Priyanka Basak/Sandbox

UreE is an essential metallochaeprone for Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori). H.pylori is a class I human pathogen that is involved in causing gastric ulcers and stomach cancers. Its two nickel dependent enzymes - Urease and NiFe-H2ase, provides it a unique ability to survive and colonize in acidic human stomach. Urease catalyzes the conversion of urea to ammonia and carbamate which neutralizes its local acidic environment. Several accessory proteins play a crucial role in the maturation of Urease. UreE is urease-specific Nickel metallochaperone that is involved in the delivery nickel to urease.

Function

UreE delivers Nickel to urease.

Disease

Relevance

Structural highlights

Apo-UreE from H.pylori is a dimer which becomes tetrameric (dimer of dimer) when bound to metal. HpUreE can bind one Ni(II) and one Zn (II) per dimer. The nickel binding site is six-coordinate while the Zn is bound in a tetrahedral geometry.

Headline text

References

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20681615/> [http://]