Limited proteolysis of
Escherichia coli
cytidine 5¢-triphosphate
synthase. Identification of residues required for CTP formation
and GTP-dependent activation of glutamine hydrolysis
Dave Simard, Kerry A. Hewitt, Faylene Lunn, Akshai Iyengar and Stephen L. Bearne
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Cytidine 5¢-triphosphate synthase catalyses the ATP-
dependent formation of CTP from UTP using either
ammonia or
L
-glutamine as the source of nitrogen. When
glutamine is the substrate, GTP is required as an allosteric
effector to promote catalysis. Limited trypsin-catalysed
proteolysis, Edman degradation, and site-directed muta-
genesis were used to identify peptide bonds C-terminal to
three basic residues (Lys187, Arg429, and Lys432) of
Escherichia coli CTP synthase that were highly susceptible to
proteolysis. Lys187 is located at the CTP/UTP-binding site
within the synthase domain, and cleavage at this site
destroyed all synthase activity. Nucleotides protected the
enzyme against proteolysis at Lys187 (CTP > ATP >
UTP > GTP). The K187A mutant was resistant to pro-
teolysis at this site, could not catalyse CTP formation, and
exhibited low glutaminase activity that was enhanced slightly
by GTP. K187A was able to form tetramers in the presence
of UTP and ATP. Arg429 and Lys432 appear to reside in an
exposed loop in the glutamine amide transfer (GAT)
domain. Trypsin-catalyzed proteolysis occurred at Arg429
and Lys432 with a ratio of 2.6 : 1, and nucleotides did not
protect these sites from cleavage. The R429A and R429A/

transferase is a single polypeptide chain containing 545
amino acids and consisting of two domains. The C-terminal
glutamine amide transfer (GAT) domain catalyses the
hydrolysis of glutamine, and the nascent NH
3
derived from
glutamine hydrolysis is transferred to the N-terminal
synthase domain where the amination of UTP is catalysed
[3,4]. CTPS belongs to the Triad family of glutamine
amidotransferases [5,6] which utilizes a Cys-His-Glu triad to
catalyse glutamine hydrolysis and also includes anthranilate
synthase, carbamoyl phosphate synthase, formylglycin-
amidine synthase, GMP synthase, imidazole glycerol phos-
phate synthase, and aminodeoxychorismate synthase.
CTPS catalyses the final step in the de novo synthesis of
cytosine nucleotides. Because CTP has a central role in the
biosynthesis of nucleic acids [7] and membrane phospho-
lipids [8], CTPS is a recognized target for the development
of antineoplastic agents [7,9], antiviral agents [9,10], and
antiprotozoal agents [11–13]. Recently, CTP synthase
inhibition has been shown to potentiate the cytotoxic effects
of the anticancer drug 1-b-
D
-arabinofuranosylcytosine [14]
and anti-HIV therapies [15].
CTPS from E. coli is the most thoroughly characterized
CTPS with respect to its physical and kinetic properties, and
is regulated in a complex fashion [1]. GTP is required as a
positive allosteric effector to increase the efficiency (k
cat

sequence comparisons have revealed structural and cata-
lytic roles of several amino acid residues within the GAT
domain of CTPS, including residues of the catalytic triad
(Cys379, His515, and Glu517) [3], residues comprising the
oxyanion hole (Gly351, Gly377, Gly381, and possibly
adjacent hydrophobic residues) [23], and residues between
Ala346 and Tyr355 that appear to play an important
structural role [4]. Recently, Willemoe
¨
s reported that
Thr431 and Arg433 in the GAT domain of Lactococcus
lactis CTPS play a role in GTP-dependent activation of
glutamine hydrolysis [24].
Our knowledge about the synthase domain is much more
limited. Analyses of mutant CTP synthases from Chlamydia
trachomatis [25], hamster [26], and yeast [27] have revealed
that mutations which render cells resistant to both the
cytotoxic effects of cyclopentenylcytosine and feedback
inhibition by CTP occur between residues 116 and 229
(E. coli numbering), with many of the mutations clustering
between residues 146 through 158. Hence, this region of the
synthase domain is believed to form part of the CTP-
binding site. Competitive inhibition experiments have
suggested that for E. coli CTPS, this site may also be the
UTP-binding site [18]. The locations of the ATP- and GTP-
binding sites have not yet been identified. Recent studies
from our laboratory have revealed that residues Asp107 and
Leu109 in the synthase domain of E. coli CTPS facilitate
efficient coupling of glutamine hydrolysis to CTP synthesis
[28].

from bovine pancreas (10 900 UÆmg
)1
), and all other
chemicals were from Sigma-Aldrich Canada Ltd. Oligo-
nucleotide primers for DNA sequencing and site-directed
mutagenesis were commercially synthesized by ID Labor-
atories (London, ON, Canada). QIAprep spin plasmid
miniprep kit (Qiagen Inc.) was used for the preparation of
plasmids for mutagenesis and transformation. DNA
sequencing was conducted at the Dalhousie University–
NRC Institute for Marine Biosciences Joint Laboratory
(Halifax, NS, Canada) and the Robarts Research Institute
(London, ON, Canada), while the N-terminal amino acid
sequencing was carried out at the Eastern Que
´
bec Proteo-
mics Core Facility (Ste-Foy, QC, Canada). Predictions of
secondary structure were conducted using the programs 3-
D
PSSM
[29],
GOR
4[30],
HNN
[31],
J
-
PRED
[32],
PREDATOR

amino acid residues in the recombinant wild-type and
mutant enzymes are numbered according to the sequence of
the wild-type E. coli enzyme starting with M
1
as position
one.
Mutagenesis
The plasmid pET15b-CTPS1 [16] was used as the template
for site-directed mutagenesis. Site-directed mutagenesis was
conducted using the Quikchange Site-Directed Mutagenesis
Kit (Stratagene Inc.) and following the manufacturer’s
protocol. The synthetic deoxyoligonucleotide forward (F)
and reverse (R) primers used to construct the mutants were:
5¢-GCGTCTGGTGAAGTC
GCAACCAAACCGACT
CAG-3¢ (F, K187A), 5¢-GCTGAGTCGGTTTGGTT
GCGACTTCACCAGACGC-3¢ (R, K187A), 5¢-CGG
CAACGTTGAAGTT
GCTAGCGAGAAGAGCG-3¢ (F,
R429A), 5¢-CGCTCTTCTCGCTA
GCAACTTCAACGT
TGCCG-3¢ (R,R429A),5¢-GCAACGTTGAAGTT
GCTAGCGAGGCGAGCGATCTCG-3¢ (F, R429A/
K432A), 5¢-CGAGATCGCTC
GCCTCGCTAGCAACT
TCAACGTTGC-3¢ (R, R429A/K432A), where the posi-
tions of the mismatches are underlined. Potential mutant
plasmids were isolated and used to transform competent
DH5a cells. These cells were used for plasmid maintenance
and for all sequencing reactions. The entire mutant genes

) in a total volume of 1 mL. Enzyme and nucleotides
were preincubated together for 2 min at 37 °C followed by
addition of substrate (NH
4
Cl or glutamine) to initiate the
reaction. Total NH
4
Cl concentrations used in the assays
were 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, 60, 80, and 100 m
M
,andCTPS
concentrations were % 3.0 lgÆmL
)1
(wild-type),
3.0 lgÆmL
)1
(R429A), and 4.0 lgÆmL
)1
(R429A/K432A).
For glutamine assays, concentrations of glutamine
were 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 6.0 m
M
and
CTPS concentrations were % 4.0 lgÆmL
)1
(wild-type),
1.4 mgÆmL
)1
(R429A), and 0.9 mgÆmL
)1

[E]
T
) is the maximal velocity at saturating
substrate concentrations, [S] is the substrate concentration
(glutamine or NH
3
), and K
m
is the Michaelis constant for
the substrate. Values of K
m
for NH
3
were calculated using
the concentration of NH
3
presentatpH8.0{pK
a
(NH
4
+
) ¼ 9.24 [37]}. Values of k
cat
were calculated for
CTPS variants with the hexahistidine tag removed using
the molecular masses (Da) of 61 029 (wild-type), 60 944
(R429A), and 60 887 (R429A/K432A). The reported
errors are standard deviations. Except where noted
otherwise, protein concentrations were determined using
the Bio-Rad Protein Assay (Bio-Rad Laboratories Ltd.)

is the apparent activation constant, k
o
is
the turnover number in the absence of GTP, and k
act
is
the turnover number at saturating concentrations of GTP
[39].
k
apparent
cat
¼
k
o
þ k
act
GTP
½
K
A

1 þ
GTP
½
K
A

ð2Þ
Limited proteolysis
Initially, wild-type CTPS was subjected to limited proteo-

M
). During the proteolysis reactions, aliquots (25 lL)
were removed from the reaction mixture over the course of
1h,andtransferredtogelloadingbuffer[25lL; Tris/HCl
(170 m
M
, pH 6.8) containing dithiothreitol (120 m
M
), SDS
(5.4%, w/v), Bromophenol blue (0.03%, w/v) and glycerol
(27.2%, w/v)] to terminate the reaction. The samples were
then boiled for 5 min and the proteolytic fragments
were separated using SDS/PAGE (12% gels). Fragments
were visualized by staining with Coomassie blue R-250 and
subsequent de-staining in a solution of methanol/H
2
O/
acetic acid (45 : 45 : 10). Detailed studies were subsequently
conducted using trypsin as trypsin-catalysed proteolysis
gave different fragments depending on whether the nucleo-
tides were absent or present.
Limited trypsin-catalysed proteolysis of both wild-type
and mutant CTP synthases was analysed by monitoring
CTPS activity (vide infra) at specific time points and by
SDS/PAGE. Trypsin proteolysis reactions (1 mL total
volume) contained either wild-type or mutant CTPS
(0.20 mgÆmL
)1
), and were conducted for 1 h in Hepes
buffer (70 m

M
), ATP and
UTP together (10 m
M
each), CTP (0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 m
M
),
GTP (2.5 m
M
)and
L
-glutamine (10 m
M
).
Inactivation assays
Aliquots from two separate proteolysis reactions were
assayed using both NH
4
Cl (100 m
M
) and glutamine
Ó FEBS 2003 Limited proteolysis of CTP synthase (Eur. J. Biochem. 270) 2197
(10 m
M
) as substrates, as described above. Inactivation of
CTPS activity followed first-order kinetics, and the apparent
first-order rate constants for inactivation were calculated
from plots of the percent activity remaining as a logarithmic
function of the time of incubation. The ability of various
ligands to protect both wild-type and mutant CTPS from

(10%). Whole enzyme and cleavage fragments were located
on the PVDF membrane by staining with Coomassie blue
followed by destaining in 50% methanol. Sections (50 mm
2
)
of the PVDF membrane with adsorbed protein were
submitted for N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis.
CD spectra
CD spectra were obtained using a JASCO J-810 spectro-
polarimeter and were recorded for both the wild-type and
mutant enzymes (K187A, R429A, R429A/K432A) over the
range 190–260 nm in the absence of nucleotides. A marked
decrease in buffer transparency was observed below
190 nm and therefore all spectra were truncated at this
wavelength. The resulting CD spectra obtained from
enzyme solutions (0.2 mgÆmL
)1
) in Bis-Tris propane buffer
(10 m
M
, pH 8.0) containing MgSO
4
(10 m
M
)wereanalysed
for percent a-helix and b-sheet structure using CDNN CD
Spectra Deconvolution v. 2.1 developed by G. Bo
¨
hm [41].
Protein concentrations were determined spectrophotomet-

proteins were detected by native protein fluorescence
(excitation and emission wavelengths of 285 nm and
335 nm, respectively) using a Waters 474 scanning fluores-
cence detector. GF-HPLC of both wild-type and mutant
enzymes was conducted in the absence and presence of ATP
(1 m
M
)andUTP(1m
M
), and the retention times were
compared with those observed for the wild-type enzyme.
The column was standardized using the following proteins
(0.5 mgÆmL
)1
): bovine thyroglobulin (669 kDa), b-amylase
(200 kDa), BSA (66 kDa), and carbonic anhydrase
(29 kDa). Chromatograms were analysed using
PEAKSIM-
PLE
software from Mandel Scientific (Guelph, ON, Canada).
The retention time of bovine thyroglobulin was used to
estimate the column void volume (V
o
).
Results
Limited proteolysis of CTPS
CTPS from E. coli was subjected to controlled proteolysis
by five endopeptidases (pronase, a-chymotrypsin, V8 pro-
tease, thermolysin, and trypsin) in the absence or presence of
the nucleotides ATP and/or UTP (data not shown). These

fragment indicated that one of the cleavage sites was
Lys187. N-terminal analysis of the 10-kDa fragment
produced two sequences indicating that cleavage occurred
at Arg429 and Lys432 with a ratio of 2.6 : 1, respectively.
The cleavage pattern observed in the absence of any
protecting ligands, and the sites identified using N-terminal
analysis are summarized in Fig. 2. The molecular mass of
each polypeptide fragment, calculated using the known
2198 D. Simard et al. (Eur. J. Biochem. 270) Ó FEBS 2003
amino acid sequence [3], is in excellent agreement with the
values deduced from SDS/PAGE calibration (Table 1).
Limited trypsin-catalysed cleavage of mutant CTP
synthases
To confirm that the cleavage sites identified using
N-terminal analysis were indeed correct, site-directed mut-
agenesis was used to construct two single mutants (K187A
and R429A) and one double mutant (R429A/K432A).
Limited trypsin-catalysed proteolysis of K187A CTPS in
the absence of nucleotides produced only the 10- and
53-kDa fragments (Fig. 3A), a cleavage pattern which was
identical to that observed for wild-type CTPS in the
presence of ATP and UTP (Fig. 1B). Proteolysis of
R429A in the absence of nucleotides gave fragments with
molecular masses of approximately 10, 25, 38, and 53 kDa
(Fig. 3B). The 38-kDa fragment accumulated because rapid
cleavage at Arg429 no longer occurred while cleavage at
Fig. 1. SDS/PAGE analysis of trypsin-catalysed cleavage of recom-
binant wild-type CTPS in the absence and presence of ligands. For each
gel: lane 1 contains molecular mass standards and lanes 2–6 contain
wild-type CTPS treated with trypsin for 0, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min,

25 (21) GSHML None
10 (13.1) S430EKSDLGGTM (major)
c
Arg429
(12.8) S433DLGGTMRL (minor)
c
Lys432
a
Apparent molecular mass for full-length recombinant wild-type
E. coli CTPS and fragments determined from SDS/PAGE calib-
ration are given. The corresponding molecular masses calculated
using the known amino acid sequence are given in parentheses.
b
The
amino acid listed is that which provides the carbonyl function to the
scissile peptide bond. The numbers correspond to the numbering for
wild-type E. coli CTPS.
c
The ratio of the major peptide to minor
peptide was 2.6 : 1 and was determined by integration of the HPLC
chromatogram peaks corresponding to the phenylthiohydantoin
derivatives of the N-terminal serines.
Fig. 2. Fragments generated by limited trypsin-
catalysed proteolysis of wild-type CTPS.
Peptide bond cleavage occurs C-terminal to
Lys187 in the synthase domain, and Arg429
and Lys432 in the GAT domain. The CTP/
UTP-binding site and residues comprising the
catalytic triad (Cys379, His515, and Glu517)
are also shown.

3
-dependent CTP formation was measured.
A reduction in the observed first-order rate constants for the
inactivation of the NH
3
-dependent activity was observed for
increasing concentrations of ATP, UTP, and CTP consis-
tent with each of these nucleotides providing protection
from trypsin-catalysed cleavage. Interestingly, in the
Fig. 3. SDS/PAGE analysis of trypsin-catalysed cleavage of mutant
CTP synthases in the absence and presence of ligands. (A) Lane 1,
molecular mass standards; lane 2, trypsin (at 7000 times the concen-
tration used in the proteolysis reactions); lanes 3–7 contain K187A
CTPS treated with trypsin for 0, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min, respectively.
The wild-type protein is rapidly cleaved to yield a 10- (not shown) and
a 53-kDa fragment, the latter which is not cleaved to yield the 25- and
28-kDafragments.ForeachgelshowninBthroughE,lane1contains
molecular mass standards and lanes 2–6 contain mutant CTPS treated
with trypsin for 0, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min, respectively. Limited pro-
teolysis of R429A CTPS (B) in the absence of nucleotides produced
fragments with molecular masses of 10, 25, 38, and 53 kDa. However,
in the presence of ATP and UTP (10 m
M
each) (C), only the 10- and
53-kDa fragments are produced. Limited proteolysis of R429A/
K432A CTPS (D) in the absence of nucleotides produces fragments
with molecular masses of 25 and 38 kDa. However, in the presence of
ATP and UTP (10 m
M
each) (E), no cleavage fragments were pro-

This observation is consistent with the cleavage sites in the
GAT domain not being protected by these nucleotides and
the resulting 53-kDa fragment still possessing NH
3
-depend-
ent activity. Although all CTPS ligands tested (ATP, UTP,
CTP, GTP, and glutamine) protected CTPS from inactiva-
tion to some degree, the most effective protection was
afforded by CTP.
The observed first-order inactivation rate constants for
the NH
3
-dependent activity of the R429A and R429A/
K432A CTP synthases were less than that observed for
wild-type CTPS. Apparently, reduced cleavage within the
GAT domain results in less rapid cleavage within in the
synthase domain (i.e. at Lys187) and hence a lower value for
the rate constant for the loss of NH
3
-dependent activity.
Inactivation of the K187A enzyme could not be studied
because this enzyme was inactive (vide infra).
CD
The secondary structural content of wild-type CTPS and
the three mutant enzymes was analysed using CD
spectroscopy. Fig. 5 shows that the secondary structure
content of all the mutant proteins is similar to that of the
wild-type enzyme, except that the a-helix content of the
K187A and R429A/K432A mutants is slightly reduced
while the content of antiparallel b-sheet structure is slightly

similar kinetic properties. Each mutant had close to wild-
type NH
3
-dependent activity; however, glutamine-depend-
ent CTP formation was impaired. Interestingly, K
m
for
glutamine only increased 1.3- to 1.7-fold indicating that the
mutations had little effect on glutamine binding. However,
k
cat
was reduced % 15-fold for each mutant so that the
catalytic efficiency (k
cat
/K
m
) of glutamine-dependent CTP
formation was decreased 25- and 19-fold for the R429A and
R429A/K432A CTP synthases, respectively.
The kinetics of R429A CTPS were investigated in detail
to determine if the impaired glutamine-dependent CTP
formation was caused by an inability of GTP to activate
glutamine hydrolysis. In the presence of ATP and UTP
(1 m
M
each) and saturating glutamine (6 m
M
), GTP
(0.25 m
M

and glutamine-dependent CTP formation catalysed by
R429A CTPS reveals that ammonia is produced from
glutamine hydrolysis at a rate that is slightly higher than the
rate at which CTP is formed. This observation suggests that
there may be a partial uncoupling of the glutaminase and
synthase reactions, however, the k
cat
values for the corres-
ponding reactions catalysed by the R429A/K432A mutant
are experimentally equal.
Oligomerization of CTPS
To determine if the K187A mutant was inactive because
it was unable to form tetramers, we investigated the
Table 2. Observed rate constants for inactivation of recombinant wild-
type and mutant CTP synthases
a
. ND, Not determined.
Protecting
ligand
Concentration
(m
M
)
k
obs
(· 10
)2
min
)1
)

a
All k
obs
values are for inactivation of wild-type CTPS except
where indicated otherwise.
b
Control refers to the inactivation of
CTPS that is observed during incubation of the enzyme at 37 °C
for 1 h in the absence of added trypsin.
Ó FEBS 2003 Limited proteolysis of CTP synthase (Eur. J. Biochem. 270) 2201
Fig. 5. CD analysis of wild-type and mutant
CTP synthases. (A) Spectra for wild-type,
K187A, R429A, and R429A/K432A CTP
synthases are shown. Each spectrum is the
average of three scans for each CTPS variant.
(B)Therelativeamountofeachtypeofsec-
ondary structure is indicated for each CTPS
variant. Error bars represent the standard
deviation of the mean for three independent
trials.
Table 3. Kinetic parameters for wild-type and mutant CTP synthases. ND, not determined.
Reaction (substrate) Kinetic parameter
a
CTPS variants
Wild-type K187A R429A R429A/K432A
CTP formation K
m
(m
M
) 1.70 ± 0.08 1.60 ± 0.08 1.82 ± 0.04

) 5.4 ± 0.8 NA 0.36 ± 0.04 0.39 ± 0.04
k
cat
/K
m
(m
M
)1
s
)1
) 22.6 ± 4.5 0.9 ± 0.1 1.2 ± 0.4
L
-glutamate
formation (fixed
L
-glutamine with
varying [GTP])
k
cat
(s
)1
) [GTP] ¼ 0.25 m
M
5.01 ± 0.18 0.13 ± 0.03 0.48 ± 0.03 0.49 ± 0.07
k
o
(s
)1
) 0.14 ± 0.03 0.07 ± 0.02 0.14 ± 0.04 ND
k

consistent with wild-type CTPS existing primarily as
dimers in the absence of ATP and UTP, and with a
shifting of the equilibrium to favour the tetrameric species
in the presence of ATP and UTP [42]. The K187A
mutant had an apparent molecular mass of 178 kDa in
the absence of nucleotides. This value is slightly higher
than that observed for the wild-type enzyme and corres-
ponds to the enzyme existing as % 30% tetramer as
calculated using Eqn (3) [20], where X is the fraction of
the enzyme in the tetramer form and the molecular
masses of the dimer (121 944 Da) and the tetramer
(243 888 Da) are those predicted based on the monomer
molecularmassof60972DaforrecombinantK187A
lacking the histidine tag. In the presence of ATP and
UTP, the observed molecular weight for K187A was
259 kDa. Thus it appeared that K187A CTPS was
capable of forming tetramers in the presence of saturating
concentrations of UTP and ATP, similar to the wild-type
enzyme.
molecular mass ¼
ð243 888Þ
2
X þð121 944Þ
2
ð1 À XÞ
ð243 888ÞX þð121 944Þð1 À XÞ
ð3Þ
Discussion
Limited proteolysis has been used to delineate the structural
organization of several amidotransferases including aspa-

also provides protection against cleavage and does so better
than UTP. Such protection could arise because: (a) ATP
binds at an adjacent site and sterically blocks access of
trypsin to Lys187; (b) ATP-induced tetramerization yields a
quaternary structure in which the Lys187 site is not
accessible to trypsin; or (c) ATP induces a conformational
change in CTPS to yield a conformation in which Lys187
is no longer exposed to bulk solvent.
Replacement of Lys187 by an alanine residue yielded a
protein that was resistant to limited trypsin-catalysed
proteolysis in the synthase domain, supporting our conclu-
sion that cleavage occurred C-terminal to this residue. The
K187A mutant could not catalyse the formation of CTP,
however, it retained the ability to form tetramers in the
presence of nucleotides, and exhibited a very low level of
GTP-dependent glutaminase activity which was enhanced
slightly by GTP. Interestingly, in the absence of nucleotides,
K187A existed as % 30% tetramer suggesting that neutrali-
zation of positive charge at residue 187 might play a role in
promoting enzyme tetramerization. Indeed, hydrophobic
interactions between dimers of E. coli CTPS have been
suggested to play a role in the formation of tetramers [53].
Predictions of the secondary structure of the highly
conserved region of amino acid sequence between residues
185 and 192 suggest that Lys187 constitutes part of a
conserved loop. It is not clear whether nucleotides protect
this putative loop from proteolytic cleavage because
nucleotide binding directly blocks access of trypsin to the
cleavage site or, because nucleotide binding causes a change
in the enzyme’s conformation or quaternary structure (i.e.

only among CTP synthases from some sources (Fig. 7). In
accord with our expectations, nucleotides offered no
protection against cleavage at these sites but replacement
of these residues by alanine (i.e. R429A and R429A/K432A)
yielded mutant enzymes that were more resistant to
proteolytic cleavage in the GAT domain. These mutant
enzymes displayed wild-type activity with respect to
NH
3
-dependent CTP formation and wild-type affinity for
glutamine, but glutamine-dependent CTP formation was
markedly impaired. Interestingly, although these mutations
in the GAT domain did not impair the enzyme’s ability to
utilize NH
3
as a substrate (i.e. the activity associated with
the synthase domain [16]), they did cause the rate of loss of
NH
3
-dependent activity during limited trypsin-catalysed
proteolysis to be less than would have been predicted based
on the inactivation rate constant observed for wild-type
CTPS (Table 2). This is consistent with previous reports
that suggested interactions between the GAT and synthase
domains within the tertiary structure of the enzyme
[17,28,55]. The existence of such interactions is also
supported by our observation that mutation of Lys187 to
alanine in the synthase domain severely impairs the
glutaminase activity in the GAT domain.
Our observations that R429A CTPS binds GTP with

Nitrosomonas europaea (AAC33441.1), Azospirillum brasilense (P28595), Campylobacter jejuni (CAB72520.1), Heliobacter pylori (O25116), Borrelia
burgdorferi (O51522), Cricetulus griseus (P50547), Mus musculus (P70698), Homo sapiens (NP_001896.1), Arabidopsis thaliana (AAC78703.1),
Saccharomyces cerevisiae H (URA-8, P38627), Saccharomyces cerevisiae G (URA-7, P28274), Plasmodium falciparum (AAC36385.1), Lactococcus
lactis (CAA09021.2), and Escherichia coli (AAA69290.1). Numbering shown is for the E. coli sequence.
2204 D. Simard et al. (Eur. J. Biochem. 270) Ó FEBS 2003
Willemoe
¨
s demonstrated that Thr431 and Arg433 (Thr438
and Arg440 in E. coli CTPS) within this motif play a role in
GTP-dependent activation of glutamine hydrolysis but
concluded that these residues were not involved in GTP
binding [24]. However, our observation that Arg429 is
important for GTP binding is consistent with Willemoe
¨
s’
observation that R433A L. lactis CTPS exhibited a 10–17-
fold increase in GTP-binding affinity [24] and support the
notion that the conserved sequence motif and adjacent
residues may also be important for GTP binding.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for an
operating grant (S. L. B.), the Nova Scotia Health Research Founda-
tion and Cancer Care Nova Scotia for graduate fellowships (A. I.), and
Cancer Care Nova Scotia for research training grants (K. H. & D. S).
The authors also express thanks to Prof. M. Dobson and J. Chew for
technical advice and assistance with electroblotting.
References
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12. Hofer,A.,Steverding,D.,Chabes,A.,Brun,R.&Thelander,L.
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13. Lim, R.L., O’Sullivan, W.J. & Stewart, T.S. (1996) Isolation,
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