Structure of the detoxification catalyst mercuric ion reductase from Bacillus sp. strain RC607

Several hundred million tons of toxic mercurials are dispersed in the biosphere. Microbes can detoxify organo-mercurials and mercury salts through sequential action of two enzymes, organomercury lyase and mercuric ion reductase (MerA). The latter, a homodimer with homology to the FAD-dependent disulphide oxidoreductases, catalyses the reaction NADPH + Hg(II)----NADP+ + H+ + Hg(0), one of the very rare enzymic reactions with metal substrates. Human glutathione reductase serves as a reference molecule for FAD-dependent disulphide reductases and between its primary structure and that of MerA from Tn501 (Pseudomonas), Tn21 (Shigella), p1258 (Staphylococcus) and Bacillus, 25-30% of the residues have been conserved. All MerAs have a C-terminal extension about 15 residues long but have very varied N termini. Although the enzyme from Streptomyces lividans has no addition, from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Tn501 and Bacillus sp. strain RC607 it has one and two copies respectively of a domain of 80-85 residues, highly homologous to MerP, the periplasmic component of proteins encoded by the mer operon. These domains can be proteolytically cleaved off without changing the catalytic efficiency. We report here the crystal structure of MerA from the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus sp. strain RC607. Analysis of its complexes with nicotinamide dinucleotide substrates and the inhibitor Cd(II) reveals how limited structural changes enable an enzyme to accept as substrate what used to be a dangerous inhibitor. Knowledge of the mode of mercury ligation is a prerequisite for understanding this unique detoxification mechanism.     

Structural Changes of Water Molecules Upon the Reduction of Quinones in The Reaction Center from Rhodobactery Sphaeroides

1 Results The photosynthetic bacterial reaction center (RC) is a membrane protein complex.The RC is composed of three protein subunits and redox components such as bacteriochlorophylls, bacteriopheophytins,and quinones.The RC performs the photochemical electron transfer from the bacteriochlorophyll dimer through a series of electron donor and acceptor molecules to a secondary quinone,QB.QB accepts electrons from a primary quinone,QA,in two sequential electron transfer reactions.The second electron trans...     

软件可靠性与费用权衡

软件可靠性与费用的关系是辩证的 :一方面增加可靠性可以减少软件的维修费用 ,避免软件因可靠性低不能使用所造成的开发费用的浪费 ;另一方面增加软件可靠性 ,大都以增加软件开发费用为代价 ,而软件成本的提高又制约了软件的销售和推广。对软件可靠性分配和软件测试终止时间的确定进行了深入分析 ,通过这两条途径实现了软件可靠性和费用的权衡。在此基础上 ,给出了在软件工程中权衡软件可靠性与费用的其它方法。