The three-dimensional structures of two isoforms of nucleoside diphosphate kinase from bovine retina

The crystal structures of two isoforms of nucleoside diphosphate kinase from bovine retina overexpressed in Escherischia coli have been determined to 2.4 A resolution. Both the isoforms, NBR-A and NBR-B, are hexameric and the fold of the monomer is in agreement with NDP-kinase structures from other biological sources. Although the polypeptide chains of the two isoforms differ by only two residues, they crystallize in different space groups. NBR-A crystallizes in space group P212121 with an entire hexamer in the asymmetric unit, while NBR-B crystallizes in space group P43212 with a trimer in the asymmetric unit. The highly conserved nucleotide-binding site observed in other nucleoside diphosphate kinase structures is also observed here. Both NBR-A and NBR-B were crystallized in the presence of cGMP. The nucleotide is bound with the base in the anti conformation. The NBR-A active site contained both cGMP and GDP each bound at half occupancy. Presumably, NBR-A had retained GDP (or GTP) from the purification process. The NBR-B active site contained only cGMP.