The crystal structures of glutathione S-transferases isozymes 1-3 and 1-4 from Anopheles dirus species B

Protein Sci. 2001 Nov;10(11):2176-85. doi: 10.1110/ps.ps.21201.

Abstract

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are dimeric proteins that play an important role in cellular detoxification. Four GSTs from the mosquito Anopheles dirus species B (Ad), an important malaria vector in South East Asia, are produced by alternate splicing of a single transcription product and were previously shown to have detoxifying activity towards pesticides such as DDT. We have determined the crystal structures for two of these alternatively spliced proteins, AdGST1-3 (complexed with glutathione) and AdGST1-4 (apo form), at 1.75 and 2.45 A resolution, respectively. These GST isozymes show differences from the related GST from the Australian sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina; in particular, the presence of a C-terminal helix forming part of the active site. This helix causes the active site of the Anopheles GSTs to be enclosed. The glutathione-binding helix alpha2 and flanking residues are disordered in the AdGST1-4 (apo) structure, yet ordered in the AdGST1-3 (GSH-bound) structure, suggesting that insect GSTs operate with an induced fit mechanism similar to that found in the plant phi- and human pi-class GSTs. Despite the high overall sequence identities, the active site residues of AdGST1-4 and AdGST1-3 have different conformations.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alternative Splicing
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Anopheles / enzymology*
  • Anopheles / genetics
  • Asia, Southeastern
  • Binding Sites
  • Crystallography
  • Drug Resistance / genetics
  • Exons
  • Glutathione Transferase / chemistry*
  • Glutathione Transferase / genetics
  • Insect Vectors
  • Isoenzymes / chemistry
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Conformation
  • Sequence Alignment

Substances

  • Isoenzymes
  • Glutathione Transferase

Associated data

  • PDB/1JLV
  • PDB/1JLW