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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

X-Ray Crystallography to Study the Oligomeric State Transition of the Thermotoga maritima M42 Aminopeptidase TmPep1050
Published on: May 13, 2020
Structure of EstA esterase from psychrotrophic Pseudoalteromonas sp. 643A covalently inhibited by
Anna Brzuszkiewicz1, Elzbieta Nowak, Zbigniew Dauter
1Synchrotron Radiation Research Section, MCL, National Cancer Institute, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
Abstract:
The crystal structure of the esterase EstA from the cold-adapted bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. 643A was determined in a covalently inhibited form at a resolution of 1.35 A. The enzyme has a typical SGNH hydrolase structure consisting of a single domain containing a five-stranded beta-sheet, with three helices at the convex side and two helices at the concave side of the sheet, and is ornamented with a couple of very short helices at the domain edges. The active site is located in a groove and contains the classic catalytic triad of Ser, His and Asp. In the structure of the crystal soaked in diethyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate (DNP), the catalytic serine is covalently connected to a phosphonate moiety that clearly has only one ethyl group. This is the only example in the Protein Data Bank of a DNP-inhibited enzyme with covalently bound monoethylphosphate.
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