Protein cold adaptation strategy via a unique seven-amino acid domain in the icefish (Chionodraco hamatus) PEPT1 transporter.

ABSTRACT: Adaptation of organisms to extreme environments requires proteins to work at thermodynamically unfavorable conditions. To adapt to subzero temperatures, proteins increase the flexibility of parts of, or even the whole, 3D structure to compensate for the lower thermal kinetic energy available at low temperatures. This may be achieved through single-site amino acid substitutions in regions of the protein that undergo large movements during the catalytic cycle, such as in enzymes or transporter proteins. Other strategies of cold adaptation involving changes in the primary amino acid sequence have not been documented yet. In Antarctic icefish (Chionodraco hamatus) peptide transporter 1 (PEPT1), the first transporter cloned from a vertebrate living at subzero temperatures, we came upon a unique

SUBMITTER: Rizzello A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3637699 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature