Project description:Bacterial α-type carbonic anhydrase (α-CA) is a zinc metalloenzyme that catalyzes the reversible and extremely rapid interconversion of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate. In this study, we report the first crystal structure of a hyperthermostable α-CA from Persephonella marina EXH1 (pm CA) in the absence and presence of competitive inhibitor, acetazolamide. The structure reveals a compactly folded pm CA homodimer in which each monomer consists of a 10-stranded β-sheet in the center. The catalytic zinc ion is coordinated by three highly conserved histidine residues with an exchangeable fourth ligand (a water molecule, a bicarbonate anion, or the sulfonamide group of acetazolamide). Together with an intramolecular disulfide bond, extensive interfacial networks of hydrogen bonds, ionic and hydrophobic interactions stabilize the dimeric structure and are likely responsible for the high thermal stability. We also identified novel binding sites for calcium ions at the crystallographic interface, which serve as molecular glue linking negatively charged and otherwise repulsive surfaces. Furthermore, this large negatively charged patch appears to further increase the thermostability at alkaline pH range via favorable charge-charge interactions between pm CA and solvent molecules. These findings may assist development of novel α-CAs with improved thermal and/or alkaline stability for applications such as CO2 capture and sequestration.
Project description:Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) have been identified as ideal catalysts for CO2 sequestration. Here, we report the sequence and structural analyses as well as the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of four γ-CAs from thermophilic bacteria. Three of these, Persephonella marina, Persephonella hydrogeniphila, and Thermosulfidibacter takaii originate from hydrothermal vents and one, Thermus thermophilus HB8, from hot springs. Protein sequences were retrieved and aligned with previously characterized γ-CAs, revealing differences in the catalytic pocket residues. Further analysis of the structures following homology modeling revealed a hydrophobic patch in the catalytic pocket, presumed important for CO2 binding. Monitoring of proton shuttling residue His69 (P. marina γ-CA numbering) during MD simulations of P. hydrogeniphila and P. marina's γ-CAs (γ-PhCA and γ-PmCA), showed a different behavior to that observed in the γ-CA of Escherichia coli, which periodically coordinates Zn2+. This work also involved the search for hotspot residues that contribute to interface stability. Some of these residues were further identified as key in protein communication via betweenness centrality metric of dynamic residue network analysis. T. takaii's γ-CA showed marginally lower thermostability compared to the other three γ-CA proteins with an increase in conformations visited at high temperatures being observed. Hydrogen bond analysis revealed important interactions, some unique and others common in all γ-CAs, which contribute to interface formation and thermostability. The seemingly thermostable γ-CA from T. thermophilus strangely showed increased unsynchronized residue motions at 423 K. γ-PhCA and γ-PmCA were, however, preliminarily considered suitable as prospective thermostable CO2 sequestration agents.
