4kk4

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Many cellular pathways are regulated by the competing activity of protein kinases and phosphatases. The recent identification of arginine phosphorylation as a protein modification in bacteria prompted us to analyze the molecular basis of targeting phospho-arginine. In this work, we characterize an annotated tyrosine phosphatase, YwlE, that counteracts the protein arginine kinase McsB. Strikingly, structural studies of YwlE reaction intermediates provide a direct view on a captured arginine residue. Together with biochemical data, the crystal structures depict the evolution of a highly specific phospho-arginine phosphatase, with the use of a size-and-polarity filter for distinguishing phosphorylated arginine from other phosphorylated side chains. To confirm the proposed mechanism, we performed bioinformatic searches for phosphatases, employing a similar selectivity filter, and identified a protein in Drosophila melanogaster exhibiting robust arginine phosphatase activity. In sum, our findings uncover the molecular framework for specific targeting of phospho-arginine and suggest that protein arginine (de)phosphorylation may be relevant in eukaryotes.

Structural basis for recognizing phosphoarginine and evolving residue-specific protein phosphatases in gram-positive bacteria.,Fuhrmann J, Mierzwa B, Trentini DB, Spiess S, Lehner A, Charpentier E, Clausen T Cell Rep. 2013 Jun 27;3(6):1832-9. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2013.05.023. Epub 2013, Jun 13. PMID:23770242^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.