Structure of bovine trypsinogen at 1.9 A resolution

Abstract

The three-dimensional crystal structure of bovine trypsinogen at approximately pH 7.5 was initially solved at 2.6 A resolution using the multiple isomorphous replacement method. Preliminary refinement cycles of the atomic coordinates trypsinogen have been carried out first to a resolution of 2.1 A, and later to 1.9 A, using constrained difference Fourier refinement; During the process, structure factors Fc and phi c were calculated from the trypsinogen structure and final interpretation was based on an electron-density map computed with terms (2 Fo - Fc) and phases phic at a resolution of 1.9 A. Crystals of trypsinogen grown from ethanol-water mixtures are trigonal with space group P3121, and cell dimension a = 55.17 A and c = 109.25 A. The structure is compared with the bovine diisopropylphosphoryltrypsin structure at approximately pH 7.2, oirginally determined from orthohombic crystals by Stroud et al. (Stroud, R.M., Kay L.M., and Dickerson, R.E. (1971), Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 36, 125-140; Stroud, R.M., Kay, L.M., and Dickerson, R.E. (1974), J. Mol. Biol. 83, 185-208), and later refined at 1.5 A resolution by Chambers and Stroud (Chambers, J.L., and Stroud, R.M. (1976), Acta Crystallogr. (in press)). At lower pH, 4.0-5.5 diogen, with cell dimensions a = 55.05 A and c = 109.45 A. This finding was used in the solution of the six trypsinogen heavy-atom derivatives prior to isomorphous phase analysis, and as a further basis of comparison between trypsinogen and the low pH trypsin structure. There are small differences between the two diisopropylphosphoryltrypsin structures. Bovine trypsinogen has a large and accessible cavity at the site where the native enzyme binds specific side chains of a substrate. The conformation and stability of the binding site differ from that found in trypsin at approximately pH 7.5, and from that in the low pH form of diisopropylphosphoryltrypsin. The catalytic site containing Asp-102, His-57, and Ser-195 is similar to that found in trypsin and contains a similar hydrogen-bounded network. The carboxyl group of Asp-194, which is salt bridged to the amino terminal of Ile-16 in native trypsin or other serine proteases, is apparently hydrogen bonded to internal solvent molecules in a loosely organized part of the zymogen structure. The unusually charged N-terminal hexapeptide of trypsinogen, whose removal leads to activation of the zymogen, lies on the outside surface of the molecule. There are significant structural changes which accompany activation in neighboring regions, which include residues 142-152, 215-550, 188A-195. The NH group of Gly-193, normally involved in stabilization of reaction intermediates (Steitz, T.A., Henderson, R., and Blow, D.M. (1969), J. Mol. Biol. 46, 337-348; Henderson, R. (1970), J. Mol. Biol. 54, 341-354; robertus, J.D., Kraut, J., Alden, R.A., and Birkoft, J.J. (1972), Biochemistry 11, 4293-4303) in the enzyme, is moved 1.9 A away from its position in trypsin...