Expression, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of D-alanine-D-alanine ligase from OXA-23-producing Acinetobacter baumannii K0420859

The crystal structure of the D-alanine-D-alanine ligase from Acinetobacter baumannii suggests a flexible conformational change in the central domain before nucleotide binding

Acinetobacter baumannii, which is emerging as a multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogen, causes a number of diseases, including pneumonia, bacteremia, meningitis, and skin infections. With ATP hydrolysis, the D-alanine-D-alanine ligase (DDL) catalyzes the synthesis of D-alanyl-D-alanine, which is an essential component of bacterial peptidoglycan. In this study, we determined the crystal structure of DDL from A. baumannii (AbDDL) at a resolution of 2.2 Å. The asymmetric unit contained six protomers of AbDDL. Five protomers had a closed conformation in the central domain, while one protomer had an open conformation in the central domain. The central domain with an open conformation did not interact with crystallographic symmetry-related protomers and the conformational change of the central domain was not due to crystal packing. The central domain of AbDDL can have an ensemble of the open and closed conformations before the binding of substrate ATP. The conformational change of the central domain is important for the catalytic activity and the detail information will be useful for the development of inhibitors against AbDDL and putative antibacterial agents against A. baumannii. The AbDDL structure was compared with that of other DDLs that were in complex with potent inhibitors and the catalytic activity of AbDDL was confirmed using enzyme kinetics assays.

Expression, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of cystathionine β-lyase from Acinetobacter baumannii OXA-23

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) has emerged as a leading nosocomial pathogen because of its resistance to most currently available antibiotics. Cystathionine β-lyase (CBL), a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzyme, catalyzes the second step in the transsulfuration pathway, which is essential for the metabolic interconversion of the sulfur-containing amino acids homocysteine and methionine. The enzymes of the transsulfuration pathway are considered to be attractive drug targets owing to their specificity to microbes and plants. As a potential target for the development of novel antibacterial drugs, the AbCBL protein was expressed, purified and crystallized. An AbCBL crystal diffracted to 1.57 Å resolution and belonged to the trigonal space group P3112, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 102.9, c = 136.5 Å. The asymmetric unit contained two monomers, with a corresponding VM of 2.3 Å(3) Da(-1) and a solvent content of 46.9%.