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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 282, Issue 22, 16177-16186, June 1, 2007
The Role of Complex Formation between the Escherichia coli Hydrogenase Accessory Factors HypB and SlyD*From the Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada
Received for publication, November 22, 2006 , and in revised form, March 13, 2007.
The Escherichia coli protein SlyD is a member of the FK-506-binding protein family of peptidylprolyl isomerases. In addition to its peptidylprolyl isomerase domain, SlyD is composed of a molecular chaperone domain and a C-terminal tail rich in potential metal-binding residues. SlyD interacts with the [NiFe]-hydrogenase accessory protein HypB and contributes to nickel insertion during biosynthesis of the hydrogenase metallocenter. This study examines the HypB-SlyD complex and its significance in hydrogenase activation. Protein variants were prepared to delineate the interface between HypB and SlyD. Complex formation requires the HypB linker region located between the high affinity N-terminal Ni(II) site and the GTPase domain of the protein. In the case of SlyD, the deletion of a short loop in the chaperone domain abrogates the interaction with HypB. Mutations in either protein that disrupt complex formation in vitro also result in deficient hydrogenase production in vivo, indicating that the contact between HypB and SlyD is important for hydrogenase maturation. Surprisingly, SlyD stimulates release of nickel from the high affinity Ni(II)-binding site of HypB, an activity that is also disrupted by mutations that affect complex formation. Furthermore, a SlyD truncation lacking the C-terminal metal-binding tail still interacts with HypB but is deficient in stimulating metal release and is not functional in vivo. These results suggest that SlyD could activate metal release from HypB during metallation of the [NiFe] hydrogenase.
The assembly of the [NiFe] metallocenter of Escherichia coli hydrogenase 3 requires the participation of proteins encoded by the hyp (hydrogenase pleiotropy) genes hypABCDEF (reviewed in Refs. 13). HypA and HypC are replaced by the homologous HybF and HybG proteins, respectively, for the assembly of hydrogenases 1 and 2 (1, 2). HypC, HypD, HypE, and HypF participate in the biosynthesis of the Fe(CN)2(CO) cluster and delivery to the hydrogenase precursor protein (46). The subsequent incorporation of nickel (7, 8) requires the GTPase HypB and HypA. These proteins were initially implicated in the nickel insertion step by genetic studies in which the hydrogenase deficiency resulting from chromosomal mutations was at least partially restored by growing the bacteria in excess nickel (913). E. coli HypB binds one nickel ion with a Kd value in the picomolar range to the cysteines in the N-terminal CXXCGC motif (referred to as the "high affinity site," see Fig. 1 for domain architecture) (14). In addition, both HypB and HypA bind a nickel ion with micromolar affinity (1417) as follows: HypA at a site that includes the conserved second residue His-2 (15, 16), and HypB to several conserved amino acids in the GTPase domain (referred to as the "low affinity site") (14, 18). Whether one or a combination of these metal sites serve as a source of nickel for the hydrogenase enzyme has not yet been determined. Upon searching for additional hydrogenase biosynthetic factors in E. coli, a protein called SlyD was identified in a complex with HypB and shown to play a role in hydrogenase production (19). SlyD is a member of the FK-506-binding protein (FKBP)3 family of peptidylprolyl isomerases (PPIases) (20, 21). In general, PPIases are capable of assisting in various protein folding processes by catalyzing the cis-trans-isomerization of a prolyl amide bond, but in many cases it is not clear that this activity is required for the physiological function of the protein (22, 23). SlyD, like many FKBP PPIases, including the E. coli ribosome-associated trigger factor (24) and periplasmic FkpA (25), also exhibits general molecular chaperone activity (26). SlyD shares with a subset of FKBPs an additional domain, termed IF (insert in the flap), which has been structurally characterized for an archaeal FKBP, MtFKBP17 from Methanococcus thermolithotrophicus, and may allow these proteins to bind unfolded or extended polypeptide chains (27, 28). Although they possess many attributes suitable for a housekeeping chaperone function, some PPIases bind only to a limited set of client proteins and appear to play a regulatory role in specific biochemical pathways (22, 23).
One unusual feature of SlyD is that it has a C-terminal 50-residue metal-binding domain. This domain is rich in the metal-binding amino acids, containing 15 histidines, 6 cysteines, and 7 aspartate/glutamate residues (see Fig. 1 for domain architecture), and is required for metal-dependent inhibition of the PPIase activity (29). An E. coli strain with a deletion in the slyD gene exhibits reduced nickel accumulation as well as low hydrogenase activity that can be fully restored by the addition of excess nickel to the growth media (19), suggesting that SlyD contributes to the insertion of nickel into apohydrogenase. Unlike many other bacterial HypB proteins, E. coli HypB lacks a polyhistidine stretch that can bind multiple nickel ions and serve in nickel storage (3033). Given that SlyD can bind multiple metal ions (20, 29), it is possible that SlyD has assumed this storage function (19). To investigate the role of SlyD in the metallation of apohydrogenase, we examined the SlyD-HypB complex in more detail. The site of interaction was localized in both proteins, and mutants of either HypB or SlyD that fail to form the complex in vitro are defective in activating hydrogenase in vivo. Furthermore, when SlyD binds to HypB it activates metal release from the N-terminal high affinity nickel-binding site. A SlyD variant lacking the C-terminal tail is capable of interacting with HypB but does not contribute to hydrogenase biosynthesis in vivo or stimulate metal release from HypB in vitro. These data support a role beyond nickel storage for SlyD in triggering metal release from HypB and promoting nickel insertion into the hydrogenase precursor protein.
MaterialsRestriction endonucleases, T4 DNA ligase and calf intestine phosphatase were obtained from New England Biolabs. Pfu DNA polymerase was purchased from Stratagene. Chromatography media were from GE Healthcare. Isopropyl -D-thiogalactoside, Tris-(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP), ampicillin, and kanamycin were purchased from BioShop (Toronto). All other reagents were analytical grade from Sigma. Primers (Table 1) were purchased from Sigma Genosys. Solutions were prepared with Milli-Q water, 18.2 megohms·cm resistance (Millipore), and the pH values of the buffers were adjusted with HCl or NaOH.
HypB and SlyD Expression Vectors and MutantsThe generation of HypB-pET, G domain-pET, and SlyD-pET in the pET24b vector (Novagen) and pBAD-SlyD in the pBAD24 vector (American Type Culture Collection, ATCC) was described previously (14, 19). To generate pET-SlyD-(1146), a fragment of slyD coding for residues 1146 was amplified from DH5 E. coli by using the D(1146) primer set (Table 1). After purification with the QIAquick PCR purification kit (Qiagen), the PCR product was digested with the restriction enzymes NdeI and XhoI. The digested PCR product was isolated from agarose gel pieces by using a QIAquick kit (Qiagen) and ligated into the pET24b vector digested with NdeI and XhoI and dephosphorylated with calf intestine phosphatase. Ligation products were transformed into XL-2 Blue E. coli (Stratagene). For in vivo experiments hypB was amplified from pET24b-HypB using the BpBAD primer set, and a fragment of slyD coding for residues 1146 was amplified from DH5 E. coli using the D(1146) pBAD primer set. PCR products were treated as described above, except they were digested with the restriction enzymes NheI and XbaI and ligated into the pBAD24 vector digested with the same enzymes, to generate pBAD-HypB and pBAD-SlyD-(1146), respectively. To generate a construct coding for a fusion between the maltose-binding protein (MBP) and the C-terminal tail of SlyD, a fragment of slyD coding for residues 140196 was amplified with the primer set D(140196). The purified PCR product was treated as described above, digested with NdeI and XhoI, and ligated into the vector pIADL16 ((34) generously provided by Prof. C. T. Walsh, Harvard Medical School) digested with the same restriction enzymes and treated with calf intestine phosphatase. Plasmids coding for amino acid variants and deletion variants were generated by QuikChange PCR mutagenesis (Stratagene) using Pfu polymerase and pET-HypB, pBAD-HypB, pET-SlyD, and pBAD-SlyD as templates. The primers used to prepare HypB(P29S,P32S), HypB(28d36), HypB(11d76), HypB(19d76), and SlyD( flap) (producing a deletion of residues 107111) are shown in Table 1. Parent plasmids were digested with DpnI before transforming the reaction mix into competent cells. For routine handling, plasmids were transformed into XL-2 Blue E. coli and isolated by using the Qiagen plasmid mini- or midi-prep kits. All plasmids were sequenced in the forward and reverse directions to verify the cloned sequences and mutations (ACGT, Toronto, Canada).
Protein PurificationHypB and HypB mutants were expressed in BL21(DE3) E. coli cells grown in media containing 1 mM Ni(II) (14). The proteins were purified by sequential DEAE, HiTrapQ, and Superdex S-200 columns, as described previously (14), and stored at 80 °C in the Superdex buffer (25 mM Hepes, pH 7.6, 200 mM NaCl, 1 mM TCEP). To determine the oligomeric state of HypB, the purified protein was run on an S-200 gel filtration column calibrated with
SlyD variants were expressed in a
Protein concentrations were estimated using their Iodoacetamide Modification of SlyDPurified SlyD (1 ml of 500 µM) was treated with 2 mM TCEP for 20 min and then with 50 mM iodoacetamide for 30 min with stirring at room temperature. The sample was then dialyzed against two changes of buffer (3 liters of 10 mM Hepes, 100 mM NaCl, pH 7.6) to remove the modification reagent and analyzed by ESI-MS before use. Modified SlyD has a mass of 21,196.0 Da consistent with all six cysteines having a carbamidomethyl modification (predicted 21,195.2 Da). Circular DichroismCD spectra were recorded on a Jasco J-710 spectropolarimeter with an optical path length of 1 mm. The protein concentrations were 1030 µM in 100 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. GTPase ActivityTo assay GTPase activity, released phosphate was detected by using Malachite Green in the presence of ammonium molybdate based on an adaptation of a published method as described previously (14, 37). PPIase ActivityA protease-free assay was used to measure the PPIase activity of SlyD and the variants (38). The substrate, succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-nitroanilide (Bachem Bioscience), was dissolved in trifluoroethanol that had been dried over sieves and 0.47 M LiCl. The reactions contained 35 mM Hepes, pH 7.6, and 1 µM protein and were incubated at 10 °C prior to the addition of 71 µM substrate. Isomerization was monitored at 330 nm on a Cintra 40 spectrophotometer and fit to a single exponential decay. The uncatalyzed rate was also measured, and the second-order rate constant was calculated as follows: kcat/Km = (kobs kuncat)/[enzyme].
Metal Binding and EGTA CompetitionFor all HypB variants we initially investigated whether the purified proteins had an electronic absorption band at 320 nm, which is diagnostic for bound nickel, and then prepared apoprotein from each of these proteins to test whether they bind stoichiometric nickel with an affinity comparable with wild-type HypB (Table 2) (14). Purified HypB variants were incubated with 20 mM EDTA and 2 mM TCEP in an anaerobic glove box for 72 h. The proteins were gel filtered twice through PD-10 columns equilibrated with 25 mM Hepes, pH 7.5, 100 mM NaCl. To test their reduction state, all apoproteins were treated with DTNB after dilution into 6 M guanidinium hydrochloride, and the absorbance at 412 nm was compared with a
Metal Release AssayHypB, as purified, was diluted to a final protein concentration of 5 µM into 25 mM Hepes, pH 7.5, 200 mM NaCl (buffer A) containing 100 µM PAR. The release of metal was monitored every 5 min by an increase in the absorbance at 500 nm due to the formation of the metal-PAR2 complex (39). To determine total metal in the sample (Amax), an aliquot of the same sample was treated with 100 µM parahydroxymercuribenzoic acid, and the data were converted to % metal bound (100 x (1 (A/Amax))) at a given time point and then fit to a single exponential decay equation. Data of koff versus SlyD were fit to a saturation equation to estimate the maximal metal release rate. The concentration of SlyD was then adjusted for the amount bound to HypB, assuming 1:1 binding, to yield the free SlyD concentration. These data were then fit to a saturation equation, .
Molecular Chaperone AssaysThe ability to suppress aggregation of citrate synthase (CS) was used as an assay of general molecular chaperone activity (40). Chemically denatured, reduced CS (CSden/red) was prepared by desalting an ammonium sulfate preparation (Sigma) that was first diluted 4-fold with 50 mM Tris, pH 8.0, by using a PD-10 column pre-equilibrated with 50 mM Tris, pH 8.0. CS-containing fractions were pooled, concentrated, and adjusted to 40 µM based on the monomeric mass of 48,969 Da and the published extinction coefficient at 280 nm of 1.78 absorbance units for a 1 mg/ml solution (40). The CS stock was chemically denatured and reduced by diluting the protein 4-fold in 6 M guanidinium hydrochloride and 25 mM dithiothreitol and incubating at room temperature for 2 h. For each aggregation assay 5 µl of CSden/red was diluted with 500 µl of buffer A (to a final concentration of 0.1 µM) in the presence or absence of SlyD or a SlyD variant at a 20:1 ratio (2 µM). Aggregation was monitored on a fluorimeter (Jobin Yvon) with To assay for CS reactivation, 2 µl of CSden/red was diluted in 100 µl of buffer A (to a final concentration of 0.2 µM) in the presence or absence of SlyD or a SlyD variant at a 20:1 ratio (4 µM). After 2 h, a 2-µl aliquot was removed and assayed for CS activity by diluting into 98 µl of reaction mixture (93 µl of 50 mM Tris, 2 mM EDTA, pH 8.0, 3 µl of 5 mM acetyl-CoA, 1 µl of 10 mM oxaloacetic acid, and 1 µl of 10 mM DTNB). The reaction was monitored at 412 nm because of the reaction of CoASH with DTNB, and the initial rate was compared with that of a control reaction performed with an equivalent amount of untreated CS, defined as 100% activity. Chemical Cross-linkingPurified HypB (810 µM), SlyD (1040 µM), or the appropriate variant proteins were incubated overnight at 4 °C in 10 µl of buffer A. 1-Ethyl-3-[3-dimethylamino-propyl]carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) was then added to a concentration of 5 mM, and the samples were further incubated at room temperature for 1 h. Samples were then subjected to SDS-PAGE on 12.5% polyacrylamide gels and stained with Coomassie Blue.
Cell StrainsThe Growth Condition and Preparation of Crude Cell ExtractsCells were grown aerobically in LB media overnight prior to anaerobic growth in TGYEP (44) supplemented with 1 µM sodium molybdate, 1 µM sodium selenite, 0.8% glycerol, and 15 mM sodium fumarate as well as arabinose and NiSO4 at the indicated concentrations. Cell extracts were prepared as described previously (19) and tested for hydrogenase activity under a H2(g)-containing atmosphere by using benzyl viologen as an electron acceptor according to the method of Ballantine and Boxer (45). Western BlottingCrude cell extracts were separated by SDS-PAGE, transferred onto a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane, and incubated with either a 1:1,000 dilution of anti-HypB (from Prof. A. Böck) or anti-SlyD polyclonal antibodies (prepared by immunization of rabbits with purified SlyD, Division of Comparative Medicine, University of Toronto), followed by incubation with a goat anti-rabbit-horseradish peroxidase secondary antibody (Bio-Rad). Enhanced chemiluminescence (Pierce) was used for detection.
SlyD, but Not SlyD( flap), Suppresses the Aggregation of Citrate Synthase (CS)Many PPIases exhibit molecular chaperone activity that is distinct from the PPIase activity, but some are chaperones of only a limited set of client proteins (reviewed in Ref. 23). To determine whether SlyD acts as a general molecular chaperone, experiments were performed to examine if full-length SlyD is capable of preventing the aggregation of chemically denatured, reduced CS. As shown in Fig. 2A, SlyD almost completely suppresses aggregation at a ratio of 20:1. The same in vitro assay was recently used to demonstrate that a truncated SlyD lacking part of the C-terminal tail, SlyD-(1165), acts as a molecular chaperone (26). The SlyD variant lacking the complete C-terminal tail, SlyD-(1146), has a similar activity as that reported for SlyD-(1165) (26) and is partially impaired in comparison with full-length SlyD (Fig. 2B). This result indicates that the tail does play a limited role in the molecular chaperone activity.
SlyD, like some of the other FKBPs, possesses an additional IF domain that may bind to substrates with an extended conformation (27, 28). To examine whether the IF domain has a role in the ability of SlyD to act as a molecular chaperone, we engineered a variant lacking residues 107111 (referred to as SlyD(
SlyD, but Not SlyD( flap), Can Promote CS ReactivationUpon dilution from denaturant, CS can refold to form active enzyme, but the competing aggregation pathway limits the yield of active CS. In the absence of added chaperone, unfolded CS undergoes a time-dependent refolding to a maximum of 30% initial activity (40). To confirm the chaperone capabilities of SlyD, experiments were performed to determine whether the protein would influence productive folding of CS. The refolding yield of CS is significantly enhanced in the presence of a 20-fold excess of SlyD, increasing to 68% reactivation from the 32% spontaneous refolding (Fig. 2C), a level of enhancement equivalent to that observed in the presence of a 1:1 ratio of GroEL/GroES + ATP (40). In correspondence with the aggregation suppression experiments, SlyD-(1146) promotes refolding of CS to a lesser degree than full-length SlyD, and SlyD( flap) has an effect that is only slightly above basal levels of spontaneous reactivation.
SlyD(
To determine whether one or both of the properties of SlyD disrupted in the SlyD(
HypB Linker Region Participates in Complex Formation with SlyDTo localize the site of interaction with SlyD on HypB, a chemical cross-linking experiment was first performed with SlyD and the isolated GTPase domain of HypB (residues 77290). A cross-link between the HypB GTPase domain and SlyD was not observed, and the addition of an excess of the GTPase domain did not result in a reduction in the amount of cross-link between full-length HypB and SlyD (data not shown). This result suggested that SlyD binds to the N-terminal region of HypB. As a PPIase, SlyD catalyzes isomerization in vitro on model substrates with a hydrophobic residue preceding the target proline (29) and in the sequence linking the N-terminal CXXCGC motif and the GTPase domain there is a proline-containing sequence, 28APFAPAARP36 (see Fig. 1). To assess whether this sequence is involved in the SlyD-HypB interaction, serine was substituted for the first two (underlined) of the three prolines to yield HypB(P29S,P32S). This mutation resulted in a reduced amount of cross-linked complex with SlyD (Fig. 3C) supporting the hypothesis that SlyD interacts with HypB at least partially via this proline-containing motif. A similar result was observed for a HypB(28d36) mutant, which has the sequence between residues 28 and 36 deleted. Furthermore, proteins prepared with more substantial linker deletions, HypB(19d76) and HypB(11d76), do not produce any cross-link with SlyD under our standard conditions, indicating that there is an additional site of interaction beyond the 28APFAPAARP36 sequence within this linker region (Fig. 3C and data not shown). All of the HypB variants bound stoichiometric nickel with high affinity (Table 2), were as active as wild-type HypB in the GTPase assay within experimental error, and exhibited secondary structure content similar to HypB (HypB(P29S,P32S) and HypB(28d36)) or the HypB GTPase domain (HypB(19d76) and HypB(11d76)) as assessed by CD spectroscopy (data not shown).
Impaired SlyD-HypB Complex Formation in Vitro Correlates with Decreased Hydrogenase Activation in VivoTo assess the importance of the HypB linker region in the hydrogenase metallocenter assembly pathway, arabinose-inducible plasmids expressing HypB(P29S,P32S), HypB(28d36), or HypB(11d76) were transformed into
Nickel Complements HypB MutantThe weak hydrogenase activation of HypB(11d76) could result from this HypB variant blocking Ni(II) insertion or failing to release its bound Ni(II). As has been reported previously, the addition of excess nickel to the growth media can complement to a small degree the hydrogenase-deficient phenotype of the hypB cells (Fig. 4C) (10) and, to a greater degree, the slyD cells (Fig. 4C) (19). Although the hydrogenase activities of wild-type and pBAD-HypB cells are not affected by the addition of nickel, the activity of pBAD-HypB(11d76) cells increases significantly (Fig. 4C), suggesting that the loss of interaction between HypB and SlyD can be compensated partially by the addition of nickel to the growth medium.
SlyD Stimulates Metal Release from HypBTo investigate the consequences of the interaction between SlyD and HypB, a kinetic metal release assay was employed. In this experiment released metal is captured by 4-(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol (PAR), a chromophoric metal chelator that is used to monitor metal release from proteins (39). We have previously used this assay to show that nickel is slowly released from the high affinity site of HypB (t
Metal Release Depends on HypB-SlyD Complex FormationTo determine whether the physical interaction between HypB and SlyD is required for faster metal release from HypB, the HypB and SlyD variants described above with defective complex formation in the chemical cross-linking assay were examined. The addition of SlyD(
The C-terminal Tail of SlyD Is Required in Vivo for Hydrogenase ActivationGiven that the C-terminal tail of SlyD is rich in metal-binding residues and that the protein can bind nickel ions (29), it is reasonable to suggest that this region of the protein is an important component of SlyD function in hydrogenase production, with a possible role in nickel storage. In support of this hypothesis, the hydrogenase activity of extracts from
The C-terminal Tail of SlyD Is Necessary but Not Sufficient to Stimulate Metal Release from HypBThe C-terminal tail of SlyD is involved with metal-dependent inhibition of PPIase activity (29), and it influences the molecular chaperone activity of SlyD (Fig. 2), so even though this domain of SlyD is not required for complex formation with HypB (Fig. 3B), it remained possible that it could also modulate metal release from HypB. For this reason, SlyD-(1146) was also tested in the metal release assay, and only a very slow release of metal from HypB was observed (t
SlyD derives its name from the observation that it is required for E. coli sensitivity to lysis mediated by the phage X174 protein E (21), possibly by stabilizing the E protein through direct interactions (46, 47). However, in consideration of its physiological function, the C-terminal metal-binding domain and its ability to bind metal ions led to the hypothesis that SlyD was involved in E. coli metal homeostasis (21, 29). Subsequent studies revealed that SlyD does play such a role by contributing to nickel accumulation and nickel delivery to the apohydrogenases (19). These experiments suggested that SlyD directs nickel to the hydrogenase biosynthetic pathway as a result of its interaction with HypB. In vitro experiments were also used to demonstrate that SlyD is a PPIase (29) and a molecular chaperone (26), but the roles of these activities in the biosynthesis of hydrogenase were not assessed.
The SlyD variant SlyD( On the HypB side of the SlyD-HypB complex the protein-protein contacts lie in the linker region between the NH2-CXX-CGC motif and the GTPase domain. The decrease in the interaction observed between SlyD and HypB(P29S,P32S) and the lack of a detectable interaction with HypB(11d76) suggest a proline-directed interaction with additional binding determinants in the linker region. The deficiency in complex formation in vitro correlates with reduced hydrogenase biosynthesis in vivo, which can be counteracted by excess nickel in the growth media. These results support the hypothesis that a physical interaction between SlyD and HypB is required for the role of SlyD in Ni(II) insertion into apohydrogenase.
HypB has two Ni(II)-binding sites of vastly different affinities, one in the GTPase domain that has a micromolar Kd and one involving the N-terminal CXXCGC motif that has a subpicomolar Kd (14). Given that the off-rate of the latter site is likely to be many times slower than the doubling time of E. coli, and that this site is critical for hydrogenase biosynthesis,4 an outstanding question is how metal release from this high affinity site could occur in a physiologically relevant time frame. In this study SlyD is shown to stimulate the in vitro release of Ni(II) from the high affinity site of HypB to a chromophoric indicator, perhaps by stabilizing a conformation of HypB that is more open, whereas SlyD(
The C-terminal tail of SlyD is not absolutely required for the molecular chaperone activity of SlyD, but it does enhance it, perhaps by acting as a hydrophilic lid to the polypeptide-binding site or merely increasing the solubility of complexes with denatured substrates. This domain is also not essential for the interaction between SlyD and HypB in vitro, but it is critical for the role of SlyD in hydrogenase biosynthesis. At first glance, this result implies that the putative metal storage capacity of SlyD, localized to the tail with its numerous histidine, cysteine, and carboxylate residues, is just as critical for hydrogenase activation as the ability to bind to HypB. However, the SlyD variant lacking the C-terminal tail is also deficient in the in vitro stimulation of metal release from HypB. Thus it is likely that the in vivo role of the SlyD tail is more than just metal storage, and one possible explanation is that it mediates a more accessible conformation of the Ni(II) high affinity site of HypB. In analogy, just as SlyD catalyzes in vitro transfer to the indicator PAR, this SlyD-stabilized open conformation of HypB could also allow nickel collection by the coordinating cysteines of the hydrogenase enzymes in vivo, thus facilitating nickel delivery. Several questions that remain to be resolved include whether a metal-binding site on SlyD itself or its PPIase activity are involved in the metal transfer from HypB. Although none of the other members of the PPIase superfamily have a metal-binding domain like SlyD, some have been implicated in metal homeostasis. For example, FKBP52 binds to Atox1, a metallochaperone that plays a role in delivering copper for export by the Wilson and Menkes proteins, and overexpression of FKBP52 enhances copper release in a cell culture model system (49). There are other proteins that are involved in metal homeostasis and that have polyhistidine regions. In E. coli, RcnA (formerly YohM) functions as a nickel/cobalt efflux transporter and contains a polyhistidine stretch as part of a predicted cytoplasmic loop (50). Some homologs of the accessory protein UreE, required for the metallocenter assembly of nickel-containing urease, also possess a polyhistidine region, although this region is not essential for enzyme production (3). Unlike the C-terminal tail of SlyD, however, these regions in RcnA and UreE are not rich in acidic residues or cysteine. In contrast, the two Helicobacter pylori proteins HspA and Hpn have sequences rich in a mix of metal-binding residues that can bind multiple nickel ions (5153). It is interesting to note that in this organism, which depends on both hydrogenase and urease for efficient colonization (54), the C terminus of the SlyD homolog has 3-fold fewer histidine residues than the E. coli protein, but whether the other nickel-binding proteins can functionally replace SlyD is not known.
The hydrogenase activity observed for cells expressing pBAD-HypB(11d76) resembles that observed for the slyD knock-out cells and is significantly above that observed for
In contrast, the minimal amount of activity restored in the
* This work was supported in part by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Petroleum Research Fund (American Chemical Society). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 Supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. 2 Supported by a Canada Research Chair. To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St. George St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada. Tel.: 416-978-3568; E-mail: dzamble{at}chem.utoronto.ca.
3 The abbreviations used are: FKBP, FK506-binding protein; DTNB, 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid); EDC, (1-ethyl-3-[3-dimethylaminopropyl]carbodiimide hydrochloride; PAR, 4-(2-pyridylazo)resorcinol; PPIase, peptidylprolyl isomerase; SlyD(
4 C. Mulvihill, M. R. Leach, and D. B. Zamble, manuscript in preparation.
We thank Prof. A. Böck for the generous donation of the anti-HypB antibodies as well as for the E. coli strains MC4100 and DHP-B. We also thank Dr. G. Butland and Prof. A. Emili for the slyD MC4100 and BL21(DE3) strains, and members of the Zamble laboratory for helpful discussions.
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