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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Production, Crystallization and Structure Determination of C. difficile PPEP-1 via Microseeding and Zinc-SAD
Published on: December 30, 2016
Crystal structure of CbpF, a bifunctional choline-binding protein and autolysis regulator from Streptococcus
Rafael Molina1, Ana González, Meike Stelter
1Grupo de Cristalografia Macromolecular y Biologia Estructural, Instituto Química-Física Rocasolano, CSIC, Serrano 119, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Phosphorylcholine, a crucial component of the pneumococcal cell wall, is essential in bacterial physiology and in human pathogenesis because it binds to serum components of the immune system and acts as a docking station for the family of surface choline-binding proteins. The three-dimensional structure of choline-binding protein F (CbpF), one of the most abundant proteins in the pneumococcal cell wall, has been solved in complex with choline. CbpF shows a new modular structure composed both of consensus and non-consensus choline-binding repeats, distributed along its length, which markedly alter its shape, charge distribution and binding ability, and organizing the protein into two well-defined modules. The carboxy-terminal module is involved in cell wall binding and the amino-terminal module is crucial for inhibition of the autolytic LytC muramidase, providing a regulatory function for pneumococcal autolysis.
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