Structural characterization of the Streptococcus pneumoniae carbohydrate substrate-binding protein SP0092

Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun. 2017 Jan 1;73(Pt 1):54-61. doi: 10.1107/S2053230X16020252. Epub 2017 Jan 1.

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae is an opportunistic respiratory pathogen that remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, with infants and the elderly at the highest risk. S. pneumoniae relies entirely on carbohydrates as a source of carbon and dedicates a third of all uptake systems to carbohydrate import. The structure of the carbohydrate-free substrate-binding protein SP0092 at 1.61 Å resolution reveals it to belong to the newly proposed subclass G of substrate-binding proteins, with a ligand-binding pocket that is large enough to accommodate complex oligosaccharides. SP0092 is a dimer in solution and the crystal structure reveals a domain-swapped dimer with the monomer subunits in a closed conformation but in the absence of carbohydrate ligand. This closed conformation may be induced by dimer formation and could be used as a mechanism to regulate carbohydrate uptake.

Keywords: ABC transporters; Streptococcus pneumoniae; carbohydrate uptake; substrate-binding protein SP0092.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry*
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Binding Sites
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism
  • Gene Expression
  • Models, Molecular
  • Oligosaccharides / chemistry*
  • Oligosaccharides / metabolism
  • Plasmids / chemistry
  • Plasmids / metabolism
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation, alpha-Helical
  • Protein Conformation, beta-Strand
  • Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / chemistry*
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / genetics
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / chemistry*
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / metabolism
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Oligosaccharides
  • Receptors, Cell Surface
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • saccharide-binding proteins