Structure--function characterization of cellulose synthase: relationship to other glycosyltransferases

A combined structural and functional model of the catalytic region of cellulose synthase is presented as a prototype for the action of processive beta-glycosyltransferases and other glycosyltransferases. A 285 amino acid segment of the Acetobacter xylinum cellulose synthase containing all the conserved residues in the globular region was subjected to protein modeling using the genetic algorithm. This region folds into a single large domain with a topology exhibiting a mixed alpha/beta structure. The predicted structure serves as a topological outline for the structure of this processive beta-glycosyltransferase. By incorporating new site-directed mutagenesis data and comparative analysis of the conserved aspartic acid residues and the QXXRW motif we deduce a number of functional implications based on the structure. This includes location of the UDP--glucose substrate-binding cavity, suggestions for the catalytic processing including positions of conserved and catalytic residues, secondary structure arrangement and domain organization. Comparisons to cellulose synthases from higher plants (genetic algorithm based model for cotton CelA1), data from neural network predictions (PHD), and to the recently experimentally determined structures of the non-processive SpsA and beta 4-galactosyltransferase retest and further validate our structure-function description of this glycosyltransferase.