Insights into the structure-function relationships of pneumococcal cell wall lysozymes, LytC and Cpl-1.

ABSTRACT: The LytC lysozyme belongs to the autolytic system of Streptococcus pneumoniae and carries out a slow autolysis with optimum activity at 30 degrees C. Like all pneumococcal murein hydrolases, LytC is a modular enzyme. Its mature form comprises a catalytic module belonging to the GH25 family of glycosyl-hydrolases and a cell wall binding module (CBM), made of 11 sequence repeats, that is essential for activity and specifically targets choline residues present in pneumococcal lipoteichoic and teichoic acids. Here we show that the catalytic module is natively folded, and its thermal denaturation takes place at 45.4 degrees C. However, the CBM is intrinsically unstable, and the ultimate folding and stabilization of the active, monomeric form of LytC relies on choline binding. The complex format

SUBMITTER: Monterroso B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2661411 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature