The crystal and solution structure of a putative transcriptional antiterminator from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Structure. 2004 Sep;12(9):1595-605. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2004.06.018.

Abstract

We describe the crystal structure of Rv1626 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis at 1.48 A resolution and the corresponding solution structure determined from small angle X-ray scattering. The N-terminal domain shows structural homology to the receiver domains found in bacterial two-component systems. The C-terminal domain has high structural homology to a recently discovered RNA binding domain involved in transcriptional antitermination. The molecule in solution was found to be monomeric as it is in the crystal, but in solution it undergoes a conformational change that is triggered by changes in ionic strength. This is the first structure that links the phosphorylation cascade of the two-component systems with the antitermination event in the transcriptional machinery. Rv1626 belongs to a family of proteins, which we propose calling phosphorylation-dependent transcriptional antitermination regulators, so far only found in bacteria, and includes NasT, a protein from the assimilatory nitrate/nitrite reductase operon of Azetobacter vinelandii.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry*
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / chemistry
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / chemistry*
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / genetics
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary*
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / chemistry*
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Trans-Activators / chemistry
  • Trans-Activators / genetics

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Escherichia coli Proteins
  • NAST protein, Azotobacter vinelandii
  • RNA-Binding Proteins
  • Trans-Activators
  • antiterminator proteins, Bacteria
  • NarL protein, E coli

Associated data

  • PDB/1S8N
  • PDB/1SD5