|








| |
Journal of Bacteriology, January 2004, p . 61-67, Vol . 186,
No . 1
Staphylococcus aureus Mevalonate Kinase: Isolation and Characterization of
an Enzyme of the Isoprenoid Biosynthetic Pathway
Natalya E . Voynova, Sandra E . Rios,
and Henry M . Miziorko*
Biochemistry Department, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
53226
Received 5 June 2003/ Accepted 1 October 2003
It has been proposed that isoprenoid biosynthesis in several
gram-positive cocci depends on the mevalonate pathway for conversion
of acetyl coenzyme A to isopentenyl diphosphate . Mevalonate kinase
catalyzes a key reaction in this pathway . In this study the enzyme
from Staphylococcus aureus was expressed in Escherichia
coli, isolated in a highly purified form, and characterized . The
overall amino acid sequence of this enzyme was very heterologous
compared with the sequences of eukaryotic mevalonate kinases .
Analysis by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
and analytical gel filtration chromatography suggested that the
native enzyme is a monomer with a molecular mass of approximately 33
kDa . The specific activity was 12 U/mg, and the pH optimum was 7.0 to
8.5 . The apparent Km values for R,S-mevalonate and
ATP were 41 and 339 µM, respectively . There was substantial
substrate inhibition at millimolar levels of mevalonate . The
sensitivity to feedback inhibition by farnesyl diphosphate and its
sulfur-containing analog, farnesyl thiodiphosphate, was
characterized . These compounds were competitive inhibitors with
respect to ATP; the Ki values were 46 and 45 µM for farnesyl
diphosphate and its thio analog, respectively . Parallel measurements
with heterologous eukaryotic mevalonate kinases indicated that
S . aureus mevalonate kinase is much less sensitive to feedback
inhibition (Ki difference, 3 orders of magnitude) than the
human enzyme . In contrast, both enzymes tightly bound
trinitrophenyl-ATP, a fluorescent substrate analog, suggesting that
there are similarities in structural features that are important for
catalytic function .
During isoprenoid biosynthesis in most eubacteria the methyl
erythritol 4-phosphate pathway is used for production of isopentenyl
diphosphate . In contrast, animals, yeast, and archaea produce
isopentenyl diphosphate by the better-characterized mevalonate
pathway . Recently, it has been reported (23) that the genomes
of several gram-positive cocci encode enzymes of the mevalonate
pathway and that survival of these bacteria requires this pathway .
The genes that have been proposed to encode enzymes of the mevalonate
pathway in gram-positive cocci are heterologous with the coding
sequences for comparable enzymes in higher organisms . However, the
function of the mevalonate pathway in these bacteria is supported by
characterization of Enterococcus faecalis
3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) synthase (20),
as well as a dual-function protein, acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase/HMG-CoA
reductase (9) . Recently, phosphomevalonate kinase
activity has been observed for a protein from Streptococcus
pneumoniae (15) . In contrast, there has not been
substantial characterization of mevalonate kinase isolated from any
gram-positive coccus .
Mevalonate kinase (EC 2.7.1.36) catalyzes the following reaction
(the reaction is divalent cation dependent, and Mn2+ supports
25% of the activity measured with Mg2+):
 |
This enzyme is a key enzyme (22) in the mevalonate pathway
for biosynthesis of isopentenyl diphosphate . In fact, genetic defects
that decrease enzyme activity in humans (11) correlate
with inherited diseases such as mevalonic aciduria and
hyperimmunoglobulin D syndrome . Such observations underscore the
ability of mevalonate kinase to influence isoprenoid biosynthesis in
animals . The enzyme in gram-positive bacteria has not been as
extensively characterized as its counterpart in animals and plants (2,
16, 17, 19,
21), and given the significant differences between the
predicted amino acid sequences of animal and bacterial proteins,
significant differences between the properties of theses enzymes
seem probable . Such differences could make bacterial mevalonate
kinase an attractive target for design of antibiotics .
In this report we describe expression, isolation, and characterization
of Staphylococcus aureus mevalonate kinase . Our observations
provide support for the function of the mevalonate pathway in
gram-positive bacteria . A comparison of the properties of the
bacterial enzyme with the properties of animal mevalonate kinases
provided insight into some differences between isoprenoid metabolism
in prokaryotes and isoprenoid metabolism in eukaryotes . The contrasts
in feedback inhibition between the heterologous enzymes are examples
of such differences .
Materials. Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) cells were
obtained from Novagen . DNA purification kits were purchased from
Qiagen and Sigma . A pET-23a plasmid, modified to include the open
reading frame proposed to encode S . aureus mevalonate kinase
as an insert (untagged and unfused) between the NdeI and
EcoRI restriction sites, was a generous gift from Imogen Wilding
and Mehul Patel (GlaxoSmithKline) . Recombinant human and rat
mevalonate kinases were expressed and isolated as previously
described (16, 17) .
Low-molecular-weight protein sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide
gel electrophoresis (PAGE) markers were obtained from Bio-Rad .
2'(3')-O-(2,4,6-Trinitrophenyl)ATP (TNP-ATP) was obtained from
Molecular Probes . Farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) was purchased from
Echelon Biosciences (Salt Lake City, Utah) . Farnesyl thiodiphosphate
(FSPP) was a generous gift from C . D . Poulter (University of Utah) .
ATP, ß-NADH, dithiothreitol (DTT), phosphoenolpyruvate,
DL-mevalonic acid lactone, and other reagents were
purchased from Sigma, unless specified otherwise .
Mevalonate kinase assay. Routine measurement of enzyme
activity was performed spectrophotometrically at 30°C by using a
1.0-ml mixture which contained 100 µmol of HEPES (pH 7.5), 100 µmol
of KCl, 0.2 µmol of phosphoenolpyruvate, 0.5 µmol of DTT, 0.16 µmol
of NADH, 10 µmol of MgCl2, 4 U of lactate dehydrogenase,
4 U of pyruvate kinase, 5.0 µmol of ATP, and 0.8 µmol of
DL-mevalonate . Activity was calculated by using the
extinction coefficient for NADH at 340 nm (6.22 cm-1 mM-1) .
Specific activity was expressed in units of enzyme activity per
milligram of protein, where 1 U corresponded to formation of 1 µmol
of product min-1 . The protein concentration was determined
by the Bradford assay (4) by using bovine serum
albumin as the standard .
Expression and purification of S . aureus mevalonate kinase.
A single colony of E . coli BL21(DE) containing the S . aureus
mevalonate kinase expression plasmid pSaMK, obtained from a
plate containing Luria-Bertani medium with ampicillin (0.1 mg/ml),
was used to inoculate 10 ml of the same medium, which was incubated
overnight at 37°C . The resulting culture was used to inoculate 1
liter of Luria-Bertani medium containing ampicillin that was
incubated at 22°C for 24 h with shaking at 200 rpm . Then the cells (A600,
3.8) were induced with 1 mM IPTG (isopropylthiogalactoside) and
harvested after 7 h of induction (A600, 4.7 to 5.2) by
centrifugation (4,000 x g;
15 min) . The cells were suspended in a buffer containing 20 mM
potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) 0.5 mM DTT, 0.5 mM
phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, and 1 µg of DNase per ml and were
lysed by passage twice through a French pressure cell at 11,000 lb/in2 .
The lysate was centrifuged at 100,000 x g
for 1 h, and the supernatant was dialyzed overnight at 4°C
against 4 liters of buffer containing 20 mM potassium phosphate
buffer (pH 7.5) and 0.5 mM DTT .
The dialysate was applied to a Sephadex Fast Q anion-exchange
column (1.5 by 35 cm) equilibrated with the buffer used for dialysis .
The column was washed until the A280 of the effluent
was <0.2 . Proteins were eluted by using a 1-liter gradient of
20 to 100 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) with 0.5 mM DTT .
Mevalonate kinase eluted in a highly purified form (Fig .
1) as a sharp peak early in the gradient . Fractions containing
peak enzyme activity that were electrophoretically pure were
pooled and concentrated by ultrafiltration to a concentration of
approximately 2 mg/ml . Approximately 75% of the activity in the
dialyzed supernatant was recovered in the pooled anion-exchange
chromatography fractions . Fivefold purification was accomplished by
anion-exchange chromatography, and on average, the yield was 90 mg of
enzyme with a specific activity of 12.4 ± 0.9 U/mg (mean ± estimated
error) at 30°C .
|
FIG . 1 . SDS-PAGE of S . aureus mevalonate kinase at different
stages of purification . A 12.5% polyacrylamide gel was electrophoresed
under denaturing conditions, and protein was detected by staining with
Coomassie brilliant blue . Lanes 2 and 3 contained 12 µg of protein, and
lane 4 contained 5 µg of protein . Lane 1, molecular mass standards,
including phosphorylase b (97.4 kDa), bovine serum albumin (66
kDa), ovalbumin (45 kDa), carbonic anhydrase (31kDa), trypsin inhibitor
(21.5kDa), and lysozyme (14.4 kDa); lane 2, soluble fraction after
bacterial disruption with a French pressure cell; lane 3, dialyzed
soluble bacterial extract; lane 4, eluate from a Sephadex Fast Q column.
|
|
Kinetic studies. To determine the maximal velocities (Vmax)
and Michaelis constants (Km) for substrates, the
ATP concentration was varied from 0.02 to 5 mM and the mevalonic acid
concentration was varied from 0.02 to 0.60 mM . Higher mevalonic acid
concentrations were employed when substrate inhibition by this
metabolite was investigated . To determine steady-state kinetic
constants, data were subjected to nonlinear regression fits to the
Michaelis-Menten equation (13) by using the Grafit
programs (Erithacus Software) . To determine the inhibition constants
for FPP and FSPP, the same program was used for linear fits of slopes
(from double-reciprocal plots) as a function of inhibitor
concentration .
Native and subunit molecular weights of S . aureus mevalonate
kinase. The SDS-PAGE mobility of denatured S . aureus mevalonate
kinase, when plotted on a calibration curve constructed for molecular
mass standards, suggested that the subunit molecular mass was
33.1 kDa under the denaturing conditions used . This estimate is in
good agreement with the molecular mass (32.9 kDa) calculated from the
amino acid composition deduced from the open reading frame .
Analytical gel filtration was performed under nondenaturing
conditions by using a Superose 12 fast protein liquid chromatography
(FPLC) column equilibrated with 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.50 containing 0.15
M KCl) . Based on a calibration curve for molecular mass standards
(Fig . 2), the elution properties of the enzyme, which
produced a single symmetric peak, suggested that the molecular
mass is 34.5 kDa, which is consistent with the molecular mass of a
monomeric native enzyme .
|
FIG . 2 . Analytical gel filtration chromatography of S . aureus
mevalonate kinase . The line is the calibration curve used to estimate
the native molecular weight based on the elution position during
analytical gel filtration from a Superose 12 FPLC column (1 by 30 cm) .
Analytical gel filtration was performed by using a Superose 12 10/30
FPLC column (Pharmacia) equilibrated with 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.5)
containing 0.15 M KCl . The flow rate was 0.4 ml/min, and 100 µl of
protein (1 to 3 mg/ml) was applied; protein elution was monitored by
determining the absorbance at 280 nm . The void volume was determined by
using blue dextran . The calibration curve is a plot of log molecular
weight (log Mw) of protein versus ratio of the elution volume to the
void volume (Ve/Vo) . The molecular weight standards that were used to
estimate the native molecular weight included bovine serum albumin
(molecular weight, 66,000) ( ),
ovalbumin (45,000) ( ),
carbonic anhydrase (31,000) ( ),
and chymotrypsinogen (21,000) ( ) .
•, mevalonate kinase.
|
|
Kinetic characterization of S . aureus mevalonate kinase.
Steady-state rate estimates that were obtained by using a range of
ATP concentrations and a fixed, noninhibitory level of R,S-mevalonic
acid (0.44 mM) indicated that the apparent Km was 339 ±
23 µM (mean ± estimated error) for ATP . Replotting of data sets
collected at several different fixed levels of mevalonic acid
indicated that the limiting or true Km was 136µM
for ATP . Similarly, measurements of the rate that were obtained by
using a fixed ATP concentration (5 mM) and R,S-mevalonate
levels that ranged from 0.02 to 0.60 mM indicated that the apparent
Km was 41 ± 3 µM (mean ± estimated error) for
mevalonate . Analysis of data sets collected at different fixed levels
of ATP indicated that the limiting or true Km was
35 µM for mevalonate . At higher levels of mevalonate, substrate
inhibition was observed . A double-reciprocal plot of rate versus
mevalonate concentration (including the range at which substrate
inhibition was evident) amply demonstrated the inhibitory effect
(Fig . 3) . The concentration required for a 50%
decrease compared with the optimal rate was estimated to be 2.88 ±
0.37 mM (mean ± estimated error) . A test performed with mevalonate
5-diphosphate indicated that there was no inhibition at
concentrations up to 0.8 mM .
|
FIG . 3 . Substrate inhibition of S . aureus mevalonate kinase . A
plot of 1/rate (1/ )
versus 1/[R,S-mevalonate]-1 (1/[R,S-MVA]) is
shown . The experiments were performed with 4.5 mM ATP, 10 mM Mg2+,
and different concentrations of R,S-mevalonate (0.022 to
2.18 mM) . A 50% decrease in the optimal rate was calculated to
correspond to a mevalonate concentration of 2.88 mM.
|
|
Product inhibition experiments in which mevalonate 5-phosphate was
tested against ATP at a fixed, unsaturating level of mevalonic acid
(92 µM) indicated that there was mixed, noncompetitive inhibition (Ki(slope)
= 1.98 mM; Ki(intercept) = 4.43 mM) . Mixed,
noncompetitive inhibition was also observed when mevalonate
5-phosphate was tested with mevalonate at a fixed unsaturating level
of ATP (0.139 mM) (Ki(slope) = 2.23 mM; Ki(intercept)
= 2.87 mM) . In contrast, an uncompetitive inhibition pattern
for mevalonate 5-phosphate was observed when a fixed, saturating
level of ATP (7.5 mM) was employed (Ki = 1.56 mM) . These
product inhibition patterns are diagnostic for an ordered sequential
mechanism in which the substrate mevalonate binds before ATP
and the product mevalonate 5-phosphate is released before ADP . In
this respect, the S . aureus enzyme has a kinetic mechanism
similar to that reported for the hog liver enzyme (2) .
A plot of the pH dependence of Vmax, extrapolated from data
obtained with different concentrations of ATP (Fig . 4),
indicated that there was a broad optimum pH range (pH 7.0 to 8.5) . A
similar pH profile was obtained when Vmax was
estimated by extrapolation from data obtained with different
concentrations of mevalonate .
|
FIG . 4 . pH optimum for S . aureus mevalonate kinase . Vmax
was determined by the spectrophotometic assay with variable ATP
concentrations . The reaction was studied over a pH range from 5.5 to 9.5
by utilizing morpholineethanesulfonic acid (MES), HEPES, N-tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl-3-aminopropane
sulfonic acid (TAPS), and 3-N-cyclohexylamino-2-hydroxypropane
sulfonic acid (CAPSO) buffers in an overlapping manner . At the extremes
of the pH range studied, additional coupling enzymes were utilized to
ensure that accurate estimates of mevalonate kinase activity were
obtained . Mevalonate kinase stability was evaluated over the pH range to
ensure that no significant loss of activity occurred over the time
course of the kinetic measurements . Assay mixtures containing all the
components except the variable substrate, coupling enzymes, and
mevalonate kinase were prepared, and the pH value was adjusted and
confirmed to be the reported value; the pH value was reconfirmed after
the remaining reagents were added and the initial rate was determined .
The steady-state parameters at each pH were determined by nonlinear
regression fits of the data . Calculated fits of Vmax
as a function of pH were determined by using the program TableCurve 2D
to fit the data to the following equation:
where
y is Vmax, Co is the
pH-independent plateau value, [H+] is the proton
concentration, K1 is the ionization constant for an
acidic group, and K2 is the ionization constant for a
basic group (6) . The theoretical curve shown as the
best fit to the data was calculated by using pK values of 6.1 and 9.4
for ascending and descending limbs, respectively . Due to the limited pH
range over which the enzyme is stable, these pK values (which fall
either close to the limit or outside the pH range over which data could
be collected) should not be interpreted as suggesting pK values for
ionization of amino acid side chains or substrate functional groups but
rather reflect the values that produced the best curve fit to data . The
broad pH optimum for enzyme activity is pH 7.0 to 8.5.
|
|
The rate of the mevalonate kinase reaction was measured as a function
of the ATP concentration by using several fixed concentrations of FPP
or FSPP (14) . In both cases, competitive inhibition with
respect to ATP was observed (Fig . 5) . Secondary plots of
slope versus inhibitor concentration indicated that the Ki
values were 46 µM for FPP and 45 µM for FSPP (Fig . 6) .
For comparative purposes, Fig . 6 also shows similar
slope-versus-inhibitor plots for data generated by using human and
rat mevalonate kinases . The results (Table 1)
underscore the large difference in sensitivity to feedback inhibition
between heterologous mevalonate kinases from prokaryotic and
eukaryotic sources . Preliminary measurements for purified E .
faecalis mevalonate kinase (provided by M . Hedl and V . W .
Rodwell, Purdue University) suggested that this enzyme from another
gram-positive bacterium exhibits sensitivity to FPP inhibition (Ki
= 45 µM) that is comparable to that of the S . aureus enzyme .
|
FIG . 5 . Inhibition of S . aureus mevalonate kinase by FPP (top
panel) and FSPP (bottom panel) . The rate of mevalonate kinase activity
was measured as a function of ATP concentration without inhibitors, as
well as with several fixed concentrations of FPP or FSPP .
Double-reciprocal plots of enzyme activities (measured by using 4.2 µg
of purified enzyme) as a function of ATP concentration are shown . The
ATP concentration ranged from 0.1 to 1.25 mM for the FPP experiments and
from 0.2 to 1.25 mM for the FSPP experiments . The FPP concentrations
used were 0 µM ( ),
15 µM ( ),
30 µM ( ),
45 µM ( ),
and 60 µM ( ) .
The FSPP concentrations used were 0 µM ( ),
24.5 µM (•), 49 µM ( ),
and 73.5 µM ( ).
|
|
|
FIG . 6 . Comparison of FPP inhibition and FSPP inhibition of recombinant
S . aureus (A), human (B), and rat (C) mevalonate kinases . The
rate of mevalonate kinase activity was measured as a function of the ATP
concentration without FPP and with several fixed concentrations of
either FPP ( )
or FSPP (•) . Secondary plots show the slopes from double-reciprocal
plots versus corresponding inhibitor concentrations . The ATP
concentrations used ranged from 0.1 to 1.25 mM for FPP inhibition and
from 0.2 to 1.25 mM for FSPP inhibition . The concentrations of FPP used
were 15, 30, 45, and 60 µM for S . aureus mevalonate kinase; 50,
70, 100, and 200 nM for human mevalonate kinase; and 100, 400, and 1,000
nM for rat mevalonate kinase . The concentrations of FSPP used were 24.5,
49, and 73.5 µM for the S . aureus enzyme; 40, 75, and 100 nM for
the human enzyme; and 400, 700, and 1,000 nM for the rat enzyme . The
estimated Ki values of FPP for the S . aureus,
human, and rat enzymes are 46 µM, 35 nM, and 348 nM, respectively . The
estimated Ki values of FSPP for the S . aureus,
human, and rat enzymes are 45 µM, 29 nM, and 473 nM, respectively.
|
|
| TABLE 1 . Feedback inhibition of mevalonate kinase
|
|
Binding of a fluorescent ATP analog. Previous studies (5)
demonstrated that TNP-ATP, a fluorescent analog of the substrate ATP,
can be used as a tight binding agent for titration of human
mevalonate kinase . A test of the binding of this reagent to S .
aureus mevalonate kinase indicated that this protein also is
titrated by the reagent (Fig . 7) . Binding
correlated with a strong blue shift of the emission maximum (from 557
to 535 nm) for this fluorescent analog, suggesting that there is a
nonpolar environment for TNP-ATP in its binary complex with the
enzyme . Extrapolation of lines fitted to the low- and high-occupancy
regions of the titration data indicated that the binding
stoichiometry was 0.62 TNP-ATP molecule per enzyme subunit, a value
which is comparable to the estimate for the heterologous human
mevalonate kinase . Thus, binding determinants for TNP-ATP may be
similar despite the lack of strong overall sequence homology .
|
FIG . 7 . Fluorescence titration of S . aureus mevalonate kinase
with TNP-ATP . An Aminco SLM 4800C spectrofluorimeter was used to obtain
measurements; the excitation wavelength was 408 nm, and the emission
spectra were scanned at wavelengths from 500 to 600 nm . Tris-HCl buffer
(10 mM; pH 7.5) was used in all experiments . For data analysis, the
values measured at a fluorescence emission peak of 535 nm for
enzyme-bound TNP-ATP were corrected for free TNP-ATP fluorescence; thus,
the enhancement of fluorescence is shown, and these data were used in
the binding analyses . Sequential additions of TNP-ATP were made to a
fluorescence cuvette containing the enzyme site at a concentration of 3
µM . The binding stoichiometry for nonequilibrium complexes was
determined (1, 7, 18)
from the intersection point of lines fitted to the low-occupancy and
plateau regions of the titration data by linear regression analyses . The
calculated binding stoichiometry for TNP-ATP (0.62) reflects the number
of binding sites per 33-kDa subunit . MK, mevalonate kinase.
|
|
The deduced sequences of the proposed prokaryotic mevalonate kinases
exhibit interesting similarities and differences with the sequences
of eukaryotic forms of the enzyme . For example, key amino acids that
influence substrate binding or catalytic efficiency (Fig.
8) include invariant lysine (16), aspartate
(17), glutamate (17), and serine (5)
residues . Structural results (8, 24)
have confirmed that these residues are situated at the active site .
In the case of S . aureus mevalonate kinase, these residues are
lysine-12, aspartate-145, glutamate-134, and serine-102 (Fig.
8) . The importance of aspartate-145 is supported by the
properties of the D145C mutant, which substitutes a thiolate
anion for the carboxylate; a 65-fold decrease in specific activity
(Rios and Voynova, unpublished observations) confirmed the importance
of the active site carboxylate . The S . aureus enzyme, like many
other putative prokaryotic mevalonate kinases, is shorter (306
residues, 32.9 kDa) than the eukaryotic enzymes, which are proteins
that contain approximately 400 residues . Despite the shorter protein
sequence, our results with the isolated enzyme demonstrate that S .
aureus mevalonate kinase is very effective in catalyzing
phosphorylation of mevalonic acid (see above) . In this context, it is
interesting that in prokaryotic mevalonate kinases there is not a
C-terminal region corresponding to the region which harbors human
mevalonate kinase valine-377; mutation of this residue has been
suggested to account for inherited disease (10).
S . aureus mevalonate kinase contains two cysteines (residues
196 and 234) . These amino acids are accessible to dithiobisnitrobenzoic
acid modification, which virtually eliminates enzyme activity .
However, a comparison of animal, plant, fungal, and bacterial
mevalonate kinases indicated that there are no invariant cysteines,
suggesting that these residues are not crucial for catalytic function
even though modifications of them impair function . In this context,
mutagenic replacement of these residues (C196S, C234S/A/N) indicated
that C196 is not crucial for enzyme function but suggested that
replacement of C234 by serine, alanine, or asparagine results in an
unstable protein (Rios, unpublished observations) .
|
FIG . 8 . Conservation of catalytic residues in S . aureus and
eukaryotic mevalonate kinases.
|
|
In addition to the differences between the subunit sizes of
prokaryotic mevalonate kinases and the subunit sizes of eukaryotic
mevalonate kinases, there may also be differences in quaternary
structure . The eukaryotic mevalonate kinases (2,
16, 17, 19,
21) appear to be dimers under native conditions, and a
dimeric rat protein has been observed under crystalline conditions (8) .
The situation is less clear for the prokaryotic proteins . The
His-tagged form of the Methanococcus jannaschii enzyme has been
proposed to be a dimer (12) . However, in the
crystalline state (24), a monomer has been
observed . Based on our gel filtration data, the untagged, unfused
S . aureus mevalonate kinase appears to be a monomeric species
under native conditions . It remains to be established whether a
consensus will develop concerning the quaternary structure of the
prokaryotic enzymes . Certainly, based on functional studies (5,
16, 17) and the crystal structure
of animal mevalonate kinase (8), there appears to be no
reason why a monomer could not be functional .
There is considerable variability in the reported efficacy of
feedback inhibition of mevalonate kinase by FPP . This may be due to
the use of different assay methods, assay buffers, or sources of
inhibitor in studies . Both the rat (21) and M . jannaschii
(12) enzymes have been reported to be sensitive to
inhibition by micromolar levels of FPP . A report for human mevalonate
kinase (17) suggested that there was effective
inhibition at much lower levels (10-8 M) . In this study,
parallel measurements of S . aureus, human, and rat enzymes
indicated that there was a genuine difference in sensitivity to
inhibition not only by FPP but also by the analog FSPP, which
inhibits as well as the authentic metabolite (Table 1) .
There is an approximate difference of 3 orders of magnitude between
the Ki values for the prokaryotic enzyme (46 µM for
FPP, 45 µM for FSPP) and the Ki values for the
human enzyme (35 nM for FPP, 29 nM for FSPP) . While the rat enzyme is
characterized by slightly elevated Ki values
compared with the values for human mevalonate kinase, there is a
difference of approximately 2 orders of magnitude between the Ki
values for the prokaryotic and rat enzymes . While FPP is a
competitive inhibitor with respect to ATP for both prokaryotic and
eukaryotic enzymes, the molecular basis for its effect remains to be
established . It may be anticipated that the inhibitor competes for
the ATP site because the phosphoryl groups bind in the region
normally occupied by the alpha, beta, and/or gamma phosphoryls of
ATP . However, the high affinity exhibited upon FPP binding to animal
mevalonate kinase suggests that the farnesyl moiety contributes to
the binding energy and raises a question concerning its binding
interactions . Superposition of the molecular structures of rat
mevalonate kinase (8), which binds FPP reasonably
tightly, and the M . jannaschii enzyme (24),
which binds this inhibitor much more weakly (12), revealed
some overall differences between these proteins, but much smaller
differences in the area around the ATP site were detected . Thus,
structural differences between the prokaryotic and eukaryotic
proteins do not immediately suggest a binding locus for the farnesyl
moiety . The utility of comparisons of these structures is limited
since there is no structure available for mevalonate kinase with both
ATP and phosphoryl acceptor sites occupied . Additionally, comparisons
that are relevant to the S . aureus enzyme are complicated by
the fact that this enzyme does not exhibit high overall homology to
either the animal or the M . jannaschii enzyme . More
information concerning the orientation of FPP bound to either the
prokaryotic enzyme or the eukaryotic enzyme or both would be useful
for addressing the differences in efficacy of the inhibitor .
Nonetheless, the feedback inhibition results underscore the
functional differences between the highly heterologous prokaryotic
and eukaryotic mevalonate kinases . In recent years, work on HMG-CoA
reductase proteins has led to the conclusion that there are two
classes of enzymes (3); these classes correlate
with different sensitivities to the statin class of HMG-CoA
inhibitors . Perhaps additional study of prokaryotic and eukaryotic
mevalonate kinases will result in similar assignments of these
enzymes to classes that correlate with functional differences . Given
the development of S . aureus strains that are resistant to
antibiotics that previously were efficacious, it seems possible that
functional differences between human and S . aureus mevalonate
kinases might be exploited in an attempt to remedy resistance to
existing antibiotics .
We are grateful to Imogen Wilding and Mehul Patel for providing the
expression plasmid used for production of recombinant S . aureus
mevalonate kinase . We also thank C . Dale Poulter for the gift of
FSPP .
This work was supported in part by NIH grant DK 53766
* Corresponding author . Mailing address: Medical College of
Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226 . Phone: (414)
456-8437 . Fax: (414) 456-6570 . E-mail:
miziorko@mcw.edu .
Present address: GlycoFi Inc., Lebanon, NH 03766 .
- Bagshaw, C . R., and D . A . Harris. 1988 . Measurement of
ligand binding to proteins, p . 91-113 . In D . A . Harris and C . L .
Bashford (ed.), Spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry . IRL Press,
Washington, D.C.
- Beytia, E., K . L . Dorsey, J . Marr, W . W . Cleland, and J . W .
Porter. 1970 . Purification and mechanism of action of hog liver mevalonate
kinase . J . Biol . Chem . 245:5450-5458 .
- Bochar, D . A., C . V . Stauffacher, and V . W . Rodwell.
1999 . Sequence comparisons reveal two classes of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl
coenzyme A reductase . Mol . Genet . Metab . 66:122-127.
- Bradford, M . M. 1976 . A rapid and sensitive method for
the quantitation of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of
protein-dye binding . Anal . Biochem . 72:248-254.
- Cho, Y . K., S . E . Rios, J . J . Kim, and H . M . Miziorko.
2001 . Investigation of the invariant serine/threonine residues in mevalonate
kinase . Tests of the functional significance of a proposed substrate binding
motif and a site implicated in human inherited disease . J . Biol . Chem . 276:12573-12578 .
- Cleland, W . W. 1979 . Statistical analysis of enzyme
kinetic data . Methods Enzymol . 63:103-138.
- Davenport, D. 1971 . Use of fluorescence in binding
studies, p . 203-240 . In A . J . Pesce, C . G . Rosen, and T . L . Pasby
(ed.), Fluorescence spectroscopy . Marcel Dekker, New York, N.Y.
- Fu, Z., M . Wang, D . Potter, H . M . Miziorko, and J . J . Kim.
2002 . The structure of a binary complex between a mammalian mevalonate kinase
and ATP: insights into the reaction mechanism and human inherited disease . J .
Biol . Chem . 277:18134-18142 .
- Hedl, M., A . Sutherlin, E . I . Wilding, M . Mazzulla, D .
McDevitt, P . Lane, J . W . Burgner II, K . R . Lehnbeuter, C . V . Stauffacher, M .
N . Gwynn, and V . W . Rodwell. 2002 . Enterococcus faecalis
acetoacetyl-coenzyme A thiolase/3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A
reductase, a dual-function protein of isopentenyl diphosphate biosynthesis . J .
Bacteriol . 184:2116-2122 .
- Houten, S . M., W . Kuis, M . Duran, T . J . de Koning, A . van
Royen-Kerkhof, G . J . Romeijn, J . Frenkel, L . Dorland, M . M . de Barse, W . A .
Huijbers, G . T . Rijkers, H . R . Waterham, R . J . Wanders, and B . T . Poll-The.
1999 . Mutations in MVK, encoding mevalonate kinase, cause
hyperimmunoglobulinaemia D and periodic fever syndrome . Nat . Genet . 22:175-177.
- Houten, S . M., R . J . Wanders, and H . R . Waterham. 2000 .
Biochemical and genetic aspects of mevalonate kinase and its deficiency .
Biochim . Biophys . Acta 1529:19-32.
- Huang, K . X., A . I . Scott, and G . N . Bennett. 1999 .
Overexpression, purification, and characterization of the thermostable
mevalonate kinase from Methanococcus jannaschii. Protein Expr . Purif.
17:33-40.
- Leatherbarrow, R . J. 1992 . Grafit, version 3.0 .
Erithacus Software Ltd., Staines, United Kingdom.
- Phan, R . M., and C . D . Poulter. 2001 . Synthesis of (S)-isoprenoid
thiodiphosphates as substrates and inhibitors . J . Org . Chem . 66:6705-6710.
- Pilloff, D., K . Dabovic, M . J . Romanowski, J . B . Bonanno, M .
Doherty, S . K . Burley, and T . S . Leyh. 2003 . The kinetic mechanism of
phosphomevalonate kinase . J . Biol . Chem . 278:4510-5415 .
- Potter, D., J . M . Wojnar, C . Narasimhan, and H . M . Miziorko.
1997 . Identification and functional characterization of an active-site lysine
in mevalonate kinase . J . Biol . Chem . 272:5741-5746 .
- Potter, D., and H . M . Miziorko. 1997 . Identification of
catalytic residues in human mevalonate kinase . J . Biol . Chem . 272:25449-25454 .
- Runquist, J . A., C . Narasimhan, C . E . Wolff, H . A . Koteiche,
and H . M . Miziorko. 1996 . Rhodobacter sphaeroides
phosphoribulokinase: binary and ternary complexes with nucleotide substrate
analogs and effectors . Biochemistry 35:15049-15056.
- Schulte, A . E., R . van der Heijden, and R . Verpoorte.
2000 . Purification and characterization of mevalonate kinase from
suspension-cultured cells of Catharanthus roseus (L.) . Arch . Biochem .
Biophys . 378:287-298.
- Sutherlin, A., M . Hedl, B . Sanchez-Neri, J . W . Burgner II,
C . V . Stauffacher, and V . W . Rodwell. 2002 . Enterococcus faecalis
3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A synthase, an enzyme of isopentenyl
diphosphate biosynthesis . J . Bacteriol . 184:4065-4070 .
- Tanaka, R . D., B . L . Schafer, L . Y . Lee, J . S .
Freudenberger, and S . T . Mosley. 1990 . Purification and regulation
mevalonate kinase from rat liver . J . Biol . Chem . 265:2391-2398 .
- Tchen, T . T. 1958 . Mevalonic kinase: purification and
properties . J . Biol . Chem . 233:1100-1103.
- Wilding, E . I., J . R . Brown, A . P . Bryant, A . F . Chalker, D .
J . Holmes, K . A . Ingraham, S . Iordanescu, C . Y . So, M . Rosenberg, and M . N .
Gwynn. 2000 . Identification, evolution, and essentiality of the mevalonate
pathway for isopentenyl diphosphate biosynthesis in gram-positive cocci . J .
Bacteriol . 182:4319-4327 .
- Yang, D., L . W . Shipman, C . A . Roessner, A . I . Scott, and J .
C . Sacchettini. 2002 . Structure of the Methanococcus jannaschii
mevalonate kinase, a member of the of GHMP kinase superfamily . J . Biol . Chem.
277:9462-9467 .
Free Online Full-text Article
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
|