Functional implications from crystal structures of the conserved Bacillus subtilis protein Maf with and without dUTP.

ABSTRACT: Three-dimensional structures of functionally uncharacterized proteins may furnish insight into their functions. The potential benefits of three-dimensional structural information regarding such proteins are particularly obvious when the corresponding genes are conserved during evolution, implying an important function, and no functional classification can be inferred from their sequences. The Bacillus subtilis Maf protein is representative of a family of proteins that has homologs in many of the completely sequenced genomes from archaea, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes, but whose function is unknown. As an aid in exploring function, we determined the crystal structure of this protein at a resolution of 1.85 A. The structure, in combination with multiple sequence alignment, reveals a putative a

SUBMITTER: Minasov G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC18602 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature