4D3H

Complex Structure and Biochemical Characterization of the Staphylococcus Aureus Cyclic Di-AMP Binding Protein Psta, the Founding Member of a New Signal Transduction Protein Family

(2015) J Biol Chem 290: 2888

• PubMed: 25505271 Search on PubMedSearch on PubMed Central
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M114.621789
• Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
  4D3G, 4D3H


• PubMed Abstract: 
  

  Signaling nucleotides are integral parts of signal transduction systems allowing bacteria to cope with and rapidly respond to changes in the environment. The Staphylococcus aureus PII-like signal transduction protein PstA was recently identified as a cyclic diadenylate monophosphate (c-di-AMP)-binding protein. Here, we present the crystal structures of the apo- and c-di-AMP-bound PstA protein, which is trimeric in solution as well as in the crystals. The structures combined with detailed bioinformatics analysis revealed that the protein belongs to a new family of proteins with a similar core fold but with distinct features to classical PII proteins, which usually function in nitrogen metabolism pathways in bacteria. The complex structure revealed three identical c-di-AMP-binding sites per trimer with each binding site at a monomer-monomer interface. Although distinctly different from other cyclic-di-nucleotide-binding sites, as the half-binding sites are not symmetrical, the complex structure also highlighted common features for c-di-AMP-binding sites. A comparison between the apo and complex structures revealed a series of conformational changes that result in the ordering of two anti-parallel β-strands that protrude from each monomer and allowed us to propose a mechanism on how the PstA protein functions as a signaling transduction protein.

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Organizational Affiliation: 

From the Section of Microbiology and MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection.