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In Gram-negative bacteria, the cell wall is surrounded by an outer membrane, the outer leaflet of which is comprised of charged lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules. Lipid A, a component of LPS, anchors this molecule to the outer membrane. UDP-3- O -( R -3-hydroxymyristoyl)- N -acetylglucosamine deacetylase (LpxC) is a zinc-dependent metalloamidase that catalyzes the first committed step of biosynthesis of Lipid A, making it a promising target for antibiotic therapy. Formation of soluble aggregates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LpxC protein when overexpressed in Escherichia coli has limited the availability of high quality protein for X-ray crystallography. Expression of LpxC in the presence of an inhibitor dramatically increased protein solubility, shortened crystallization time and led to a high-resolution crystal structure of LpxC bound to the inhibitor. However, this approach required large amounts of compound, restricting its use. To reduce the amount of compound needed, an overexpression strain of E. coli was created lacking acrB , a critical component of the major efflux pump. By overexpressing LpxC in the efflux deficient strain in the presence of LpxC inhibitors, several structures of P. aeruginosa LpxC in complex with different compounds were solved to accelerate structure-based drug design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The membrane-anchored FtsH protease is essential in Escherichia coli as it adjusts the cellular amount of LpxC, the key enzyme in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) biosynthesis. Both accumulation and depletion of LpxC are toxic to E. coli. By continuous proteolysis of LpxC, FtsH maintains a low concentration of LpxC and, hence, the proper equilibrium between LPS and phospholipids. The C terminus of LpxC is required for turnover. By adding this tail to glutathione-S-transferase (GST) we show that it is necessary but not sufficient for FtsH-mediated degradation. A detailed mutational analysis revealed six non-polar residues in the C terminus of LpxC that are critical for degradation. Alteration of the C-terminal AVLA motif towards the SsrA-like sequence ALAA directed LpxC to other cellular proteases reinforcing the importance of the C-terminal tail for targeting to FtsH. Short C-terminal truncations stabilized LpxC. Most mutations in the C terminus of LpxC left its enzymatic activity intact as was shown by growth assays, microscopy and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate (KDO) determination. The critical length of the turnover element was defined by internal deletions. A C-terminal tail of about 20 amino acids length is required for proteolysis of LpxC by FtsH. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A class of metalloenzymes, known as zinc hydrolases, catalyze a variety of hydrolytic reactions on many different substrates in important metabolic pathways. Deacetylation is an example of one of the types of reactions catalyzed by zinc hydrolases. The biological importance of the reactions catalyzed by many zinc hydrolases, including zinc-dependent deacetylases, has made these enzymes pharmaceutical targets for the development of inhibitors and, therefore, a clear understanding of the mechanisms of these enzymes is warranted. This review focuses on the current understanding of the mechanisms catalyzed by various zinc-dependent deacetylases and, in particular, the reaction mechanism catalyzed by the enzyme UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxymyristoyl)-N-acetylglucosamine deacetylase, also known as LpxC. In general, the zinc–water functions as the nucleophile with zinc stabilization of the tetrahedral intermediate and general-acid–base catalysis (GABC) provided by enzyme residue(s). Two types of GABC mechanisms have been identified, one that uses a single bifunctional GABC and another that uses a GABC pair. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]