2eph

File:2eph.gif

spinqualitylabelsall models 2eph, resolution 2.70Å Show:Asymmetric Unit Biological Assembly Drag the structure with the mouse to rotate   Export Animated Image

Crystal structure of fructose-bisphosphate aldolase from Plasmodium falciparum in complex with TRAP-tail determined at 2.7 angstrom resolution

OverviewOverview

An actomyosin motor located underneath the plasma membrane drives motility, and host-cell invasion of apicomplexan parasites such as Plasmodium, falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, the causative agents of malaria. Aldolase, connects the motor actin filaments to transmembrane adhesive proteins of, the thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP) family and transduces, the motor force across the parasite surface. The TRAP-aldolase interaction, is a distinctive and critical trait of host hepatocyte invasion by, Plasmodium sporozoites, with a likely similar interaction crucial for, erythrocyte invasion by merozoites. Here, we describe 2.4-A and 2.7-A, structures of P. falciparum aldolase (PfAldo) obtained from crystals grown, in the presence of the C-terminal hexapeptide of TRAP from Plasmodium, berghei. The indole ring of the critical penultimate Trp-residue of TRAP, fits snugly into a newly formed hydrophobic pocket, which is exclusively, delimited by hydrophilic residues: two arginines, one glutamate, and one, glutamine. Comparison with the unliganded PfAldo structure shows that the, two arginines adopt new side-chain rotamers, whereas a 25-residue, subdomain, forming a helix-loop-helix unit, shifts upon binding the, TRAP-tail. The structural data are in agreement with decreased TRAP, binding after mutagenesis of PfAldo residues in and near the induced, TRAP-binding pocket. Remarkably, the TRAP- and actin-binding sites of, PfAldo seem to overlap, suggesting that both the plasticity of the, aldolase active-site region and the multimeric nature of the enzyme are, crucial for its intriguing nonenzymatic function in the invasion machinery, of the malaria parasite.

About this StructureAbout this Structure

2EPH is a Protein complex structure of sequences from Plasmodium falciparum. Active as Fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, with EC number 4.1.2.13 Full crystallographic information is available from OCA.

ReferenceReference

Aldolase provides an unusual binding site for thrombospondin-related anonymous protein in the invasion machinery of the malaria parasite., Bosch J, Buscaglia CA, Krumm B, Ingason BP, Lucas R, Roach C, Cardozo T, Nussenzweig V, Hol WG, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Apr 24;104(17):7015-20. Epub 2007 Apr 10. PMID:17426153

Page seeded by OCA on Wed Jan 23 15:23:46 2008