萜烯是最大的一类天然产品,用于医药领域的应用。化妆品,燃料,调味品,还有更多.来自青霉属的Copalyl二磷酸合酶是第一个被鉴定为在同一多肽链内同时具有异戊二烯基转移酶和II类环化酶活性的双功能萜类合酶。对双功能萜烯合酶的先前研究表明,这些系统通过在异戊烯基转移酶和环化酶结构域之间引导香叶基香叶基二磷酸酯来实现更高的催化效率。非常需要对这些系统中的底物传输现象进行分子水平的理解,但是连接异戊二烯基转移酶和环化酶结构域的长无序多肽片段阻碍了全长酶的结晶。因此,这些系统是使用低温电子显微镜(cryo-EM)进行结构分析的绝佳候选者。值得注意的是,这些系统形成六聚体或八聚体低聚物,因此,全长酶的四级结构可能会影响催化结构域之间的底物转运。这里,我们描述了从黄青霉(PfCPS)制备双功能六聚体co二磷酸合酶的方法。我们还概述了制备低温EM网格的方法,数据收集,和数据处理,以产生二维和三维重建。
Terpenes comprise the largest class of natural products and are used in applications spanning the areas of medicine, cosmetics, fuels, flavorings, and more. Copalyl diphosphate synthase from the Penicillium genus is the first bifunctional terpene synthase identified to have both prenyltransferase and class II cyclase activities within the same polypeptide chain. Prior studies of bifunctional terpene synthases reveal that these systems achieve greater catalytic efficiency by channeling geranylgeranyl diphosphate between the prenyltransferase and cyclase domains. A molecular-level understanding of substrate transit phenomena in these systems is highly desirable, but a long disordered polypeptide segment connecting the prenyltranferase and cyclase domains thwarts the crystallization of full-length enzymes. Accordingly, these systems are excellent candidates for structural analysis using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Notably, these systems form hexameric or octameric oligomers, so the quaternary structure of the full-length enzyme may influence substrate transit between catalytic domains. Here, we describe methods for the preparation of bifunctional hexameric copalyl diphosphate synthase from Penicillium fellutanum (PfCPS). We also outline approaches for the preparation of cryo-EM grids, data collection, and data processing to yield two-dimensional and three-dimensional reconstructions.