Many complex cellular processes in the cell are catalysed at the expense of ATP hydrolysis. The enzymes involved bind and hydrolyse ATP and couple ATP hydrolysis to the catalysed process via cycles of nucleotide-driven conformational changes. In this review, I illustrate how smFRET (single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer) can define the underlying conformational changes that dri...

GTP-hydrolyzing G proteins are molecular switches that play a critical role in cell signaling processes. Here we use molecular dynamics simulations to show that Ras, a monomeric G protein, can generate mechanical force upon hydrolysis. The generated force levels are comparable to those produced by ATP-hydrolyzing motor proteins, consistent with the structural similarities of the catalytic regio...

Atrazine chlorohydrolase (AtzA) and its close relative melamine deaminase (TriA) differ by just nine amino acid substitutions but have distinct catalytic activities. Together, they offer an informative model system to study the molecular processes that underpin the emergence of new enzymatic function. Here we have constructed the potential evolutionary trajectories between AtzA and TriA, and ch...

Peptidoglycan O-acetylesterase (Ape1), which is required for host survival in Neisseria sp., belongs to the diverse SGNH hydrolase superfamily, which includes important viral and bacterial virulence factors. Here, multi-domain crystal structures of Ape1 with an SGNH catalytic domain and a newly identified putative peptidoglycan-detection module are reported. Enzyme catalysis was performed in Ap...

G-protein-mediated signaling is intrinsically kinetic. Signal output at steady state is a balance of the rates of GTP binding, which causes activation, and of GTP hydrolysis, which terminates activation. This GTPase catalytic cycle is regulated by receptors, which accelerate GTP binding, and GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs), which accelerate hydrolysis. Receptors and GAPs similarly control the...

Cellular uptake of vitamin A, production of visual chromophore, and triglyceride homeostasis in adipocytes depend on two representatives of the vertebrate N1pC/P60 protein family, lecithin:retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) and HRAS-like tumor suppressor 3 (HRASLS3). Both proteins function as lipid-metabolizing enzymes but differ in their substrate preferences and dominant catalytic activity. The m...

The activation of molecular chaperone heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is dependent on ATP binding and hydrolysis, which occurs in the N-terminal domains of protein. Here, we have determined three crystal structures of the N-terminal domain of human Hsp90 in native and in complex with ATP and ATP analog, providing a clear view of the catalytic mechanism of ATP hydrolysis by Hsp90. Additionally, th...

In this work, sawdust, a biomass waste, is converted into a magnetic porous carbonaceous (MPC) solid acid catalyst by an integrated fast pyrolysis-sulfonation process. The resultant magnetic solid acid has a porous structure with high surface area of 296.4 m(2) g(-1), which can be attributed to the catalytic effect of Fe. The catalytic activity and recyclability of the solid acid catalyst are e...

The catalytic hydrolysis of a phosphoester bond in the DNA-model substrate 4-nitrophenyl phosphate (NPP) promoted by Zr(iv)-substituted Wells-Dawson Na14[Zr4(P2W16O59)2(μ3-O)2(OH)2(H2O)4]·57H2O polyoxometalate (ZrWD 4 : 2) was followed by means of (1)H and (31)P NMR spectroscopy. The hydrolytic reaction proceeded with a rate constant of 8.44 (±0.36) × 10(-5) s(-1) at pD 6.4 and 50 °C, represent...

V H(+)-ATPase has an important role in a variety of key physiological processes. This enzyme is reversibly activated/partly inactivated by the addition/exhaustion of extracellular glucose. The current model of its regulation assumes the reversible disassembly/reassembly of ∼60-70% of the V1 and V0 membrane complexes, which are responsible for ATP hydrolysis and H(+) conductance, respectively. T...