Parathyroid hormone (PTH)2 plays a key role in calcium and phosphate homeostasis and has potent effects on the bone-remodeling process. PTH interacts with a Class 2 G protein-coupled receptor that is prominently expressed in bone osteoblasts and in cells located in the proximal and distal portions of the renal convoluted tubules. The PTH receptor (PTHR) is also expressed in the primordia of developing long bones, heart, mammary glands, and other tissues, where it mediates the morphogenic actions of PTH-related protein (PTHrP) (1).For both PTH and PTHrP, the bioactive portions of the molecule reside within the first 34 amino acids of the processed polypeptides. Within region 1-34, the principal determinants of receptor-binding affinity and receptor-signaling activity map to the C-and N-terminal domains, respectively (2, 3). Solutionphase NMR studies of PTH-(1-34)-based ligands typically show a well formed ␣-helix in the region of the C-terminal binding domain (4,5 , and Leu 28 , which form the hydrophobic face of this ␣-helix, are particularly important for efficient interaction with the receptor (9 -11).The mechanism by which PTH interacts with its receptor has been investigated via the approaches of ligand analog design, receptor mutagenesis, and photochemical cross-linking (reviewed in Ref. 12). The view that has emerged from these studies is that the overall mechanism consists of two principal and, to some extent, autonomous components: 1) an interaction between the C-terminal helical domain of the ligand and the N-terminal extracellular domain (N domain; spanning Tyr 23 to approximately Ile 190 ) of the mature receptor and 2) an interaction between the N-terminal portion of the ligand and the juxtamembrane domain (J domain) of the receptor containing the extracellular loops and seven transmembrane helices. The N domain component of the interaction is thought to provide the major portion of binding energy and stability to the complex, and the J domain component is thought to mediate the conformational changes involved in receptor activation (13). It now seems likely that most, if not all, of the 15 or so other Class 2 G protein-coupled receptors utilize a similar two-site binding mechanism for interacting with their cognate peptide ligands (14 -16).Consistent with such a two-site binding mechanism for PTH and the PTHR, we have shown that N-terminal PTH peptide fragments, such as PTH-(1-14), bind only extremely weakly to the receptor, but can nevertheless induce at least measurable increases in cAMP levels in PTHR-expressing cells (17). The potency of such N-terminal PTH fragments can be significantly enhanced by introducing substitutions that improve the affinity

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Flagella of the bacteria Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni are important virulence determinants, whose proper assembly and function are dependent upon glycosylation at multiple positions by sialic acid-like sugars, such as 5,7-diacetamido-3,5,7,9-tetradeoxy-L-glycero-L-manno-nonulosonic acid (pseudaminic acid (Pse)). The fourth enzymatic step in the pseudaminic acid pathway, the hydrolysis of UDP-2,4-diacetamido-2,4,6-trideoxy-␤-L-altropyranose to generate 2,4-diacetamido-2,4,6-trideoxy-L-altropyranose, is performed by the nucleotide sugar hydrolase PseG. To better understand the molecular basis of the PseG catalytic reaction, we have determined the crystal structures of C. jejuni PseG in apo-form and as a complex with its UDP product at 1.8 and 1.85 Å resolution, respectively. In addition, molecular modeling was utilized to provide insight into the structure of the PseG-substrate complex. This modeling identifies a His 17 -coordinated water molecule as the putative nucleophile and suggests the UDP-sugar substrate adopts a twist-boat conformation upon binding to PseG, enhancing the exposure of the anomeric bond cleaved and favoring inversion at C-1. Furthermore, based on these structures a series of amino acid substitution derivatives were constructed, altering residues within the active site, and each was kinetically characterized to examine its contribution to PseG catalysis. In conjunction with structural comparisons, the almost complete inactivation of the PseG H17F and H17L derivatives suggests that His 17 functions as an active site base, thereby activating the nucleophilic water molecule for attack of the anomeric C-O bond of the UDP-sugar. As the PseG structure reveals similarity to those of glycosyltransferase family-28 members, in particular that of Escherichia coli MurG, these findings may also be of relevance for the mechanistic understanding of this important enzyme family.

We have used backbone N-methylations of parathyroid hormone (PTH) to study the role of these NH groups in the C-terminal amphiphilic ␣-helix of PTH (1-31) in binding to and activating the PTH receptor (P1R). The circular dichroism (CD) spectra indicated the structure of the C-terminal ␣-helix was locally disrupted around the methylation site. The CD spectra differences were explained by assuming a helix disruption for four residues on each side of the site of methylation and taking into account the known dependence of CD on the length of an ␣-helix. Binding and adenylyl cyclase-stimulating data showed that outside of the ␣-helix, methylation of residues Asp 30 and Val 31 had little effect on structure or activities. Within the ␣-helix, disruption of the structure was associated with increased loss of activity, but for specific residues Val 21 , Leu 24 , Arg 25 , and Leu 28 there was a dramatic loss of activities, thus suggesting a more direct role of these NH groups in correct P1R binding and activation. Activity analyses with P1R-delNT, a mutant with its long N-terminal region deleted, gave a different pattern of effects and implicated Ser 17 , Trp 23 , and Lys 26 as important for its PTH activation. These two groups of residues are located on opposite sides of the helix. These results are compatible with the C-terminal helix binding to both the N-terminal segment and also to the looped-out extracellular region. These data thus provide direct evidence for important roles of the C-terminal domain of PTH in determining high affinity binding and activation of the P1R receptor.

We have studied the effects of C-terminal group modifications (amide, methylamide, dimethylamide, aldehyde, and alcohol) on the conformation, adenylyl cyclase stimulation (AC), or binding of parathyroid hormone (hPTH) analogues, hPTH(1-28)NH(2) and hPTH(1-31)NH(2). hPTH(1-31)NH(2) has a C-terminal alpha-helix bounded by residues 17-29 [Chen, Z., et al. (2000) Biochemistry 39, 12766]. In both cases, relative to the natural analogue with a carboxyl C-terminus, the amide and methylamide had increased helix content whereas the dimethylamide forms had CD spectra more similar to the carboxyl one. Conformational effects were more pronounced with hPTH(1-28) than with hPTH(1-31), with increases in helix content of approximately 30% in contrast to 10%. Stabilization of the C-terminal helix of residues 1-28 seemed to correlate with an ability of the C-terminal function to H-bond appropriately. None of the analogues affected the AC stimulating activity significantly, but there was an up to 15-fold decrease in the level of apparent binding of the carboxyl hPTH(1-28) analogue compared to that of the methylamide and a 4-fold decrease in the level of binding of the aldehyde or dimethylamide. There was no significant change in binding activities for the 1-31 analogues. These observations are consistent with previous studies that imply the importance of a region of the hormone's C-terminal alpha-helix for tight binding to the receptor. They also show that modulation of helix stability does have an effect on the binding of the hormone, but only when the C-terminus is at the putative end of the helix. The similarity of AC stimulation even when binding changed 10-fold can be explained by assuming greater efficacy of the weaker binding PTH-receptor complexes in stimulating AC.