Crystal Structure of ll-Diaminopimelate Aminotransferase from Arabidopsis thaliana: A Recently Discovered Enzyme in the Biosynthesis of l-Lysine by Plants and Chlamydia

Repurposed inhibitor of bacterial dihydrodipicolinate reductase exhibits effective herbicidal activity

Herbicide resistance represents one of the biggest threats to our natural environment and agricultural sector. Thus, new herbicides are urgently needed to tackle the rise in herbicide-resistant weeds. Here, we employed a novel strategy to repurpose a 'failed' antibiotic into a new and target-specific herbicidal compound. Specifically, we identified an inhibitor of bacterial dihydrodipicolinate reductase (DHDPR), an enzyme involved in lysine biosynthesis in plants and bacteria, that exhibited no antibacterial activity but severely attenuated germination of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We confirmed that the inhibitor targets plant DHDPR orthologues in vitro, and exhibits no toxic effects against human cell lines. A series of analogues were then synthesised with improved efficacy in germination assays and against soil-grown A. thaliana. We also showed that our lead compound is the first lysine biosynthesis inhibitor with activity against both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous weed species, by demonstrating its effectiveness at reducing the germination and growth of Lolium rigidum (rigid ryegrass) and Raphanus raphanistrum (wild radish). These results provide proof-of-concept that DHDPR inhibition may represent a much-needed new herbicide mode of action. Furthermore, this study exemplifies the untapped potential of repurposing 'failed' antibiotic scaffolds to fast-track the development of herbicide candidates targeting the respective plant enzymes.

The coordinated action of the enzymes in the L-lysine biosynthetic pathway and how to inhibit it for antibiotic targets

BACKGROUND

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health issue that requires immediate attention in terms of new antibiotics and new antibiotic targets. The l-lysine biosynthesis pathway (LBP) is a promising avenue for drug discovery as it is essential for bacterial growth and survival and is not required by human beings.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

The LBP involves a coordinated action of fourteen different enzymes distributed over four distinct sub-pathways. The enzymes involved in this pathway belong to different classes, such as aspartokinase, dehydrogenase, aminotransferase, epimerase, etc. This review provides a comprehensive account of the secondary and tertiary structure, conformational dynamics, active site architecture, mechanism of catalytic action, and inhibitors of all enzymes involved in LBP of different bacterial species.

MAJOR CONCLUSIONS

LBP offers a wide scope for novel antibiotic targets. The enzymology of a majority of the LBP enzymes is well understood, although these enzymes are less widely studied in the critical pathogens (according to the 2017 WHO report) that require immediate attention. In particular, the enzymes in the acetylase pathway, DapAT, DapDH, and Aspartokinase in critical pathogens have received little attention. High throughput screening for inhibitor design against the enzymes of lysine biosynthetic pathway is rather limited, both in number and in the extent of success.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

This review can serve as a guide for the enzymology of LBP and help in identifying new drug targets and designing potential inhibitors.

Reconstruction of the Diaminopimelic Acid Pathway to Promote L-lysine Production in Corynebacterium glutamicum

The dehydrogenase pathway and the succinylase pathway are involved in the synthesis of L-lysine in Corynebacterium glutamicum. Despite the low contribution rate to L-lysine production, the dehydrogenase pathway is favorable for its simple steps and potential to increase the production of L-lysine. The effect of ammonium (NH4+) concentration on L-lysine biosynthesis was investigated, and the results indicated that the biosynthesis of L-lysine can be promoted in a high NH4+ environment. In order to reduce the requirement of NH4+, the nitrogen source regulatory protein AmtR was knocked out, resulting in an 8.5% increase in L-lysine production (i.e., 52.3 ± 4.31 g/L). Subsequently, the dehydrogenase pathway was upregulated by blocking or weakening the tetrahydrodipicolinate succinylase (DapD)-coding gene dapD and overexpressing the ddh gene to further enhance L-lysine biosynthesis. The final strain XQ-5-W4 could produce 189 ± 8.7 g/L L-lysine with the maximum specific rate (qLys,max.) of 0.35 ± 0.05 g/(g·h) in a 5-L jar fermenter. The L-lysine titer and qLys,max achieved in this study is about 25.2% and 59.1% higher than that of the original strain without enhancement of dehydrogenase pathway, respectively. The results indicated that the dehydrogenase pathway could serve as a breakthrough point to reconstruct the diaminopimelic acid (DAP) pathway and promote L-lysine production.

Structure-Function Studies of the Antibiotic Target l,l-Diaminopimelate Aminotransferase from Verrucomicrobium spinosum Reveal an Unusual Oligomeric Structure

While humans lack the biosynthetic pathways for meso-diaminopimelate and l-lysine, they are essential for bacterial survival and are therefore attractive targets for antibiotics. It was recently discovered that members of the Chlamydia family utilize a rare aminotransferase route of the l-lysine biosynthetic pathway, thus offering a new enzymatic drug target. Here we characterize diaminopimelate aminotransferase from Verrucomicrobium spinosum (VsDapL), a nonpathogenic model bacterium for Chlamydia trachomatis. Complementation experiments verify that the V. spinosum dapL gene encodes a bona fide diaminopimelate aminotransferase, because the gene rescues an Escherichia coli strain that is auxotrophic for meso-diaminopimelate. Kinetic studies show that VsDapL follows a Michaelis-Menten mechanism, with a K_M^app of 4.0 mM toward its substrate l,l-diaminopimelate. The k_cat (0.46 s^-1) and the k_cat/K_M (115 s^-1 M^-1) are somewhat lower than values for other diaminopimelate aminotransferases. Moreover, whereas other studied DapL orthologs are dimeric, sedimentation velocity experiments demonstrate that VsDapL exists in a monomer-dimer self-association, with a K_D^2-1 of 7.4 μM. The 2.25 Å resolution crystal structure presents the canonical dimer of chalice-shaped monomers, and small-angle X-ray scattering experiments confirm the dimer in solution. Sequence and structural alignments reveal that active site residues important for activity are conserved in VsDapL, despite the lower activity compared to those of other DapL homologues. Although the dimer interface buries 18% of the total surface area, several loops that contribute to the interface and active site, notably the L1, L2, and L5 loops, are highly mobile, perhaps explaining the unstable dimer and lower catalytic activity. Our kinetic, biophysical, and structural characterization can be used to inform the development of antibiotics.

Identification of potential drugs targeting L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase of Chlamydia trachomatis: An integrative pharmacoinformatics approach

Chlamydia trachomatis (C.t) is a gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria, which is a major causative of infectious blindness and sexually transmitted diseases. A surge in multidrug resistance among chlamydial species has posed a challenge to adopt alternative drug targeting strategies. Recently, in C.t, L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (CtDAP-AT) is proven to be a potential drug target due its essential role in cell survival and host nonspecificity. Hence, in this study, a multilevel precision-based virtual screening of CtDAP-AT was performed to identify potential inhibitors, wherein, an integrative stringent scoring and filtration were performed by coupling, glide docking score, binding free energy, ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, toxicity) prediction, density functional theory (quantum mechanics), and molecular dynamics simulation (molecular mechanics). On cumulative analysis, NSC_5485 (1,3-bis((7-chloro-4-quinolinyl)amino)-2-propanol) was found to be the most potential lead, as it showed higher order significance in terms of binding affinity, bonded interactions, favorable ADMET, chemical reactivity, and greater stabilization during complex formation. This is the first report on prioritization of small molecules from National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Maybridge data sets (341 519 compounds) towards targeting CtDAP-AT. Thus, the proposed compound shall aid in effective combating of a broad spectrum of C.t infections as it surpassed all the levels of prioritization.

PROMIS, global analysis of PROtein-metabolite interactions using size separation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Small molecules not only represent cellular building blocks and metabolic intermediates, but also regulatory ligands and signaling molecules that interact with proteins. Although these interactions affect cellular metabolism, growth, and development, they have been largely understudied. Herein, we describe a method, which we named PROtein–Metabolite Interactions using Size separation (PROMIS), that allows simultaneous, global analysis of endogenous protein–small molecule and of protein–protein complexes. To this end, a cell-free native lysate from Arabidopsis thaliana cell cultures was fractionated by size-exclusion chromatography, followed by quantitative metabolomic and proteomic analyses. Proteins and small molecules showing similar elution behavior, across protein-containing fractions, constituted putative interactors. Applying PROMIS to an A. thaliana extract, we ascertained known protein–protein (PPIs) and protein–metabolite (PMIs) interactions and reproduced binding between small-molecule protease inhibitors and their respective proteases. More importantly, we present examples of two experimental strategies that exploit the PROMIS dataset to identify novel PMIs. By looking for similar elution behavior of metabolites and enzymes belonging to the same biochemical pathways, we identified putative feedback and feed-forward regulations in pantothenate biosynthesis and the methionine salvage cycle, respectively. By combining PROMIS with an orthogonal affinity purification approach, we identified an interaction between the dipeptide Tyr–Asp and the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. In summary, we present proof of concept for a powerful experimental tool that enables system-wide analysis of PMIs and PPIs across all biological systems. The dataset obtained here comprises nearly 140 metabolites and 5000 proteins, which can be mined for putative interactors.

Knockdown of LjALD1, AGD2-like defense response protein 1, influences plant growth and nodulation in Lotus japonicus

The discovery of the enzyme L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (LL-DAP-AT, EC 2.6.1.83) uncovered a unique step in the L-lysine biosynthesis pathway in plants. In Arabidopsis thaliana, LL-DAP-AT has been shown to play a key role in plant-pathogen interactions by regulation of the salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway. Here, a full-length cDNA of LL-DAP-AT named as LjALD1 from Lotus japonicus (Regel) Larsen was isolated. The deduced amino acid sequence shares 67% identity with the Arabidopsis aminotransferase AGD2-LIKE DEFENSE RESPONSE PROTEIN1 (AtALD1) and is predicted to contain the same key elements: a conserved aminotransferase domain and a pyridoxal-5'-phosphate cofactor binding site. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that LjALD1 was expressed in all L. japonicus tissues tested, being strongest in nodules. Expression was induced in roots that had been infected with the symbiotic rhizobium Mesorhizobium loti or treated with SA agonist benzo-(1, 2, 3)-thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid. LjALD1 Knockdown exhibited a lower SA content, an increased number of infection threads and nodules, and a slight reduction in nodule size. In addition, compared with wild-type, root growth was increased and shoot growth was suppressed in LjALD1 RNAi plant lines. These results indicate that LjALD1 may play important roles in plant development and nodulation via SA signaling in L. japonicus.

L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL): a putative target for the development of narrow-spectrum antibacterial compounds

Despite the urgent need for sustained development of novel antibacterial compounds to combat the drastic rise in antibiotic resistant and emerging bacterial infections, only a few clinically relevant antibacterial drugs have been recently developed. One of the bottlenecks impeding the development of novel antibacterial compounds is the identification of new enzymatic targets. The nutritionally essential amino acid anabolic pathways, for example lysine biosynthesis, provide an opportunity to explore the development of antibacterial compounds, since human genomes do not possess the genes necessary to synthesize these amino acids de novo. The diaminopimelate (DAP)/lysine (lys) anabolic pathways are attractive targets for antibacterial development since the penultimate lys precursor meso-DAP (m-DAP) is a cross-linking amino acid in the peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall of most Gram-negative bacteria and lys plays a similar role in the PG of most Gram-positive bacteria, in addition to its role as one of the 20 proteogenic amino acids. The L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) pathway was recently identified as a novel variant of the DAP/lys anabolic pathways. The DapL pathway has been identified in the pathogenic bacteria belonging to the genus; Chlamydia, Leptospira, and Treponema. The dapL gene has been identified in the genomes of 381 or approximately 13% of the 2771 bacteria that have been sequenced, annotated and reposited in the NCBI database, as of May 23, 2014. The narrow distribution of the DapL pathway in the bacterial domain provides an opportunity for the development and or discovery of narrow spectrum antibacterial compounds.

MP-Align: alignment of metabolic pathways

BACKGROUND

Comparing the metabolic pathways of different species is useful for understanding metabolic functions and can help in studying diseases and engineering drugs. Several comparison techniques for metabolic pathways have been introduced in the literature as a first attempt in this direction. The approaches are based on some simplified representation of metabolic pathways and on a related definition of a similarity score (or distance measure) between two pathways. More recent comparative research focuses on alignment techniques that can identify similar parts between pathways.

RESULTS

We propose a methodology for the pairwise comparison and alignment of metabolic pathways that aims at providing the largest conserved substructure of the pathways under consideration. The proposed methodology has been implemented in a tool called MP-Align, which has been used to perform several validation tests. The results showed that our similarity score makes it possible to discriminate between different domains and to reconstruct a meaningful phylogeny from metabolic data. The results further demonstrate that our alignment algorithm correctly identifies subpathways sharing a common biological function.

CONCLUSION

The results of the validation tests performed with MP-Align are encouraging. A comparison with another proposal in the literature showed that our alignment algorithm is particularly well-suited to finding the largest conserved subpathway of the pathways under examination.

Differential response of orthologous L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferases (DapL) to enzyme inhibitory antibiotic lead compounds

L,L-Diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) is an enzyme required for the biosynthesis of meso-diaminopimelate (m-DAP) and L-lysine (Lys) in some bacteria and photosynthetic organisms. m-DAP and Lys are both involved in the synthesis of peptidoglycan (PG) and protein synthesis. DapL is found in specific eubacterial and archaeal lineages, in particular in several groups of pathogenic bacteria such as Leptospira interrogans (LiDapL), the soil/water bacterium Verrucomicrobium spinosum (VsDapL) and the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CrDapL). Here we present the first comprehensive inhibition study comparing the kinetic activity of DapL orthologs using previously active small molecule inhibitors formerly identified in a screen with the DapL of Arabidopsis thaliana (AtDapL), a flowering plant. Each inhibitor is derived from one of four classes with different central structural moieties: a hydrazide, a rhodanine, a barbiturate, or a thiobarbituate functionality. The results show that all five compounds tested were effective at inhibiting the DapL orthologs. LiDapL and AtDapL showed similar patterns of inhibition across the inhibitor series, whereas the VsDapL and CrDapL inhibition patterns were different from that of LiDapL and AtDapL. CrDapL was found to be insensitive to the hydrazide (IC₅₀ >200 μM). VsDapL was found to be the most sensitive to the barbiturate and thiobarbiturate containing inhibitors (IC₅₀ ∼5 μM). Taken together, the data shows that the homologs have differing sensitivities to the inhibitors with IC₅₀ values ranging from 4.7 to 250 μM. In an attempt to understand the basis for these differences the four enzymes were modeled based on the known structure of AtDapL. Overall, it was found that the enzyme active sites were conserved, although the second shell of residues close to the active site were not. We conclude from this that the altered binding patterns seen in the inhibition studies may be a consequence of the inhibitors forming additional interactions with residues proximal to the active site, or that the inhibitors may not act by binding to the active site. Compounds that are specific for DapL could be potential biocides (antibiotic, herbicide or algaecide) that are nontoxic to animals since animals do not contain the enzymes necessary for PG or Lys synthesis. This study provides important information to expand our current understanding of the structure/activity relationship of DapL and putative inhibitors that are potentially useful for the design and or discovery of novel biocides.

Characterizing the topology of probabilistic biological networks

Biological interactions are often uncertain events, that may or may not take place with some probability. This uncertainty leads to a massive number of alternative interaction topologies for each such network. The existing studies analyze the degree distribution of biological networks by assuming that all the given interactions take place under all circumstances. This strong and often incorrect assumption can lead to misleading results. In this paper, we address this problem and develop a sound mathematical basis to characterize networks in the presence of uncertain interactions. Using our mathematical representation, we develop a method that can accurately describe the degree distribution of such networks. We also take one more step and extend our method to accurately compute the joint-degree distributions of node pairs connected by edges. The number of possible network topologies grows exponentially with the number of uncertain interactions. However, the mathematical model we develop allows us to compute these degree distributions in polynomial time in the number of interactions. Our method works quickly even for entire protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. It also helps us find an adequate mathematical model using MLE. We perform a comparative study of node-degree and joint-degree distributions in two types of biological networks: the classical deterministic networks and the more flexible probabilistic networks. Our results confirm that power-law and log-normal models best describe degree distributions for both probabilistic and deterministic networks. Moreover, the inverse correlation of degrees of neighboring nodes shows that, in probabilistic networks, nodes with large number of interactions prefer to interact with those with small number of interactions more frequently than expected. We also show that probabilistic networks are more robust for node-degree distribution computation than the deterministic ones.

AVAILABILITY

all the data sets used, the software implemented and the alignments found in this paper are available at http://bioinformatics.cise.ufl.edu/projects/probNet/.

Structure of ALD1, a plant-specific homologue of the universal diaminopimelate aminotransferase enzyme of lysine biosynthesis

Diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DAP-AT) is an enzyme in the lysine-biosynthesis pathway. Conversely, ALD1, a close homologue of DAP-AT in plants, uses lysine as a substrate in vitro. Both proteins require pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP) for their activity. The structure of ALD1 from the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana (AtALD1) was solved at a resolution of 2.3 Å. Comparison of AtALD1 with the previously solved structure of A. thaliana DAP-AT (AtDAP-AT) revealed similar interactions with PLP despite sequence differences within the PLP-binding site. However, sequence differences between the binding site of AtDAP-AT for malate, a purported mimic of substrate binding, and the corresponding site in AtALD1 led to different interactions. This suggests that either the substrate itself, or the substrate-binding mode, differs in the two proteins, supporting the known in vitro findings.

Probabilistic biological network alignment

Interactions between molecules are probabilistic events. An interaction may or may not happen with some probability, depending on a variety of factors such as the size, abundance, or proximity of the interacting molecules. In this paper, we consider the problem of aligning two biological networks. Unlike existing methods, we allow one of the two networks to contain probabilistic interactions. Allowing interaction probabilities makes the alignment more biologically relevant at the expense of explosive growth in the number of alternative topologies that may arise from different subsets of interactions that take place. We develop a novel method that efficiently and precisely characterizes this massive search space. We represent the topological similarity between pairs of aligned molecules (i.e., proteins) with the help of random variables and compute their expected values. We validate our method showing that, without sacrificing the running time performance, it can produce novel alignments. Our results also demonstrate that our method identifies biologically meaningful mappings under a comprehensive set of criteria used in the literature as well as the statistical coherence measure that we developed to analyze the statistical significance of the similarity of the functions of the aligned protein pairs.

Crystal structures of complexes of the branched-chain aminotransferase from Deinococcus radiodurans with α-ketoisocaproate and L-glutamate suggest the radiation resistance of this enzyme for catalysis

Branched-chain aminotransferases (BCAT), which utilize pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) as a cofactor, reversibly catalyze the transfer of the α-amino groups of three of the most hydrophobic branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), leucine, isoleucine, and valine, to α-ketoglutarate to form the respective branched-chain α-keto acids and glutamate. The BCAT from Deinococcus radiodurans (DrBCAT), an extremophile, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli for structure and functional studies. The crystal structures of the native DrBCAT with PLP and its complexes with L-glutamate and α-ketoisocaproate (KIC), respectively, have been determined. The DrBCAT monomer, comprising 358 amino acids, contains large and small domains connected with an interdomain loop. The cofactor PLP is located at the bottom of the active site pocket between two domains and near the dimer interface. The substrate (L-glutamate or KIC) is bound with key residues through interactions of the hydrogen bond and the salt bridge near PLP inside the active site pocket. Mutations of some interaction residues, such as Tyr71, Arg145, and Lys202, result in loss of the specific activity of the enzymes. In the interdomain loop, a dynamic loop (Gly173 to Gly179) clearly exhibits open and close conformations in structures of DrBCAT without and with substrates, respectively. DrBCAT shows the highest specific activity both in nature and under ionizing radiation, but with lower thermal stability above 60 °C, than either BCAT from Escherichia coli (eBCAT) or from Thermus thermophilus (HB8BCAT). The dimeric molecular packing and the distribution of cysteine residues at the active site and the molecular surface might explain the resistance to radiation but small thermal stability of DrBCAT.

Genomic and Biochemical Analysis of the Diaminopimelate and Lysine Biosynthesis Pathway in Verrucomicrobium spinosum: Identification and Partial Characterization of L,L-Diaminopimelate Aminotransferase and UDP-N-Acetylmuramoylalanyl-D-glutamyl-2,6-meso-Diaminopimelate Ligase

The Gram-negative bacterium Verrucomicrobium spinosum has attracted interest in recent years following the sequencing and annotation of its genome. Comparative genomic analysis of V. spinosum using diaminopimelate/lysine metabolic genes from Chlamydia trachomatis suggests that V. spinosum employs the L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) pathway for diaminopimelate/lysine biosynthesis. The open reading frame corresponding to the putative dapL ortholog was cloned and the recombinant enzyme was shown to possess L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase activity in vitro. In vivo analysis using functional complementation confirmed that the dapL ortholog was able to functionally complement an E. coli mutant that confers auxotrophy for diaminopimelate and lysine. In addition to its role in lysine biosynthesis, the intermediate diaminopimelate has an integral role in peptidoglycan biosynthesis. To this end, the UDP-N-acetylmuramoylalanyl-d-glutamyl-2,6-meso-diaminopimelate ligase ortholog was also identified, cloned, and was shown to possess meso-diaminopimelate ligase activity in vivo. The L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase pathway has been experimentally confirmed in several bacteria, some of which are deemed pathogenic to animals. Since animals, and particularly humans, lack the genetic machinery for the synthesis of diaminopimelate/lysine de novo, the enzymes involved in this pathway are attractive targets for development of antibiotics. Whether dapL is an essential gene in any bacteria is currently not known. V. spinosum is an excellent candidate to investigate the essentiality of dapL, since the bacterium employs the DapL pathway for lysine and cell wall biosynthesis, is non-pathogenic to humans, facile to grow, and can be genetically manipulated.

Transcript profiling of crown rootless1 mutant stem base reveals new elements associated with crown root development in rice

Background

In rice, the major part of the post-embryonic root system is made of stem-derived roots named crown roots (CR). Among the few characterized rice mutants affected in root development, crown rootless1 mutant is unable to initiate crown root primordia. CROWN ROOTLESS1 (CRL1) is induced by auxin and encodes an AS2/LOB-domain transcription factor that acts upstream of the gene regulatory network controlling CR development.

Results

To identify genes involved in CR development, we compared global gene expression profile in stem bases of crl1 mutant and wild-type (WT) plants. Our analysis revealed that 250 and 236 genes are down- and up-regulated respectively in the crl1 mutant. Auxin induces CRL1 expression and consequently it is expected that auxin also alters the expression of genes that are early regulated by CRL1. To identify genes under the early control of CRL1, we monitored the expression kinetics of a selected subset of genes, mainly chosen among those exhibiting differential expression, in crl1 and WT following exogenous auxin treatment. This analysis revealed that most of these genes, mainly related to hormone, water and nutrient, development and homeostasis, were likely not regulated directly by CRL1. We hypothesized that the differential expression for these genes observed in the crl1 mutant is likely a consequence of the absence of CR formation. Otherwise, three CRL1-dependent auxin-responsive genes: FSM (FLATENNED SHOOT MERISTEM)/FAS1 (FASCIATA1), GTE4 (GENERAL TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR GROUP E4) and MAP (MICROTUBULE-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN) were identified. FSM/FAS1 and GTE4 are known in rice and Arabidopsis to be involved in the maintenance of root meristem through chromatin remodelling and cell cycle regulation respectively.

Conclusion

Our data showed that the differential regulation of most genes in crl1 versus WT may be an indirect consequence of CRL1 inactivation resulting from the absence of CR in the crl1 mutant. Nevertheless some genes, FAS1/FSM, GTE4 and MAP, require CRL1 to be induced by auxin suggesting that they are likely directly regulated by CRL1. These genes have a function related to polarized cell growth, cell cycle regulation or chromatin remodelling. This suggests that these genes are controlled by CRL1 and involved in CR initiation in rice.

SubMAP: aligning metabolic pathways with subnetwork mappings

We consider the problem of aligning two metabolic pathways. Unlike traditional approaches, we do not restrict the alignment to one-to-one mappings between the molecules (nodes) of the input pathways (graphs). We follow the observation that, in nature, different organisms can perform the same or similar functions through different sets of reactions and molecules. The number and the topology of the molecules in these alternative sets often vary from one organism to another. With the motivation that an accurate biological alignment should be able to reveal these functionally similar molecule sets across different species, we develop an algorithm that first measures the similarities between different nodes using a mixture of homology and topological similarity. We combine the two metrics by employing an eigenvalue formulation. We then search for an alignment between the two input pathways that maximizes a similarity score, evaluated as the sum of the similarities of the mapped subnetworks of size at most a given integer k, and also does not contain any conflicting mappings. Here we prove that this maximization is NP-hard by a reduction from the maximum weight independent set (MWIS) problem. We then convert our problem to an instance of MWIS and use an efficient vertex-selection strategy to extract the mappings that constitute our alignment. We name our algorithm SubMAP (Subnetwork Mappings in Alignment of Pathways). We evaluate its accuracy and performance on real datasets. Our empirical results demonstrate that SubMAP can identify biologically relevant mappings that are missed by traditional alignment methods. Furthermore, we observe that SubMAP is scalable for metabolic pathways of arbitrary topology, including searching for a query pathway of size 70 against the complete KEGG database of 1,842 pathways. Implementation in C++ is available at http://bioinformatics.cise.ufl.edu/SubMAP.html.

L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: a target for algaecide development

In some bacterial species and photosynthetic cohorts, including algae, the enzyme l,l-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) (E.C. 2.6.1.83) is involved in the anabolism of the essential amino acid L-lysine. DapL catalyzes the conversion of tetrahydrodipicolinate (THDPA) to l,l-diaminopimelate (l,l-DAP), in one step bypassing the DapD, DapC and DapE enzymatic reactions present in the acyl DAP pathways. Here we present an in vivo and in vitro characterization of the DapL ortholog from the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Cr-DapL). The in vivo analysis illustrated that the enzyme is able to functionally complement the E. coli dap auxotrophs and was essential for plant development in Arabidopsis. In vitro, the enzyme was able to inter-convert THDPA and l,l-DAP, showing strong substrate specificity. Cr-DapL was dimeric in both solution and when crystallized. The structure of Cr-DapL was solved in its apo form, showing an overall architecture of a α/β protein with each monomer in the dimer adopting a pyridoxal phosphate-dependent transferase-like fold in a V-shaped conformation. The active site comprises residues from both monomers in the dimer and shows some rearrangement when compared to the apo-DapL structure from Arabidopsis. Since animals do not possess the enzymatic machinery necessary for the de novo synthesis of the amino acid l-lysine, enzymes involved in this pathway are attractive targets for the development of antibiotics, herbicides and algaecides.

Dual diaminopimelate biosynthesis pathways in Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium thermocellum

Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium thermocellum were recently found to synthesize diaminopimelate (DAP) by way of LL-DAP aminotransferase. Both species also contain an ortholog of meso-diaminopimelate dehydrogenase (Ddh), suggesting that they may have redundant pathways for DAP biosynthesis. The B. fragilis Ddh ortholog shows low homology with other examples of Ddh and this species belongs to a phylum, the Bacteriodetes, not previously known to contain this enzyme. By contrast, the C. thermocellum ortholog is well conserved with known examples of Ddh. Using in vitro and in vivo assays both the B. fragilis and C. thermocellum enzymes were found to be authentic examples of Ddh, displaying kinetic properties typical of this enzyme. The result indicates that B. fragilis contains a sequence diverged form of Ddh. Phylogenomic analysis of the microbial genome database revealed that 77% of species with a Ddh ortholog also contain a second pathway for DAP biosynthesis suggesting that Ddh evolved as an ancillary mechanism for DAP biosynthesis.

Structural insights for the substrate recognition mechanism of LL-diaminopimelate aminotransferase

The enzymes involved in the lysine biosynthetic pathway have long been considered to be attractive targets for novel antibiotics due to the absence of this pathway in humans. Recently, a novel pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzyme called LL-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (LL-DAP-AT) was identified in the lysine biosynthetic pathway of plants and Chlamydiae. Understanding its function and substrate recognition mechanism would be an important initial step toward designing novel antibiotics targeting LL-DAP-AT. The crystal structures of LL-DAP-AT from Arabidopsis thaliana in complex with various substrates and analogues have been solved recently. These structures revealed how L-glutamate and LL-DAP are recognized by LL-DAP-AT without significant conformational changes in the enzyme's backbone structure. This review article summarizes the recent developments in the structural characterization and the inhibitor design of LL-DAP-AT from A. thaliana. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Pyridoxal Phospate Enzymology.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

In the anabolic synthesis of diaminopimelate and lysine in plants and in some bacteria, the enzyme L,L-diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL; EC 2.6.1.83) catalyzes the conversion of tetrahydrodipicolinic acid (THDPA) to L,L-diaminopimelate, bypassing the DapD, DapC and DapE enzymatic steps in the bacterial acyl pathways. Here, the cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of DapL from the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are presented. Protein crystals were grown in conditions containing 25% (w/v) PEG 3350 and 200 mM lithium sulfate and initially diffracted to ∼1.35 Å resolution. They belonged to space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with unit-cell parameters a=58.9, b=91.8, c=162.9 Å. The data were processed to 1.55 Å resolution with an Rmerge of 0.081, an Rp.i.m. of 0.044, an Rr.i.m of 0.093 and a VM of 2.28 Å3 Da(-1).

Identification and Partial Characterization of an L-Tyrosine Aminotransferase (TAT) from Arabidopsis thaliana

The aminotransferase gene family in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana consists of 44 genes. Twenty six of these enzymes are classified as characterized meaning that the reaction(s) that the enzyme catalyzes are documented using experimental means. The remaining 18 enzymes are uncharacterized and are therefore deemed putative. Our laboratory is interested in elucidating the function(s) of the remaining putative aminotransferase enzymes. To this end, we have identified and partially characterized an aminotransferase (TAT) enzyme from Arabidopsis annotated by the locus tag At5g36160. The full-length cDNA was cloned and the purified recombinant enzyme was characterized using in vitro and in vivo experiments. In vitro analysis showed that the enzyme is capable of interconverting L-Tyrosine and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate, and L-Phenylalanine and phenylpyruvate. In vivo analysis by functional complementation showed that the gene was able to complement an E. coli with a background of aminotransferase mutations that confers auxotrophy for L-Tyrosine and L-Phenylalanine.

Methanococci use the diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) pathway for lysine biosynthesis

The pathway of lysine biosynthesis in the methanococci has not been identified previously. A variant of the diaminopimelic acid (DAP) pathway uses diaminopimelate aminotransferase (DapL) to catalyze the direct conversion of tetrahydrodipicolinate (THDPA) to ll-DAP. Recently, the enzyme DapL (MTH52) was identified in Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus and shown to belong to the DapL1 group. Although the Methanococcus maripaludis genome lacks a gene that can be unambiguously assigned a DapL function based on sequence similarity, the open reading frame MMP1527 product shares 30% amino acid sequence identity with MTH52. A Deltammp1527 deletion mutant was constructed and found to be a lysine auxotroph, suggesting that this DapL homolog in methanococci is required for lysine biosynthesis. In cell extracts of the M. maripaludis wild-type strain, the specific activity of DapL using ll-DAP and alpha-ketoglutarate as substrates was 24.3 + or - 2.0 nmol min(-1) mg of protein(-1). The gene encoding the DapL homolog in Methanocaldococcus jannaschii (MJ1391) was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli, and the protein was purified. The maximum activity of MJ1391 was observed at 70 degrees C and pH 8.0 to 9.0. The apparent K(m)s of MJ1391 for ll-DAP and alpha-ketoglutarate were 82.8 + or - 10 microM and 0.42 + or - 0.02 mM, respectively. MJ1391 was not able to use succinyl-DAP or acetyl-DAP as a substrate. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that two lateral gene transfers occurred in the DapL genes, one from the archaea to the bacteria in the DapL2 group and one from the bacteria to the archaea in the DapL1 group. These results demonstrated that the DapL pathway is present in marine methanogens belonging to the Methanococcales.

Mechanism of substrate recognition and PLP-induced conformational changes in LL-diaminopimelate aminotransferase from Arabidopsis thaliana

LL-Diaminopimelate aminotransferase (LL-DAP-AT), a pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme in the lysine biosynthetic pathways of plants and Chlamydia, is a potential target for the development of herbicides or antibiotics. This homodimeric enzyme converts L-tetrahydrodipicolinic acid (THDP) directly to LL-DAP using L-glutamate as the source of the amino group. Earlier, we described the 3D structures of native and malate-bound LL-DAP-AT from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtDAP-AT). Seven additional crystal structures of AtDAP-AT and its variants are reported here as part of an investigation into the mechanism of substrate recognition and catalysis. Two structures are of AtDAP-AT with reduced external aldimine analogues: N-(5'-phosphopyridoxyl)-L-glutamate (PLP-Glu) and N-(5'-phosphopyridoxyl)- LL-Diaminopimelate (PLP-DAP) bound in the active site. Surprisingly, they reveal that both L-glutamate and LL-DAP are recognized in a very similar fashion by the same sets of amino acid residues; both molecules adopt twisted V-shaped conformations. With both substrates, the alpha-carboxylates are bound in a salt bridge with Arg404, whereas the distal carboxylates are recognized via hydrogen bonds to the well-conserved side chains of Tyr37, Tyr125 and Lys129. The distal C(epsilon) amino group of LL-DAP is specifically recognized by several non-covalent interactions with residues from the other subunit (Asn309*, Tyr94*, Gly95*, and Glu97* (Amino acid designators followed by an asterisk (*) indicate that the residues originate in the other subunit of the dimer)) and by three bound water molecules. Two catalytically inactive variants of AtDAP-AT were created via site-directed mutagenesis of the active site lysine (K270N and K270Q). The structures of these variants permitted the observation of the unreduced external aldimines of PLP with L-glutamate and with LL-DAP in the active site, and revealed differences in the torsion angle about the PLP-substrate bond. Lastly, an apo-AtDAP-AT structure missing PLP revealed details of conformational changes induced by PLP binding and substrate entry into the active site.

Biochemical and phylogenetic characterization of a novel diaminopimelate biosynthesis pathway in prokaryotes identifies a diverged form of LL-diaminopimelate aminotransferase

A variant of the diaminopimelate (DAP)-lysine biosynthesis pathway uses an LL-DAP aminotransferase (DapL, EC 2.6.1.83) to catalyze the direct conversion of L-2,3,4,5-tetrahydrodipicolinate to LL-DAP. Comparative genomic analysis and experimental verification of DapL candidates revealed the existence of two diverged forms of DapL (DapL1 and DapL2). DapL orthologs were identified in eubacteria and archaea. In some species the corresponding dapL gene was found to lie in genomic contiguity with other dap genes, suggestive of a polycistronic structure. The DapL candidate enzymes were found to cluster into two classes sharing approximately 30% amino acid identity. The function of selected enzymes from each class was studied. Both classes were able to functionally complement Escherichia coli dapD and dapE mutants and to catalyze LL-DAP transamination, providing functional evidence for a role in DAP/lysine biosynthesis. In all cases the occurrence of dapL in a species correlated with the absence of genes for dapD and dapE representing the acyl DAP pathway variants, and only in a few cases was dapL coincident with ddh encoding meso-DAP dehydrogenase. The results indicate that the DapL pathway is restricted to specific lineages of eubacteria including the Cyanobacteria, Desulfuromonadales, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chlamydiae, Spirochaeta, and Chloroflexi and two archaeal groups, the Methanobacteriaceae and Archaeoglobaceae.

Methanogens with pseudomurein use diaminopimelate aminotransferase in lysine biosynthesis

Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus uses lysine for both protein synthesis and cross-linking pseudomurein in its cell wall. A diaminopimelate aminotransferase enzyme from this methanogen (MTH0052) converts tetrahydrodipicolinate to l,l-diaminopimelate, a lysine precursor. This gene complemented an Escherichia coli diaminopimelate auxotrophy, and the purified protein catalyzed the transamination of diaminopimelate to tetrahydrodipicolinate. Phylogenetic analysis indicated this gene was recruited from anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria. These results expand the family of diaminopimelate aminotransferases to a diverse set of plant, bacterial and archaeal homologs. In contrast marine methanogens from the Methanococcales, which lack pseudomurein, appear to use a different diaminopimelate pathway for lysine biosynthesis.