DETERMINATION OF THE 3-DIMENSIONAL SOLUTION STRUCTURE OF THE HISTIDINE-CONTAINING PHOSPHOCARRIER PROTEIN HPR FROM ESCHERICHIA-COLI USING MULTIDIMENSIONAL NMR-SPECTROSCOPY

We recorded several types of heteronuclear three-dimensional (3D) NMR spectra on N-15-enriched and C-13/N-15-enriched histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein, HPr, to extend the backbone assignments [van Nuland, N. A. J., van Dijk, A. A., Dijkstra, K., van Hoesel, F. H. J., Scheek, R. M. & Robillard, G. T. (1992) Eur. J. Biochem. 203,483-491] to the side-chain H-1, N-15 and C-13 resonances. From both 3D heteronuclear H-1-NOE H-1-C-13 and H-1-NOE H-1-N-15 multiple-quantum coherence (3D-NOESY-HMQC) and two-dimensional (2D) homonuclear NOE spectra, more than 1200 NOE were identified and used in a step-wise structure refinement process using distance geometry and restrained molecular dynamics involving a number of new features. A cluster of nine structures, each satisfying the set of NOE restraints, resulted from this procedure. The average root-mean-square positional difference for the Calpha atoms is less than 0.12 nm. The secondary structure topology of the molecule is that of an open-face beta sandwich formed by four antiparallel beta strands packed against three alpha helices, resembling the recently published structure of Bacillus subtilis HPr, determined by X-ray crystallography [Herzberg, O., Reddy, P., Sutrina, S., Saier, M. H., Reizer, J. & Kapafia, G. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 2499 - 2503).