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The crystal structure of recombinant human triosephosphate isomerase (hTIM) has been determined complexed with the transition-state analogue 2-phosphoglycolate at a resolution of 2.8 Angstrom. After refinement, the R-factor is 16.7% with good geometry. The asymmetric unit contains 1 complete dimer of 53,000 Da, with only 1 of the subunits binding the inhibitor. The so-called flexible loop, comprising residues 168-174, is in its ''closed'' conformation in the subunit that binds the inhibitor, and in the ''open'' conformation in the other subunit. The tips of the loop in these 2 conformations differ up to 7 Angstrom in position. The RMS difference between hTIM and the enzyme of Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of sleeping sickness, is 1.12 degrees for 487 C-alpha positions with 53% sequence identity. Significant sequence differences between the human and parasite enzymes occur at about 13 Angstrom from the phosphate binding site. The chicken and human enzymes have an RMS difference of 0.69 Angstrom for 484 equivalent residues and about 90% sequence identity. Complementary mutations ensure a great similarity in the packing of side chains in the core of the beta-barrels of these 2 enzymes. Three point mutations in hTIM have been correlated with severe genetic disorders ranging from hemolytic disorder to neuromuscular impairment. Knowledge of the structure of the human enzyme provides insight into the probable effect of 2 of these mutations, Glu 104 to Asp and Phe 240 to Ile, on the enzyme. The third mutation reported to be responsible for a genetic disorder, Gly 122 to Arg, is however difficult to explain. This residue is far away from both catalytic centers in the dimer, as well as from the dimer interface, and seems unlikely to affect stability or activity. Inspection of the 3-dimensional structure of trypanosomal triosephosphate isomerase, which has a methionine at position 122, only increased the mystery of the effects of the Gly to Arg mutation in the human enzyme.

The structure of triosephosphate isomerase from Trypanosoma brucei complexed with the competitive inhibitor N-hydroxy-4-phosphono-butanamide was determined by X-ray crystallography to a resolution of 2.84 angstrom. Full occupancy binding of the inhibitor is observed only at one of the active sites of the homodimeric enzyme where the flexible loop is locked in a completely open conformation by crystal contacts. There is evidence that the inhibitor also binds to the second active site of the enzyme, but with low occupancy. The hydroxamyl group of the inhibitor forms hydrogen bonds to the side chains of Asn 11, Lys 13, and His 95, whereas each of its three methylene units is involved in nonpolar interactions with the side chain of the flexible loop residue Ile 172. Interactions between the hydroxamyl and the catalytic base Glu 167 are absent. The binding of this phosphonate inhibitor exhibits three unusual features: (1) the flexible loop is open, in contrast with the binding mode observed in eight other complexes between triosephosphate isomerase and various phosphate and phosphonate compounds; (2) compared with these complexes the present structure reveals a 1.5-angstrom shift of the anion-binding site; (3) this is the first phosphonate inhibitor that is not forced by the enzyme into an eclipsed conformation about the P-CH2 bond. The results are discussed with respect to an ongoing drug design project aimed at the selective inhibition of glycolytic enzymes of T brucei.

The three-dimensional structure of one of the three lipoamide dehydrogenases occurring in Pseudomonas putida, LipDH Val, has been determined at 2.45 A resolution. The orthorhombic crystals, grown in the presence of 20 mM NAD+, contain 458 residues per asymmetric unit. A crystallographic 2-fold axis generates the dimer which is observed in solution. The final crystallographic R-factor is 21.8% for 18,216 unique reflections and a model consisting of 3,452 protein atoms, 189 solvent molecules and 44 NAD+ atoms, while the overall B-factor is unusually high: 47 angstrom2. The structure of LipDH Val reveals the conformation of the C-terminal residues which fold "back" into the putative lipoamide binding region. The C-terminus has been proven to be important for activity by site-directed mutagenesis. However, the distance of the C-terminus to the catalytically essential residues is surprisingly large, over 6 angstrom, and the precise role of the C-terminus still needs to be elucidated. In this crystal form LipDH Val contains one NAD+ molecule per subunit. Its adenine-ribose moiety occupies an analogous position as in the structure of glutathione reductase. However, the nicotinamide-ribose moiety is far removed from its expected position near the isoalloxazine ring and points into solution. Comparison of LipDH Val with Azotobacter vinelandii lipoamide dehydrogenase yields an rms difference of 1.6 angstrom for 440 well defined C(alpha) atoms per subunit. Comparing LipDH Val with glutathione reductase shows large differences in the tertiary and quaternary structure of the two enzymes. For instance, the two subunits in the dimer are shifted by 6 angstrom with respect to each other. So, LipDH Val confirms the surprising differences in molecular architecture between glutathione reductase and lipoamide dehydrogenase, which were already observed in Azotobacter vinelandii LipDH. This is the more remarkable since the active sites are located at the subunit interface and are virtually identical in all three enzymes.

In the continuation of a project aimed at the rational design of drugs against diseases caused by trypanosomes, the crystal structure of trypanosomal triosephosphate isomerase in complex with the active site inhibitor 2-phosphoglycerate has been determined. Two alternative modeling protocols have been attempted to predict the mode of binding of this ligand. In the first protocol, certain key interactions were restrained in the modeling procedure. In the second protocol, a full search of ligand conformational space was performed. In both cases the protein scaffold was kept static. Both protocols produced models which were reasonably close to the observed structure (rms difference

Triosephosphate isomerase has an important loop near the active site which can exist in a "closed" and in an "open" conformation. Here we describe the structural properties of this "flexible" loop observed in two different structures of trypanosomal triosephosphate isomerase. Trypanosomal triosephosphate isomerase, crystallized in the presence of 2.4 M ammonium sulfate, packs as an asymmetric dimer of 54,000 Da in the crystallographic asymmetric unit. Due to different crystal contacts, peptide 167-180 (the flexible loop of subunit-1) is an open conformation, whereas in subunit-2, this peptide (residues 467-480) is in a closed conformation. In the closed conformation, a hydrogen bond exists between the tip of the loop and a well-defined sulfate ion which is bound to the active site of subunit-2. Such an active site sulfate is not present in subunit-1 due to crystal contacts. When the native (2.4 M ammonium sulfate) crystals are transferred to a sulfate-free mother liquor, the flexible loop of subunit-2 adopts the open conformation. From a closed starting model, this open conformation was discovered through molecular dynamics refinement without manual intervention, despite involving C-alpha shifts of up to 7 angstrom. The tip of the loop, residues 472, 473, 474, and 475, moves as a rigid body. Our analysis shows that in this crystal form the flexible loop of subunit-2 faces a solvent channel. Therefore the open and the closed conformations of this flexible loop are virtually unaffected by crystal contacts. The actual observed conformation depends only on the absence or presence of a suitable ligand in the active site.

By site-directed mutagenesis, Cys-116 was converted to Ser-116 in p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase (EC 1.14.13.2) from Pseudomonas fluorescens. In contrast to wild-type enzyme, the C116S mutant is no longer susceptible to oxidation by hydrogen peroxide and shows no reacitivity towards 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate). Crystals of the C116S mutant are isomorphous with the crystal form of wild-type enzyme. A difference electron density confirms the mutation made.