Nucleic Acids Research Advance Access first published online on December 10, 2008
This version published online on December 19, 2008
Nucleic Acids Research, doi:10.1093/nar/gkn922
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Structural Biology |
The C-terminal fragment of the ribosomal P protein complexed to trichosanthin reveals the interaction between the ribosome-inactivating protein and the ribosome
1Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Protein Science and Crystallography and Molecular Biotechnology Programme, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. and 2Department of Biochemistry, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +852 2609 6803; Fax: +852 2603 7246; Email: pcshaw{at}cuhk.edu.hk
Correspondence may also be addressed to Kam-Bo Wong. Tel: +852 2609 8024; Fax: +852 2603 7732; Email: kbwong{at}cuhk.edu.hk
Received June 6, 2008. Revised October 27, 2008. Accepted November 3, 2008.
Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) inhibit protein synthesis by enzymatically depurinating a specific adenine residue at the sarcin-ricin loop of the 28S rRNA, which thereby prevents the binding of elongation factors to the GTPase activation centre of the ribosome. Here, we present the 2.2 Å crystal structure of trichosanthin (TCS) complexed to the peptide SDDDMGFGLFD, which corresponds to the conserved C-terminal elongation factor binding domain of the ribosomal P protein. The N-terminal region of this peptide interacts with Lys173, Arg174 and Lys177 in TCS, while the C-terminal region is inserted into a hydrophobic pocket. The interaction with the P protein contributes to the ribosome-inactivating activity of TCS. This 11-mer C-terminal P peptide can be docked with selected important plant and bacterial RIPs, indicating that a similar interaction may also occur with other RIPs.