Rate that they are usually exposed to solvent and have a collagenlike polyproline type II (PPII) extended conformations. Most of these PPII motifs are involved in protein-protein interactions that seem important for signal transduction and metabolic regulation [20].Clinical ImplicationsThis study demonstrates that hNAT is stable and has catalytic activity. The results are consistent with previous observations about potential effects of hNAGS missense mutations in patients. Missense mutations in the AAK domain are usually “milder” than mutations in the NAT domain and are 10457188 usually associated with “late-onset” clinical presentation [21]. All missense mutations associated with neonatal-onset, severe manifestations identified so far are located in the NAT domain. While the NAT domain plays a key role in NAGS 16574785 activity and is mainly encoded by the last three exons of the human gene, the mitochondrial peptide signal and the proline-rich variable segment are encoded by the first exon of the gene [22]. Thus, a putative nonsense and out of frame mutations in the AAK domain (exons 2?) might be rescued by exon skipping therapy that could restore the correct reading frame for encoding the NAT domain.Mechanism of L-arginine RegulationSince hNAGS and mNAGS have similar oligomeric structures (tetramers), as demonstrated in our cross-linking and gel-filtration experiments (Figure 2), and the dimer architecture of hNAT is similar to the NAT-NAT domain interface in mmNAGS/K (Figure 3C), the quaternary structure of hNAGS and mNAGS is likely to be similar to that of bifunctional mmNAGS/K. Larginine binding may also cause rotation of the NAT domain towards to the AAK domain in mammalian NAGS, but to a lesser degree than in mmNAGS/K to allow AcCoA to bind to the active site, because the domain linkers of mammalian NAGS and bacterial bifunctional NAGS/K consist of different amino acids. The enhancement of NAGS activity by arginine in mammalian NAGS may be caused by increasing the AcCoA binding affinity via favorable JSI124 hydrogen bonding interactions of residues in the AAK domain, facilitated by the conformational changes induced upon arginine binding.Materials and Methods Cloning and Protein Expression and PurificationHuman NAGS (hNAGS), mouse NAGS (mNAGS), hNAT and all mutants were expressed and purified as described previously [5]. Briefly, the proteins were expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) cells (Invitrogen) and purified with nickel affinity and Histrap SP columns (GE Healthcare). Protein purity was verified by SDS/ PAGE gel and protein concentration was measured with a Nanodrop 1000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific). The extinction coefficient obtained from the ExPASy web server (http://web. expasy.org/protparam/) was used to calculate protein concentrations. The protein was stored at 253 K in a buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 50 mM NaCl, 10 glycerol, 5 mM bmercaptoethanol, and 1 mM EDTA.Roles for the AAK DomainThe major role of NAGS in the urea cycle is to 94-09-7 biological activity produce the essential cofactor, NAG, to activate CPSI. Among the three mitochondrial enzymes of the urea cycle, NAGS is the least abundant by far, thousands fold lower than CPSI and OTCase. Since the NAT domain alone has catalytic activity and is stable, an interesting question arises: why has the AAK domain remained intact through evolution? Even though activity assays demonstrate that the AAK domain enhances NAGS activity 6 to 12 fold, this may not be the major reason since an increase in e.Rate that they are usually exposed to solvent and have a collagenlike polyproline type II (PPII) extended conformations. Most of these PPII motifs are involved in protein-protein interactions that seem important for signal transduction and metabolic regulation [20].Clinical ImplicationsThis study demonstrates that hNAT is stable and has catalytic activity. The results are consistent with previous observations about potential effects of hNAGS missense mutations in patients. Missense mutations in the AAK domain are usually “milder” than mutations in the NAT domain and are 10457188 usually associated with “late-onset” clinical presentation [21]. All missense mutations associated with neonatal-onset, severe manifestations identified so far are located in the NAT domain. While the NAT domain plays a key role in NAGS 16574785 activity and is mainly encoded by the last three exons of the human gene, the mitochondrial peptide signal and the proline-rich variable segment are encoded by the first exon of the gene [22]. Thus, a putative nonsense and out of frame mutations in the AAK domain (exons 2?) might be rescued by exon skipping therapy that could restore the correct reading frame for encoding the NAT domain.Mechanism of L-arginine RegulationSince hNAGS and mNAGS have similar oligomeric structures (tetramers), as demonstrated in our cross-linking and gel-filtration experiments (Figure 2), and the dimer architecture of hNAT is similar to the NAT-NAT domain interface in mmNAGS/K (Figure 3C), the quaternary structure of hNAGS and mNAGS is likely to be similar to that of bifunctional mmNAGS/K. Larginine binding may also cause rotation of the NAT domain towards to the AAK domain in mammalian NAGS, but to a lesser degree than in mmNAGS/K to allow AcCoA to bind to the active site, because the domain linkers of mammalian NAGS and bacterial bifunctional NAGS/K consist of different amino acids. The enhancement of NAGS activity by arginine in mammalian NAGS may be caused by increasing the AcCoA binding affinity via favorable hydrogen bonding interactions of residues in the AAK domain, facilitated by the conformational changes induced upon arginine binding.Materials and Methods Cloning and Protein Expression and PurificationHuman NAGS (hNAGS), mouse NAGS (mNAGS), hNAT and all mutants were expressed and purified as described previously [5]. Briefly, the proteins were expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) cells (Invitrogen) and purified with nickel affinity and Histrap SP columns (GE Healthcare). Protein purity was verified by SDS/ PAGE gel and protein concentration was measured with a Nanodrop 1000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific). The extinction coefficient obtained from the ExPASy web server (http://web. expasy.org/protparam/) was used to calculate protein concentrations. The protein was stored at 253 K in a buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 50 mM NaCl, 10 glycerol, 5 mM bmercaptoethanol, and 1 mM EDTA.Roles for the AAK DomainThe major role of NAGS in the urea cycle is to produce the essential cofactor, NAG, to activate CPSI. Among the three mitochondrial enzymes of the urea cycle, NAGS is the least abundant by far, thousands fold lower than CPSI and OTCase. Since the NAT domain alone has catalytic activity and is stable, an interesting question arises: why has the AAK domain remained intact through evolution? Even though activity assays demonstrate that the AAK domain enhances NAGS activity 6 to 12 fold, this may not be the major reason since an increase in e.
