Bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) was expressed as a partially soluble entity under optimised conditions, and was further purified by a combination of affinity chromatography and gel filtration. By constructing a synthetic gene, consisting of A. thaliana DHFR and mays TS, an enzymatically active chimeric protein was overexpressed in a completely soluble form. This chimeric DHFR-TS was characterised biochemically and isolated by chromatography and gel filtration. In factorial screening experiments reproducible crystallisation conditions were discovered. The crystal structure of transketolase (TK) from Z. mays was solved using molecular replacement methods, this being the first crystal structure of a plant TK to be described. Comparing the structure to other known TK structures allow for a detailed analysis regarding substrate specificity, acting as a basis for rational drug design. The structures of lumazin synthase (sspLS) from Schizosaccharomyces pombe in complex with riboflavin, two inhibitor complexes and of the mutant enzyme W27G were solved using molecular replacement. The sspLS was found to bind riboflavin with high affinity in contrast to all homologous enzymes studied so far. The structure analysis of this riboflavin complex realised the structural basis of an unexpected regulative feedback inhibition by riboflavin. The binding of the product analogous inhibitor 6-carboxy-7-oxo-8-ribityllumazine, was the first of this class of molecule to be solved crystallographically. The S. pombe riboflavin synthase (sspRS) was crystallised in the presence of the substrate analogous inhibitor 6-carboxy-7-oxo-8-ribityllumazine. The three-dimensional structure of sspRS was solved by multiple anomalous dispersion on a mercury derivatised crystal. The complex structure gave further information about the sspRS substrate binding site and will therefore act as the structural basis for the development of a detailed reaction mechanism.
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Bifunctional dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) was expressed as a partially soluble entity under optimised conditions, and was further purified by a combination of affinity chromatography and gel filtration. By constructing a synthetic gene, consisting of A. thaliana DHFR and mays TS, an enzymatically active chimeric protein was overexpressed in a completely soluble form. This chimeric DHFR-TS was characterised biochemically and isolated by chromatography and gel filtration....
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