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Title: The structure of Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase reveals a novel redox switch that regulates its activities

Abstract

The crystal structure of P. falciparum SHMT revealed snapshots of an intriguing disulfide/sulfhydryl switch controlling the functional activity. Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase (PfSHMT), an enzyme in the dTMP synthesis cycle, is an antimalarial target because inhibition of its expression or function has been shown to be lethal to the parasite. As the wild-type enzyme could not be crystallized, protein engineering of residues on the surface was carried out. The surface-engineered mutant PfSHMT-F292E was successfully crystallized and its structure was determined at 3 Å resolution. The PfSHMT-F292E structure is a good representation of PfSHMT as this variant revealed biochemical properties similar to those of the wild type. Although the overall structure of PfSHMT is similar to those of other SHMTs, unique features including the presence of two loops and a distinctive cysteine pair formed by Cys125 and Cys364 in the tetrahydrofolate (THF) substrate binding pocket were identified. These structural characteristics have never been reported in other SHMTs. Biochemical characterization and mutation analysis of these two residues confirm that they act as a disulfide/sulfhydryl switch to regulate the THF-dependent catalytic function of the enzyme. This redox switch is not present in the human enzyme, in which the cysteine pair is absent. Themore » data reported here can be further exploited as a new strategy to specifically disrupt the activity of the parasite enzyme without interfering with the function of the human enzyme.« less

Authors:
; ; ;  [1];  [2];  [1];  [2]; ;  [1]
  1. National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 113 Thailand Science Park, Paholyothin Road, Klong 1, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120 (Thailand)
  2. Mahidol University, Bangkok (Thailand)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22347762
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Acta Crystallographica. Section D: Biological Crystallography
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 70; Journal Issue: Pt 6; Other Information: PMCID: PMC4051499; PMID: 24914963; PUBLISHER-ID: mh5125; OAI: oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4051499; Copyright (c) Chitnumsub et al. 2014; This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are cited.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0907-4449
Country of Publication:
Denmark
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; CRYSTAL STRUCTURE; CRYSTALS; CYSTEINE; DISULFIDES; RESOLUTION; SUBSTRATES; SURFACES; SWITCHES; SYNTHESIS; TETRAHYDROFURAN

Citation Formats

Chitnumsub, Penchit, Ittarat, Wanwipa, Jaruwat, Aritsara, Noytanom, Krittikar, Amornwatcharapong, Watcharee, Pornthanakasem, Wichai, Chaiyen, Pimchai, Yuthavong, Yongyuth, and Leartsakulpanich, Ubolsree. The structure of Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase reveals a novel redox switch that regulates its activities. Denmark: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1107/S1399004714005598.
Chitnumsub, Penchit, Ittarat, Wanwipa, Jaruwat, Aritsara, Noytanom, Krittikar, Amornwatcharapong, Watcharee, Pornthanakasem, Wichai, Chaiyen, Pimchai, Yuthavong, Yongyuth, & Leartsakulpanich, Ubolsree. The structure of Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase reveals a novel redox switch that regulates its activities. Denmark. https://doi.org/10.1107/S1399004714005598
Chitnumsub, Penchit, Ittarat, Wanwipa, Jaruwat, Aritsara, Noytanom, Krittikar, Amornwatcharapong, Watcharee, Pornthanakasem, Wichai, Chaiyen, Pimchai, Yuthavong, Yongyuth, and Leartsakulpanich, Ubolsree. 2014. "The structure of Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase reveals a novel redox switch that regulates its activities". Denmark. https://doi.org/10.1107/S1399004714005598.
@article{osti_22347762,
title = {The structure of Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase reveals a novel redox switch that regulates its activities},
author = {Chitnumsub, Penchit and Ittarat, Wanwipa and Jaruwat, Aritsara and Noytanom, Krittikar and Amornwatcharapong, Watcharee and Pornthanakasem, Wichai and Chaiyen, Pimchai and Yuthavong, Yongyuth and Leartsakulpanich, Ubolsree},
abstractNote = {The crystal structure of P. falciparum SHMT revealed snapshots of an intriguing disulfide/sulfhydryl switch controlling the functional activity. Plasmodium falciparum serine hydroxymethyltransferase (PfSHMT), an enzyme in the dTMP synthesis cycle, is an antimalarial target because inhibition of its expression or function has been shown to be lethal to the parasite. As the wild-type enzyme could not be crystallized, protein engineering of residues on the surface was carried out. The surface-engineered mutant PfSHMT-F292E was successfully crystallized and its structure was determined at 3 Å resolution. The PfSHMT-F292E structure is a good representation of PfSHMT as this variant revealed biochemical properties similar to those of the wild type. Although the overall structure of PfSHMT is similar to those of other SHMTs, unique features including the presence of two loops and a distinctive cysteine pair formed by Cys125 and Cys364 in the tetrahydrofolate (THF) substrate binding pocket were identified. These structural characteristics have never been reported in other SHMTs. Biochemical characterization and mutation analysis of these two residues confirm that they act as a disulfide/sulfhydryl switch to regulate the THF-dependent catalytic function of the enzyme. This redox switch is not present in the human enzyme, in which the cysteine pair is absent. The data reported here can be further exploited as a new strategy to specifically disrupt the activity of the parasite enzyme without interfering with the function of the human enzyme.},
doi = {10.1107/S1399004714005598},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22347762}, journal = {Acta Crystallographica. Section D: Biological Crystallography},
issn = {0907-4449},
number = Pt 6,
volume = 70,
place = {Denmark},
year = {Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}