Imperial College London
Professor Robin Leatherbarrow

ProfessorRobinLeatherbarrow

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry

Academic Visitor
 
 
 
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Contact

 

r.leatherbarrow Website

 
 
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Location

 

ChemistrySouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Brannigan:2010:10.1016/j.jmb.2009.12.032,
author = {Brannigan, JA and Smith, BA and Yu, Z and Brzozowski, AM and Hodgkinson, MR and Maroof, A and Price, HP and Meier, F and Leatherbarrow, RJ and Tate, EW and Smith, DF and Wilkinson, AJ},
doi = {10.1016/j.jmb.2009.12.032},
journal = {Journal of Molecular Biology},
pages = {985--999},
title = {N-Myristoyltransferase from Leishmania donovani: Structural and Functional Characterisation of a Potential Drug Target for Visceral Leishmaniasis},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2009.12.032},
volume = {396},
year = {2010}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - N-Myristoyltransferase (NMT) catalyses the attachment of the 14-carbon saturated fatty acid, myristate, to the amino-terminal glycine residue of a subset of eukaryotic proteins that function in multiple cellular processes, including vesicular protein trafficking and signal transduction. In these pathways, N-myristoylation facilitates association of substrate proteins with membranes or the hydrophobic domains of other partner peptides. NMT function is essential for viability in all cell types tested to date, demonstrating that this enzyme has potential as a target for drug development. Here, we provide genetic evidence that NMT is likely to be essential for viability in insect stages of the pathogenic protozoan parasite, Leishmania donovani, causative agent of the tropical infectious disease, visceral leishmaniasis. The open reading frame of L. donovaniNMT has been amplified and used to overproduce active recombinant enzyme in Escherichia coli, as demonstrated by gel mobility shift assays of ligand binding and peptide-myristoylation activity in scintillation proximity assays. The purified protein has been crystallized in complex with the non-hydrolysable substrate analogue S-(2-oxo)pentadecyl-CoA, and its structure was solved by molecular replacement at 1.4 Å resolution. The structure has as its defining feature a 14-stranded twisted β-sheet on which helices are packed so as to form an extended and curved substrate-binding groove running across two protein lobes. The fatty acyl-CoA is largely buried in the N-terminal lobe, its binding leading to the loosening of a flap, which in unliganded NMT structures, occludes the protein substrate binding site in the carboxy-terminal lobe. These studies validate L. donovani NMT as a potential target for development of new therapeutic agents against visceral leishmaniasis.
AU  - Brannigan,JA
AU  - Smith,BA
AU  - Yu,Z
AU  - Brzozowski,AM
AU  - Hodgkinson,MR
AU  - Maroof,A
AU  - Price,HP
AU  - Meier,F
AU  - Leatherbarrow,RJ
AU  - Tate,EW
AU  - Smith,DF
AU  - Wilkinson,AJ
DO  - 10.1016/j.jmb.2009.12.032
EP  - 999
PY  - 2010///
SN  - 1089-8638
SP  - 985
TI  - N-Myristoyltransferase from Leishmania donovani: Structural and Functional Characterisation of a Potential Drug Target for Visceral Leishmaniasis
T2  - Journal of Molecular Biology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2009.12.032
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/26860
VL  - 396
ER  -
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