Adenylate cyclases involvement in pathogenicity, a minireview

Cyclic AMP (cAMP), one of the most important secondary messengers, is produced by adenylate cyclase (AC) from adenosine triphosphate (ATP). AC is a widespread enzyme, being present both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Although they have the same enzymatic activity (ATP cyclization), the structure of these proteins varies, depending on their function and the producing organism. Some pathogenic bacteria utilize these enzymes as toxins which interact with calmodulin (or another eukaryote activator), causing intense cAMP synthesis and disruption of infected cell functions. In contrast, other pathogenic bacteria benefit of augmentation of AC activity for their own function. Based on sequence analysis ofAC catalytic domain from two pathogenic bacteria (Bacillus anthracis and Bordetellapertussis) with known three-dimensional structures, a possible secondary structure for 1-255 amino acid fragment from Pseudomonas aeruginosa AC (with 80TKGFSVKGKSS90 as the ATP binding site) is proposed.