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The four-component polypeptides of the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complex from the thermophilic archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum assemble to give an active multienzyme complex possessing activity with the branched-chain 2-oxoacids derived from leucine, isoleucine and valine, and with pyruvate. The dihydrolipoyl acyl-transferase (E2) core of the complex is composed of identical trimer-forming units that assemble into a novel 42-mer structure comprising octahedral and icosahedral geometric aspects. From our previously determined structure of this catalytic core, the inter-trimer interactions involve a tyrosine residue near the C-terminus secured in a hydrophobic pocket of an adjacent trimer like a ball-and-socket joint. In the present study, we have deleted the five C-terminal amino acids of the E2 polypeptide (IIYEI) and shown by equilibrium centrifugation that it now only assembles into a trimeric enzyme. This was confirmed by SAXS analysis, although this technique showed the presence of approximately 20% hexamers. The crystal structure of the trimeric truncated E2 core has been determined and shown to be virtually identical with the ones observed in the 42-mer, demonstrating that removal of the C-terminal anchor does not significantly affect the individual monomer or trimer structures. The truncated E2 is still able to bind both 2-oxoacid decarboxylase (E1) and dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3) components to give an active complex with catalytic activity similar to the native multienzyme complex. This is the first report of an active minicomplex for this enzyme, and raises the question of why all 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complexes assemble into such large structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aerobic archaea possess four closely spaced, adjacent genes that encode proteins showing significant sequence identities with the bacterial and eukaryal components comprising the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase multi-enzyme complexes. However, catalytic activities of such complexes have never been detected in the archaea, although 2-oxoacid ferredoxin oxidoreductases that catalyze the equivalent metabolic reactions are present. In the current paper, we clone and express the four genes from the thermophilic archaeon, Thermoplasma acidophilum, and demonstrate that the recombinant enzymes are active and assemble into a large ( Mr = 5 × 106) multi-enzyme complex. The post-translational incorporation of lipoic acid into the transacylase component of the complex is demonstrated, as is the assembly of this enzyme into a 24-mer core to which the other components bind to give the functional multi-enzyme system. This assembled complex is shown to catalyze the oxidative decarboxylation of branched-chain 2-oxoacids and pyruvate to their corresponding acyl-CoA derivatives. Our data constitute the first proof that the archaea possess a functional 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those aerobic archaea whose genomes have been sequenced possess a single 4-gene operon that, by sequence comparisons with Bacteria and Eukarya, appears to encode the three component enzymes of a 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase multienzyme complex. However, no catalytic activity of any such complex has ever been detected in the Archaea. In the current paper, we have cloned and expressed the first two genes of this operon from the thermophilic archaeon, Thermoplasma acidophilum. We demonstrate that the protein products form an α2β2 hetero-tetramer possessing the decarboxylase catalytic activity characteristic of the first component enzyme of a branched-chain 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase multienzyme complex. This represents the first report of the catalytic function of these putative archaeal multienzyme complexes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]