Crystal structures of the apo- and holomutant human lysozymes with an introduced Ca2+ binding site

J Biol Chem. 1991 Nov 5;266(31):20666-71.

Abstract

The three-dimensional structures of apo- and holomutant human lysozymes (D86/92 lysozyme), in which a calcium binding site was designed and created for enhancing molecular stability by replacing both Gln86 and Ala92 with aspartic acids, were refined at 1.8-A resolution by x-ray crystallography. The overall structures and crystallographic thermal factors of all three proteins, the apo-, holo-D86/92, and the wild-type human lysozymes, were essentially identical; these results showed that the introduction of the calcium binding site did not affect either the overall structure or molecular rigidity of the proteins. However, structure analyses of the apo-D86/92 lysozyme revealed that the mutations affected the side chain conformation of residue 86 and hydrogen networks between the protein and the internal solvent molecules. In the structure of the holo-D86/92 lysozyme, seven oxygen ligands formed a slightly distorted pentagonal bipyramid around the calcium ion, indicating that the coordination around the calcium ion was quite similar to that in baboon alpha-lactalbumin. The pentagonal bipyramid coordination could be one of the most widely found and appropriate calcium binding schemes in proteins.

MeSH terms

  • Apoproteins / chemistry
  • Apoproteins / ultrastructure
  • Binding Sites
  • Calcium / chemistry
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins / chemistry*
  • Crystallography
  • Humans
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Muramidase / chemistry*
  • Muramidase / ultrastructure
  • Mutation
  • Protein Conformation
  • Solvents / chemistry
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Water
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Apoproteins
  • Calcium-Binding Proteins
  • Solvents
  • Water
  • Muramidase
  • Calcium