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The crystal structure of the Haemophilus influenzae protein HI1480 was determined at 2.1-A resolution. The amino acid sequence of HI1480 is unique, having no homology with other known protein sequences. The protein adopts a novel alpha+beta fold, and associates into a dimer of tightly associated dimers. The tight dimers are formed by intermolecular interactions that are mediated by an antiparallel beta-barrel involving both monomers. Helical regions of two dimers mediate the tetramer formation. The helical region contains a four-helix bundle that has been seen only in the anticodon binding domains of class I tRNA synthetases. A cluster of four residues, Tyr18, Arg134, Glu26, and Lys12 is located in a depression formed at the four-helix bundle/ beta-barrel interface. The arrangement is suggestive of an active center, possibly a catalytic site. The HI1480 gene is located within the Mu-like prophage region of H. influenzae, has no homology to bacteriophage genes, and is flanked by transposases. Hence, this is an example of horizontal transfer from an unknown organism. Gel mobility shift assays revealed that HI1480 binds DNA and RNA molecules. Double-stranded DNA is favored over single-stranded DNA, and longer DNA molecules are bound better than shorter ones., (Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

The Escherichia coli open reading frame YbdK encodes a member of a large bacterial protein family of unknown biological function. The sequences within this family are remotely related to the sequence of gamma-glutamate-cysteine ligase (gamma-GCS), an enzyme in the glutathione biosynthetic pathway. A gene encoding gamma-GCS in E. coli is already known. The 2.15 A resolution crystal structure of YbdK reveals an overall fold similar to that of glutamine synthetase (GS), a nitrogen metabolism enzyme that ligates glutamate and ammonia to yield glutamine. GS and gamma-GCS perform related chemical reactions and require ATP and Mg2+ for their activity. The Mg2+-dependent binding of ATP to YbdK was confirmed by fluorescence spectroscopy employing 2'(or 3')-O-(trinitrophenyl)adenosine 5'-triphosphate, and yielding a dissociation constant of 3 +/- 0.5 microM. The structure of YbdK contains a crevice that corresponds to the binding sites of ATP, Mg2+ and glutamate in GS. Many of the GS residues that coordinate the metal ions and interact with glutamic acid and the phosphoryl and ribosyl groups of ATP are also present in YbdK. GS amino acids that have been associated with ammonia binding have no obvious counterparts in YbdK, consistent with a substrate specificity that is different from that of GS. Ligase activity between glutamic acid and each of the twenty amino acid residues was tested on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) by following the hydrolysis of ATP to ADP. Catalysis was observed only with cysteine. A pyruvate kinase/lactic acid dehydrogenase coupled assay was used to rule out GS activity and to determine that YbdK exhibits gamma-GCS activity. The catalytic rate was found to be approximately 500-fold slower than that reported for authentic gamma-GCS., (Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

The crystal structures of YibK from Haemophilus influenzae (HI0766) have been determined with and without bound cofactor product S-adenosylhomocysteine (AdoHcy) at 1.7 and 2.0 A resolution, respectively. The molecule adopts an alpha/beta fold, with a topology that differs from that of the classical methyltransferases. Most notably, HI0766 contains a striking knot that forms the binding crevice for the cofactor. The knot formation is correlated with an alternative arrangement of the secondary structure units compared with the classical methyltransferases. Two loop regions undergo conformational changes upon AdoHcy binding. In contrast to the extended conformation of the cofactor seen in the classical methyltransferase structures, AdoHcy binds to HI0766 in a bent conformation. HI0766 and its close sequence relatives are all shorter versions of the more remotely related rRNA/tRNA methyltransferases of the spoU sequence family. We propose that the spoU sequence family contains the same core domain for cofactor binding as HI0766 but has an additional domain for substrate binding. The substrate-binding domain is absent in HI0766 sequence family and may be provided by another Haemophilus influenzae partner protein, which is yet to be identified., (Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

The crystal structure of HI0074 from Haemophilus influenzae, a protein of unknown function, has been determined at a resolution of 2.4 A. The molecules form an up-down, four-helix bundle, and associate into homodimers. The fold is most closely related to the substrate-binding domain of KNTase, yet the amino acid sequences of the two proteins exhibit no significant homology. Sequence analyses of completely and incompletely sequenced genomes reveal that the two adjacent genes, HI0074 and HI0073, and their close relatives comprise a new family of nucleotidyltransferases, with 15 members at the time of writing. The analyses also indicate that this is one of eight families of a large nucleotidyltransferase superfamily, whose members were identified based on the proximity of the nucleotide- and substrate-binding domains on the respective genomes. Both HI0073 and HI0074 were annotated "hypothetical" in the original genome sequencing publication. HI0073 was cloned, expressed, and purified, and was shown to form a complex with HI0074 by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under nondenaturing conditions, analytic size exclusion chromatography, and dynamic light scattering. Double- and single-stranded DNA binding assays showed no evidence of DNA binding to HI0074 or to HI0073/HI0074 complex despite the suggestive shape of the putative binding cleft formed by the HI0074 dimer., (Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)