The three-dimensional structure of glutathione reductase from Escherichia coli at 3.0 A resolution

The structure of glutathione reductase from Escherichia coli has been solved at 3 A resolution using multiple isomorphous replacement, solvent flattening, and molecular replacement on the basis of the homologous (53% identical residues) and structurally well-established human enzyme. The structures of both enzyme species agree with each other in a global way; there is no domain rearrangement. In detail, clear structural differences can be observed. The structure analysis of the E. coli enzyme was tackled in order to understand site-directed mutants, the most spectacular of which changed the cofactor specificity of this enzyme from NADP to NAD (Scrutton et al., 1990, Nature 343:38-43).