Numerous enzymes, such as the pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzymes, require cofactors for their activities. Using X-ray crystallography, structural snapshots of the L-serine dehydratase catalytic reaction of a bacterial PLP-dependent enzyme were determined. In the structures, the dihedral angle between the pyridine ring and the Schiff-base linkage of PLP varied from 18° to 52°. It is proposed that the organic cofactor PLP directly catalyzes reactions by active conformational changes, and the novel catalytic mechanism involving the PLP cofactor was confirmed by high-level quantum-mechanical calculations. The conformational change was essential for nucleophilic attack of the substrate on PLP, for concerted proton transfer from the substrate to the protein and for directing carbanion formation of the substrate. Over the whole catalytic cycle, the organic cofactor catalyzes a series of reactions, like the enzyme. The conformational change of the PLP cofactor in catalysis serves as a starting point for identifying the previously unknown catalytic roles of organic cofactors.
Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a plant bacterial pathogen that causes bacterial blight (BB) disease, resulting in serious production losses of rice. The crystal structure of malonyl CoA-acyl carrier protein transacylase (XoMCAT), encoded by the gene fabD (Xoo0880) from Xoo, was determined at 2.3 Å resolution in complex with N-cyclohexyl-2-aminoethansulfonic acid. Malonyl CoA-acyl carrier protein transacylase transfers malonyl group from malonyl CoA to acyl carrier protein (ACP). The transacylation step is essential in fatty acid synthesis. Based on the rationale, XoMCAT has been considered as a target for antibacterial agents against BB. Protein-protein interaction between XoMCAT and ACP was also extensively investigated using computational docking, and the proposed model revealed that ACP bound to the cleft between two XoMCAT subdomains.
Xo2276 is a putative transcription activator-like effector (TALE) in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). Xo2276 was expressed with a TAP-tag at the C-terminus in Xoo cells to enable quantitative analysis of protein expression and secretion. Nearly all TAP-tagged Xo2276 existed in an insoluble form; addition of rice leaf extracts from a Xoo-susceptible rice cultivar, Milyang23, significantly stimulated secretion of TAP-tagged Xo2276 into the medium. In a T3SS-defective Xoo mutant strain, secretion of TAP-tagged Xo2276 was blocked. Xo2276 is a Xoo ortholog of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv) AvrBs3 and contains a conserved DNA-binding domain (DBD), which includes 19.5 tandem repeats of 34 amino acids. Xo2276- DBD was expressed in E. coli and purified. Direct in vitro recognition of Xo2276-DBD on a putative target DNA sequence was confirmed using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay. This is the first study measuring the homologous expression and secretion of Xo2276 in vitro using rice leaf extract and its direct in vitro binding to the specific target DNA sequence.
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