity is achieved in seconds, is fully reversible, and, in the case analyzed, is due to a change in V max rather than K m .azobenzene | DNA cleavage | endonuclease | photoswitch | PvuII P roteins exist in nature whose activity can be controlled by light; perhaps one of the best known examples is rhodopsin, which is regulated by the cis∕trans isomerization of its cofactor retinal. For many biological applications it would be desirable to selectively switch the activity of a protein on and off by light in a similar manner (1). This could be accomplished by the introduction of a photosensitive compound into the protein of interest. Recent developments in photosensitive compounds such as the azobenzene derivatives have made the scenario a reality. Azobenzene can be reversibly isomerized between the extended trans-and the more compact cis-configuration by illumination with UV (trans → cis) or blue-light (cis → trans) as well as by thermal relaxation (cis → trans) (2-4). Four generally applicable approaches have been used to introduce azobenzene groups into peptides or proteins: (i) incorporation during peptide synthesis (5-8), (ii) incorporation during in vitro translation (9, 10), (iii) incorporation in vivo by using an orthogonal tRNA/aminoacyl tRNA synthetase pair specific for phenylalanine-4′-azobenzene (11), and (iv) chemical modification of peptides and proteins (3,12,13). Another more specific approach is to use azobenzenemodified ligands (e.g., inhibitors) for proteins (14,15). Chemical modification, the most widely used of these approaches, can be done with mono-or bifunctional azobenzene derivatives. Modification with monofunctional azobenzene derivatives relies on steric effects (e.g., interference with ligand binding), whereas modification with bifunctional azobenzene derivat...

SummaryType III secretion systems (TTSSs) are essential mediators of the interaction of many Gram-negative bacteria with human, animal or plant hosts. Extensive sequence and functional similarities exist between components of TTSS from bacteria as diverse as animal and plant pathogens. Recent crystal structure determinations of TTSS proteins reveal extensive structural homologies and novel structural motifs and provide a basis on which protein interaction networks start to be drawn within the TTSSs, that are consistent with and help rationalize genetic and biochemical data. Such studies, along with electron microscopy, also established common architectural design and function among the TTSSs of plant and mammalian pathogens, as well as between the TTSS injectisome and the flagellum. Recent comparative genomic analysis, bioinformatic genome mining and genome-wide functional screening have revealed an unsuspected number of newly discovered effectors, especially in plant pathogens and uncovered a wider distribution of TTSS in pathogenic, symbiotic and commensal bacteria. Functional proteomics and analysis further reveals common themes in TTSS effector functions across phylogenetic host and pathogen boundaries. Based on advances in TTSS biology, new diagnostics, crop protection and drug development applications, as well as new cell biology research tools are beginning to emerge.

With the advent of recombinant DNA techniques, the field of molecular plant pathology witnessed dramatic shifts in the 1970s and 1980s. The new and conventional methodologies of bacterial molecular genetics put bacteria center stage. The discovery in the mid-1980s of the hrp/hrc gene cluster and the subsequent demonstration that it encodes a type III secretion system (T3SS) common to Gram negative bacterial phytopathogens, animal pathogens, and plant symbionts was a landmark in molecular plant pathology. Today, T3SS has earned a central role in our understanding of many fundamental aspects of bacterium-plant interactions and has contributed the important concept of interkingdom transfer of effector proteins determining race-cultivar specificity in plant-bacterium pathosystems. Recent developments in genomics, proteomics, and structural biology enable detailed and comprehensive insights into the functional architecture, evolutionary origin, and distribution of T3SS among bacterial pathogens and support current research efforts to discover novel antivirulence drugs.

The crystal structure of the dimeric PvuII restriction endonuclease (R.PvuII) has been determined at a resolution of 2.4A. The protein has a mixed alpha/beta architecture and consists of two subdomains. Despite a lack of sequence homology, extensive structural similarities exist between one R.PvuII subdomain and the DNA-binding subdomain of EcoRV endonuclease (R.EcoRV); the dimerization subdomains are unrelated. Within the similar domains, flexible segments of R.PvuII are topologically equivalent to the DNA-binding turns of R.EcoRV; potential catalytic residues can be deduced from the structural similarities to R.EcoRV. Conformational flexibility is important for the interaction with DNA. A possible classification of endonuclease structures on the basis of the positions of the scissile phosphates is discussed.

Type III secretion systems enable plant and animal bacterial pathogens to deliver virulence proteins into the cytosol of eukaryotic host cells, causing a broad spectrum of diseases including bacteremia, septicemia, typhoid fever, and bubonic plague in mammals, and localized lesions, systemic wilting, and blights in plants. In addition, type III secretion systems are also required for biogenesis of the bacterial flagellum. The HrcQB protein, a component of the secretion apparatus of Pseudomonas syringae with homologues in all type III systems, has a variable N-terminal and a conserved C-terminal domain (HrcQB-C). Here, we report the crystal structure of HrcQB-C and show that this domain retains the ability of the full-length protein to interact with other type III components. A 3D analysis of sequence conservation patterns reveals two clusters of residues potentially involved in protein-protein interactions. Based on the analogies between HrcQB and its flagellum homologues, we propose that HrcQB-C participates in the formation of a C-ring-like assembly.

SummaryRecent structural studies and analyses of microbial genomes have consolidated the understanding of the structural and functional versatility of coiledcoil domains in proteins from bacterial type III secretion systems (T3SS). Such domains consist of two or more a-helices forming a bundle structure. The occurrence of coiled-coils in T3SS is considerably higher than the average predicted occurrence in prokaryotic proteomes. T3SS proteins comprising coiled-coil domains are frequently characterized by an increased structural flexibility, which may vary from localized structural disorder to the establishment of molten globule-like state. The propensity for coiled-coil formation and structural disorder are frequently essential requirements for various T3SS functions, including the establishment of protein-protein interaction networks and the polymerization of extracellular components of T3SS appendages. Possible correlations between the frequently observed N-terminal structural disorder of effectors and the T3SS secretion signal are discussed. The results for T3SS are also compared with other Gram-negative secretory systems.

Gene clusters encoding various type III secretion system (T3SS) injectisomes, frequently code downstream of the conserved atpase gene for small hydrophilic proteins whose amino acid sequences display a propensity for intrinsic disorder and coiled-coil formation. These properties were confirmed experimentally for a member of this class, the HrpO protein from the T3SS of Pseudomonas syringae pv phaseolicola: HrpO exhibits high ␣-helical content with coiled-coil characteristics, strikingly low melting temperature, structural properties that are typical for disordered proteins, and a pronounced self-association propensity, most likely via coiled-coil interactions, resulting in heterogeneous populations of quaternary complexes. HrpO interacts in vivo with HrpE, a T3SS protein for which coiled-coil formation is also strongly predicted. Evidence from HrpO analogues from all T3SS families and the flagellum suggests that the extreme flexibility and propensity for coiled-coil interactions of this diverse class of small, intrinsically disordered proteins, whose structures may alter as they bind to their cognate folded protein targets, might be important elements in the establishment of protein-protein interaction networks required for T3SS function.