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ABSTRACT Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) plays a central role in carbon dioxide fixation on our planet. Rubisco from a hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis ( Tk-Rubisco) shows approximately twenty times the activity of spinach Rubisco at high temperature, but only one-eighth the activity at ambient temperature. We have tried to improve the activity of Tk-Rubisco at ambient temperature, and have successfully constructed several mutants which showed higher activities than the wild-type enzyme both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we designed new Tk-Rubisco mutants based on its three-dimensional structure and a sequence comparison of thermophilic and mesophilic plant Rubiscos. Four mutations were introduced to generate new mutants based on this strategy, and one of the four mutants, T289D, showed significantly improved activity compared to that of the wild-type enzyme. The crystal structure of the Tk-Rubisco T289D mutant suggested that the increase in activity was due to mechanisms distinct from those involved in the improvement in activity of Tk-Rubisco SP8, a mutant protein previously reported to show the highest activity at ambient temperature. Combining the mutations of T289D and SP8 successfully generated a mutant protein (SP8-T289D) with the highest activity to date both in vitro and in vivo. The improvement was particularly pronounced for the in vivo activity of SP8-T289D when introduced into the mesophilic, photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris, which resulted in a strain with nearly two-fold higher specific growth rates compared to that of a strain harboring the wild-type enzyme at ambient temperature. Proteins 2016; 84:1339-1346. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coenzyme A (CoA) plays pivotal roles in a variety of metabolic pathways in all organisms. The biosynthetic pathway of CoA is strictly regulated by feedback inhibition. In the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis, ketopantoate reductase (KPR), which catalyzes the NAD(P)H-dependent reduction of 2-oxopantoate, is a target of feedback inhibition by CoA. The crystal structure of KPR from T. kodakarensis (Tk-KPR) complexed with CoA and 2-oxopantoate has previously been reported. The structure provided an explanation for the competitive inhibition mechanism. Here, further biochemical analyses of Tk-KPR and the crystal structure of Tk-KPR in complex with NADP+ are reported. A mutational analysis implies that the residues in the binding pocket cooperatively contribute to the recognition of CoA. The structure reveals the same dimer architecture as the Tk-KPR-CoA-2-oxopantoate complex. Moreover, the positions of the residues involved in the dimer interaction are not changed by the binding of CoA and 2-oxopantoate, suggesting individual conformational changes of Tk-KPR monomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coenzyme A (CoA) plays pivotal roles in a variety of metabolic pathways in all organisms. The biosynthetic pathway of CoA is strictly regulated by feedback inhibition. In the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis, ketopantoate reductase (KPR), which catalyzes the NAD(P)H-dependent reduction of 2-oxopantoate, is a target of feedback inhibition by CoA. The crystal structure of KPR from T. kodakarensis (Tk-KPR) complexed with CoA and 2-oxopantoate has previously been reported. The structure provided an explanation for the competitive inhibition mechanism. Here, further biochemical analyses of Tk-KPR and the crystal structure of Tk-KPR in complex with NADP+ are reported. A mutational analysis implies that the residues in the binding pocket cooperatively contribute to the recognition of CoA. The structure reveals the same dimer architecture as the Tk-KPR-CoA-2-oxopantoate complex. Moreover, the positions of the residues involved in the dimer interaction are not changed by the binding of CoA and 2-oxopantoate, suggesting individual conformational changes of Tk-KPR monomers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: AMP phosphorylase (AMPpase) catalyzes the initial reaction in a novel AMP metabolic pathway recently found in archaea, converting AMP and phosphate into adenine and ribose 1,5-bisphosphate. Gel-filtration chromatography revealed that AMPpase from Thermococcus kodakarensis (Tk-AMPpase) forms an exceptionally large macromolecular structure (>40-mers) in solution. To investigate its unique multimerization feature, we determined the first crystal structures of Tk-AMPpase, in the apo-form and in complex with substrates. Structures of two truncated forms of Tk-AMPpase (Tk-AMPpaseΔN84 and Tk-AMPpaseΔC10) clarified that this multimerization is achieved by two dimer interfaces within a single molecule: one by the central domain and the other by the C-terminal domain, which consists of an unexpected domain-swapping interaction. The N-terminal domain, characteristic of archaeal enzymes, is essential for enzymatic activity, participating in multimerization as well as domain closure of the active site upon substrate binding. Moreover, biochemical analysis demonstrated that the macromolecular assembly of Tk-AMPpase contributes to its high thermostability, essential for an enzyme from a hyperthermophile. Our findings unveil a unique archaeal nucleotide phosphorylase that is distinct in both function and structure from previously known members of the nucleoside phosphorylase II family. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]