Structure of potato inhibitor complex of carboxypeptidase A at 5.5-A resolution

The complex of the 39-amino inhibitor (potato) of bovine carboxypeptidase A (carboxypeptidase; peptidyl-L-amino-acid hydrolase, EC 3.4.12.2) was crystallized in space group P32. There are two protein-inhibitor complexes in the asymmetric unit. These crystals exhibited pseudo-P3221 symmetry due to twinning about the a3 axis. Heavy atom difference Patterson maps and rotation functions indicated, however, that the noncrystallographic twofold axis that relates these two complexes is nearly coincident with the a3 axis. Consequently, to a good approximation at low resolution, the space group of the complex is P3221 and the effects of twinning may be ignored. The structure was solved by using multiple isomorphous replacement and molecular replacement techniques. At 5.5-A resolution, the multiple isomorphous replacement map was readily interpretable in terms of the known native carboxypeptidase A structure plus extra density around the active site. The position of this extra density is consistent with the binding mode for extended substrate proposed from earlier model building studies with the native enzyme (Lipscomb, W.N., Hartsuck, J.A., Reeke, G.N., Quiocho, F.A. Bethge, P.H., Ludwig, M.L., Steitz, T.A., Muirhead, H. & Coppola, J.C. (1968) Brookhaven Symp. Biol. 21, 24-90).