We solved the crystal structure of a secreted protein, EXLX1, encoded by the yoaJ gene of Bacillus subtilis. Its structure is remarkably similar to that of plant ␤-expansins (group 1 grass pollen allergens), consisting of 2 tightly packed domains (D1, D2) with a potential polysaccharide-binding surface spanning the 2 domains. Domain D1 has a double-␤-barrel fold with partial conservation of the catalytic site found in family 45 glycosyl hydrolases and in the MltA family of lytic transglycosylases. Domain D2 has an Ig-like fold similar to group 2/3 grass pollen allergens, with structural features similar to a type A carbohydratebinding domain. EXLX1 bound to plant cell walls, cellulose, and peptidoglycan, but it lacked lytic activity against a variety of plant cell wall polysaccharides and peptidoglycan. EXLX1 promoted plant cell wall extension similar to, but 10 times weaker than, plant ␤-expansins, which synergistically enhanced EXLX1 activity. Deletion of the gene encoding EXLX1 did not affect growth or peptidoglycan composition of B. subtilis in liquid medium, but slowed lysis upon osmotic shock and greatly reduced the ability of the bacterium to colonize maize roots. The presence of EXLX1 homologs in a small but diverse set of plant pathogens further supports a role in plant-bacterial interactions. Because plant expansins have proved difficult to express in active form in heterologous systems, the discovery of a bacterial homolog opens the door for detailed structural studies of expansin function.family 45 endoglucanase ͉ lytic transglycosylase ͉ peptidoglycan ͉ plant cell wall ͉ plant-microbe interactions B acterial and plant cell walls have similar functions but distinctive structures. Bacterial peptidoglycan forms a network of linear polysaccharide strands of alternating Nacetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetylmuramic acid (MurNAc) residues cross-linked by short polypeptides. As a giant bag-shaped sacculus, peptidoglycan expands via the action of endopeptidases, amidases, and lytic transglycosylases that cleave covalent bonds and allow insertion of new subunits (1). In contrast, the growing plant cell wall is formed from a scaffold of cellulose microfibrils tethered together by branched glycans such as xyloglucan or arabinoxylan that bind noncovalently to cellulose surfaces. The cellulose-hemicellulose network enlarges via polymer slippage or ''creep,'' mechanically powered by turgorgenerated forces in the cell wall and catalyzed by expansins and other wall-loosening agents (2).Expansins are known principally from plants where they function in cell enlargement and other developmental events requiring cell wall loosening (3). Canonical expansins are small proteins (Ϸ26 kDa, Ϸ225 aa) consisting of 2 compact domains: D1 has a fold similar to that of family 45 glycosyl hydrolases (GH45), and D2 has a ␤-sandwich fold. Expansins facilitate cell wall creep without breakdown of wall polymers (3-5). Plant expansins consist of 2 major families: ␣-expansins, which preferentially loosen the cell walls of dicots compa...

SummaryBinary fission is the ultimate step of the prokaryotic cell cycle. In Gram-negative bacteria like Escherichia coli, this step implies the invagination of three biological layers (cytoplasmic membrane, peptidoglycan and outer membrane), biosynthesis of the new poles and eventually, daughter cells separation. The latter requires the coordinated action of the Nacetylmuramyl-L-alanine amidases AmiA/B/C and their LytM activators EnvC and NlpD to cleave the septal peptidoglycan. We present here the 2.5 Å crystal structure of AmiC which includes the first report of an AMIN domain structure, a β-sandwich of two symmetrical four-stranded β-sheets exposing highly conserved motifs on the two outer faces. We show that this N-terminal domain, involved in the localization of AmiC at the division site, is a new peptidoglycan-binding domain. The C-terminal catalytic domain shows an auto-inhibitory alpha helix obstructing the active site. AmiC lacking this helix exhibits by itself an activity comparable to that of the wild type AmiC activated by NlpD. We also demonstrate the interaction between AmiC and NlpD by microscale thermophoresis and confirm the importance of the active site blocking alpha helix in the regulation of the amidase activity.

Abstract. Penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) are membrane proteins involved in the final stages of peptidoglycan synthesis and represent the targets of b-lactam antibiotics. Enterococci are naturally resistant to these antibiotics because they produce a PBP, named PBP5fm in Enterococcus faecium, with low-level affinity for b-lactams. We report here the crystal structure of the acyl-enzyme complex of PBP5fm with benzylpenicillin at a resolution of 2.4 Å. A characteristic of the active site, which distinguishes PBP5fm from other PBPs of known structure, is the topology of the loop 451 -465 defining the left CMLS, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 59 (2002) 1223 -1232 1420-682X/02/071223-10 $ 1.50 + 0.20/0 © Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2002 CMLS Cellular and Molecular Life Sciencesedge of the cavity. The residue Arg464, involved in a salt bridge with the residue Asp481, confers a greater rigidity to the PBP5fm active site. In addition, the presence of the Val465 residue, which points into the active site, reducing its accessibility, could account for the low affinity of PBP5fm for b-lactam. This loop is common to PBPs of low affinity, such as PBP2a from Staphylococcus aureus and PBP3 from Bacillus subtilis. Moreover, the insertion of a serine after residue 466 in the most resistant strains underlines even more the determining role of this loop in the recognition of the substrates.

Actinomadura sp. R39 produces an exocellular DDpeptidase/penicillin-binding protein (PBP) whose primary structure is similar to that of Escherichia coli PBP4. It is characterized by a high ␤-lactam-binding activity (second order rate constant for the acylation of the active site serine by benzylpenicillin: k 2 /K ‫؍‬ 300 mM ؊1 s ؊1 ). The crystal structure of the DD-peptidase from Actinomadura R39 was solved at a resolution of 1.8 Å by single anomalous dispersion at the cobalt resonance wavelength. The structure is composed of three domains: a penicillin-binding domain similar to the penicillin-binding domain of E. coli PBP5 and two domains of unknown function. In most multimodular PBPs, additional domains are generally located at the C or N termini of the penicillin-binding domain. In R39, the other two domains are inserted in the penicillin-binding domain, between the SXXK and SXN motifs, in a manner similar to "Matryoshka dolls." One of these domains is composed of a five-stranded ␤-sheet with two helices on one side, and the other domain is a double threestranded ␤-sheet inserted in the previous domain. Additionally, the 2.4-Å structure of the acyl-enzyme complex of R39 with nitrocefin reveals the absence of active site conformational change upon binding the ␤-lactams.

The genome of Bacillus subtilis encodes 16 penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) involved in the synthesis and/or remodelling of the peptidoglycan during the complex life cycle of this sporulating Gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium. PBP4a (encoded by the dacC gene) is a low-molecular mass PBP clearly exhibiting in vitro DD-carboxypeptidase activity. We have solved the crystal structure of this protein alone and in complex with a peptide (D-α-aminopymelyl-ε-D-alanyl-D-alanine) that mimics the C-terminal end of the Bacillus peptidoglycan stem peptide. PBP4a is composed of three domains: the penicillin-binding domain with a fold similar to the class A β-lactamase structure and two domains inserted between the conserved motifs 1 and 2 characteristic of the penicillin-recognizing enzymes. The soaking of PBP4a in a solution of D-α-aminopymelyl-ε-D-alanyl-D-alanine resulted in an adduct between PBP4a and a D-α-aminopimelyl-ε-D-alanine dipeptide and an unbound D-alanine, i.e. the products of acylation of PBP4a by D-α-aminopymelyl-ε-D-alanyl-D-alanine with the release of a D-alanine. The adduct also reveals a binding pocket specific to the diaminopimelic acid, the third residue of the peptidoglycan stem pentapeptide of B. subtilis. This pocket is specific for this class of PBPs.

position to interact with Ser298 and Lys410, and a twisting of the side-chain amide such that its carbonyl oxygen is able to hydrogen 23 bond to the oxyanion hole NH of Thr413. Biphasic kinetics were observed in three of the five cases, and details of the reaction 24 between R39 and 2,6-dimethoxybenzamidomethylboronic acid were studied. Observation of biphasic kinetics was not, however, 25 thought to be correlated to formation of tricovalent complexes, assuming that the latter do form in solution. On the basis of the 26 crystallographic and kinetic results, a reaction scheme for this unexpected inhibition by boronic acids is proposed.

In Escherichia coli, penicillin-binding protein 3 (PBP3), also known as FtsI, is a central component of the divisome, catalyzing cross-linking of the cell wall peptidoglycan during cell division. PBP3 is mainly periplasmic, with a 23 residues cytoplasmic tail and a single transmembrane helix. We have solved the crystal structure of a soluble form of PBP3 (PBP357–577) at 2.5 Å revealing the two modules of high molecular weight class B PBPs, a carboxy terminal module exhibiting transpeptidase activity and an amino terminal module of unknown function. To gain additional insight, the PBP3 Val88-Ser165 subdomain (PBP388–165), for which the electron density is poorly defined in the PBP3 crystal, was produced and its structure solved by SAD phasing at 2.1 Å. The structure shows a three dimensional domain swapping with a β-strand of one molecule inserted between two strands of the paired molecule, suggesting a possible role in PBP357–577 dimerization.

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