| Title: | Lack of the consensus sequence necessary for tryptophan prenylation in the ComX pheromone precursor |
| Author(s): | Tsuji F; Ishihara A; Nakagawa A; Okada M; Kitamura S; Kanamaru K; Masuda Y; Murakami K; Irie K; Sakagami Y; |
| Address: | "Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601, Japan. fumitada_tsuji@ajinomoto.com" |
| Journal Title: | Biosci Biotechnol Biochem |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1347-6947 (Electronic) 0916-8451 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "ComX, an oligopeptide pheromone that stimulates the natural genetic competence controlled by quorum sensing in Bacillus subtilis and related bacilli, contains a prenyl-modified tryptophan residue. Since ComX is the only protein known to contain prenylated tryptophan, the universality of this unique posttranslational modification has yet to be determined. Recently, we developed a cell-free assay system in which the tryptophan residue in the ComX(RO-E-2) pheromone precursor derived from B. subtilis strain RO-E-2 can be geranylated by the ComQ(RO-E-2) enzyme. We report here our attempt to identify the consensus sequence surrounding the geranylated tryptophan residue by using the cell-free system with various ComX(RO-E-2) pheromone precursor analogs. We found that [47-58]ComX(RO-E-2), corresponding to the C-terminal 12-residue peptide of the pheromone precursor, contained a short sequence essential for geranylation. We also found that the length of the sequence between the tryptophan residue and the C-terminus was important for geranylation, and that some [47-58]ComX(RO-E-2) pheromone precursor amino acids were involved in the geranylation reaction. However, we could not identify a consensus sequence surrounding the geranylated tryptophan. Our evidence suggests that, like Rab which lacks a consensus sequence yet is geranylgeranyl-modified on a cysteine residue, the ComX pheromone and its precursor also lack a consensus sequence" |
| Keywords: | "Amino Acid Sequence Bacillus subtilis/*genetics/metabolism Bacterial Proteins/*genetics/metabolism Cell-Free System Cloning, Molecular Consensus Sequence Escherichia coli/genetics Genetic Fitness Membrane Proteins/genetics/metabolism Molecular Sequence Da;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineTsuji, Fumitada Ishihara, Ayako Nakagawa, Aya Okada, Masahiro Kitamura, Shigeyuki Kanamaru, Kyoko Masuda, Yuichi Murakami, Kazuma Irie, Kazuhiro Sakagami, Youji eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2012/08/11 Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2012; 76(8):1492-6. doi: 10.1271/bbb.120206. Epub 2012 Aug 7" |
